Q Awards? Video Girl? Kiss Kiss Kiss? Film at eleven?
Argh:
In the latest chapter of their ongoing feud, Yoko Ono dissed Paul McCartney's songwriting prowess Monday at Britain's Q Awards.
On hand to collect the Q Special Award honoring late husband John Lennon (on the day after what would have been his 65th birthday) at the annual ceremony in London, analogous to the American Music Awards, Ono took the opportunity to disparage his former Beatle mate.
Ono, 72, recalled how insecure Lennon was as an artist. "'Why do they cover Paul's songs but never mine?' " she told the audience of U.K. music stars and record company execs.
"I said, 'You're a good songwriter. It's not just 'June with spoon' that you write. You're a good singer, and most musicians are probably a little bit nervous about covering your songs.' "
The Ono-McCartney feuding goes back to the late 1960s, when he suggested that she was behind the Beatles breakup. Over the years their relationship has remained dysfunctional. Ono said she was "hurt" when McCartney failed to invite her to the memorial service of his late wife, Linda. Most recently, Ono threatened legal action after McCartney reversed the traditional "Lennon-McCartney" songwriting credit on his 2002 Back in the U.S.
But Ono's player-hating only seemed to extend to McCartney. When it came to the Q Awards big winner, Oasis, she congratulated the Beatles-inspired band. "I wish [John] was here today, he would have loved it," she said....
I'll preface my comments by saying that I have listened to very little McCartney work since McCartney II was released. However, I should also note that I have listened to very little Ono work since that time, either.
However, it's not accurate to dismiss McCartney as a "June with spoon" songwriter, or to assume that Lennon wasn't. Especially in their first several years of songwriting, they were both the "June with spoon" experts. However, once they figured out in 1964-1965 that they could write whatever they wanted, they began to veer in different directions.
McCartney tended to veer more toward storytelling, creating third person accounts or varying detail. While songs such as "Yesterday" and "Helter Skelter" don't fit into this genre, others do - "Eleanor Rigby," "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," "Band on the Run."
Lennon, of course, veered toward the first person confessional style. Again, not all Lennon songs fit into this genre ("Imagine" and "Give Peace a Chance," for example, are classic June spoon songs that really don't have anything to do with Lennon's life), Lennon obviously did compose a number of personal chants, rants, and grants, starting with "I'm a Loser" and going through "Norwegian Wood," "Julia," and all the way to "I'm Losing You."
But what about Dre? Don't forget about Dre.
Whoops, I goofed. But what about George?
In some ways, he was the most revolutionary songwriter of the foursome. At first, of course, he simply aped his older partners. But remember how I said that Lennon and McCartney figured out by 1964-1965 that they could write about anything? Harrison beat them by a long shot by getting VERY personal and writing the truth - namely, that he had become a very rich man, and had the concerns of very rich men. It's all right for Bruce Springsteen to pretend that he's still a scruffy kid from New Jersey, but when Harrison wrote "Taxman," he acknowledged that he was no longer a poor scruff from Liverpool, but a wealthy man who hobnobbed with politicians and was worried about his bank balances. More honest than the rest of the bunch, fer shure.
Well, that leaves Ringo, who wrote very few songs while with the Beatles, and those that he did write were silly fluff. However, he truly hit his stride as a songwriter in the 1970s. According to the BMI website, Ringo wrote or co-wrote the following songs, among over 100 others:
BACK OFF BOOGALOO 76730 (solo)
IT DON T COME EASY 736065 (solo)
OH MY MY 1103070 (with Poncia)
PHOTOGRAPH 1170391 (with Harrison)
WHAT GOES ON 1632980 (with Lennon and McCartney)
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