Lennon And McCartney 1966-1970
You may like them or hate them, regardless one cannot ignore the influences in popular music by the compositions of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Composing The Beatles Songbook takes a look at what likely are the most productive years for these two composers. It is clear though that while fellow band members, their musical styles were very different.
Paul McCartney being the creator of class rock ballads, stories told through the medium of music and words, while John Lennon was very much more into the rebellious nature of the rock and roll genre. Rock was a direct assault on the music of the previous generation. A way that the youth of that time could express themselves. In many ways this is very similar to the Punk movement of the late 70’s, which was born out of frustration at the glam rock bands that had by this time distanced themselves from their fan base.
I have to admit that I was not, and am not a Beatles fan, but I am a fan of documentaries about music, and music legends. I enjoy other peoples views and critical analysis. Sometimes I may not agree, but always I learn something. Maybe that is one of the reasons that I became a reviewer?
Lennon and McCartney, at least in my mind had a very uneasy relationship, and the break up of the Beatles was not surprising, it was merely a question of when.
Composing The Beatles Songbook combines some great vintage footage with some insightful analysis by some of Britain’s best known musicologists.
Tomorrow Never Knows maybe one of the least recognized Beatles songs, I can pretty much bet a dollar that 9 people out of 10 could not tell you the bands name if you played it to them, and I’d bet another dollar that if you were to ask what year it was created, exactly no-one would say 1966. Yet it is this one song that is a prelude to new musical directions for these two composers. Although the writing credit says Lennon/McCartney, clearly this is McCartney giving us a preview of his hugely successful collaboration with his wife of many years Linda, and their band Wings.
I really enjoyed this documentary, and I will repeat what I said at the beginning of this review, I always learn something. You can get your copy from our friends at MVD.
Update: I notice that many of you disagree about Tomorrow Never Knows. Let me clarify what the DVD says. The lyrics were indeed written by Lennon and were based largely from Timothy Leary’s book. However the music component is almost entirely from McCartney who had been exploring various electronic instruments and electronic composers. He had become interested in technologies like tape loops, and had become somewhat of a master of the style.
Simon Barrett
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26 users commented in " DVD Review: Composing The Beatles Songbook "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackUmmmm. Tomorrow Never Knows was written by Lennon.
ummmmmm the writing credit is Lennon/McCartney
This is clearly and definitely a Lennon song.
“clearly this is McCartney giving us a preview of his hugely successful collaboration with his wife of many years Linda, and their band Wings”
Check your facts……..
Clearly your lack of Beatle love/ lore shines quite clear-
don’t quit yer day job
ALL Beatle compositions written by John and/or Paul were credited Lennon/McCartney, no matter who the principal writer was.
We should perhaps cut you a little slack, since you are admittedly not a fan, but any Beatle person will tell you this is John’s song.
Simon Barrett should not be reviewing The Beatles. He obviously knows nothing about them. And worse, he assumes most other people know nothing about them and is condescending about a field he knows nothing about. This guy should never ever write another word about The Beatles. Ever. Do us all a favor. Please.
Tomorrow Never Knows was written by John. Who is this inept author? And while it is a John song, not Paul as the author purports, Paul created the tape loops to the song which helps to make this a brilliant, innovative song.
So, did the DVD leave him with this assumption?
I think most people would agree that Tomorrow Never Knows did forge new ground, but I really don’t see how it has compares to the Wings material. Even ignoring the fact that it is a Lennon composition, I don’t understand how you make that correlation. You’re picking up on something that I don’t think many others would see, and I’d be very interested to hear more about the relationship you perceive there.
Wow… and who exactly made you a reviewer of Beatles material? Is this some sort of experiment to see how many people would correct you?
To state that “Tomorrow Never Knows” is “clearly” a McCartney song, when any true Beatles fan knows it’s clearly a Lennon song, is CLEARLY a big joke (and yes, I knew right off the bat - as do many other people - that it was issued in 1966 on Revolver - btw, that’s a Beatles LP title). And this song has nothing to do with being a precursor to any Wings material.
Are you living in some sort of parallel reverse universe?
If this is a put on, I say “hello candid camera!”. If not, I say good luck with your reviewer job; you’re gonna need plenty of it if you can make such a blatant mistake.
Simon’s statement; “McCartney being the creator … ballads, stories … while John Lennon was … into the rebellious nature of the … genre.” is the popular misconception that is held by 6 out of ten morons. It is not very accurate. Simon can learn something by reading what Dodger Rodger and Helter Skelter say.
Never was and is not a Beatles fan, yet Simon professes expertise. Just like hordes of air-headed wannabes in recent decades trying opinions that turn out unresearched Beatle information, he should go to the school of Beatle learning. Or better still, don’t write about the Beatles. They really have no or little knowledge of Beatle phenomena that started in very early ‘60s and that their original and subsequent fans have encyclopedic memory and literary collection of the music and lives of the Beatles. Imagine that almost 4 decades ago this group stopped making music, yet still making news, their music still being analysed, used in outer space, lines of lyrics quoted eloquently (name any musician whose words are quoted in buildings like an airport?) and as shown recently in Quebec city, people who were not even born when they broke up singing ‘Hey Jude’ along with Paul. Simon, your reviewing is schoolboy and pure shallow journalism.
My guess is the the writer of the article misquoted the song he was referring to. Obviously Tomorrow Never Knows is primarily Lennon’s. I think Simon Barrett accidently wrote down the wrong song. There are a few great McCartney songs on that album that he might have been referring to.
“High-quality English language analysis and editorial writing on the news” — TMN *must* be a McCartney song!
In The Beatles the priniple song writer would sing lead, except in, (Do you want to know a secret where George sang the lead and John was the principle writer. Tomorrow Never Knows was written by John, however Paul made most of the tape loops that really lift the song to a new dimension. George Martin and Geoff Emerick the producer and chief sound engineer also out John’s lead vocal through a Leslie speaker so it would sound like he was singing in the mountains with the Dalhi Lama. Just learn from your mistakes man, don’t worry.
Such a show of ignorance is laughable. It’s ok to allow a non-Beatles fan to review a DVD but he should at least do some research and get some basic facts right. He merely subscribes to the myth that Paul wrote rock ballads and John heavy rock. Nonsense of course as is the ridiculous claim that Paul wrote TNK. John was the main author with a little help from his friend. Don’t give up your day job, Simon
Analysing Lennon McCartney music? How wrong has he got it! George Martin said about the start of recording Revolver, that he was expecting a repeat of the Help, Hard Days Night type LP. Only to realise how much their songwriting had developed, when John started the first session with Tomorrow Never Knows. He actually suggested that this song broke new ground in writing and recording techniques.
How is Tomorrow Never Knows a preview of Wings’ output? Show me one thing that Paul/Linda did that compares to Tomorrow Never Knows. Ummm……….I’m waiting. Yeah, I didn’t think so. What a doofus.
Tomorrow Never Knows is a song of the Beatles
what a knob this reviewer is…ha ha! ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ by McCartney?! How did this lavatory attendent get moved up to the editorial department!
Not much to be added to the insights of the other Beatles fans.
But I will ask the author, if you still feel that McCartney wrote most of the music on TNK, then please provide some evidence.
We Beatles fans know our stuff, so like any historian presenting a paper to peers, you need to provide convincing evidence - or else you’ll deserve the name calling you’ve endured here.
McCartney II had some good quirky stuff on it, and it was inspirational to Lennon. Apparently got him going again with his (in my opinion)overrated but still good Double Fantasy album.
And we should refer to McCartney as “The Fireman” and his continued interest in experimental type stuff. Perhap McCartney’s influence on Tomorrow Never Knows was more profound that most realize.
Nice that author above spent the time to update his comments.
Yet another piece of crap from MVD, a DVD house that only releases videos of talking heads talking about bands. No REAL documentaries, just crap.
I have to admit that I was not, and am not a Simon Barrett fan, but I am a fan of the Beatles. This article is clearly a precurser to Mr. Barrett winning the Pulitzer. (sarcasm)
“Tomorrow Never Knows” is a John Lennon song, through and through. Macca’s tape loops weren’t part of the composition; it’s Lennon’s words AND music. All the tape loops did is make the song sound stranger. I’ve read that Lennon often complained that McCartney oftentimes got too experimental on his, (Lennon’s) tracks. Those who write about the music oughta read more about what others have previously written about the music. Oh, and it’s a good idea if they actually LISTEN to the music as well.
The song wouldn’t be discussed like it is without those loops. The composition goes to Lennon, but the arrangement was heavily influenced by McCartney, and it’s the arrangement of that song that makes it what it is, and why it’s talked about.
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