Wait


In the fall of 2001, Gordon Thompson of the Department of Music at Skidmore College offered a course which traced the development of Lennon and McCartney as songwriters. (The course apparently ignored the contributions of Harrison and Starkey, although I believe that Harrison was a significant composer as early as 1966).

The course outline indicates that the course traced the influences on Lennon and McCartney, then traced their development as composers.

A few comments on portions of the course outline:


Growing up British, Working-class, and Male in Liverpool, 1940-1956


My question - what does this portion of the course have to do with Lennon? Although he was marketed as a working class hero, he was anything but.


Julia met and moved in with John 'Bobby' Dykins. It was a small flat, and Mimi did not approve of Bobby and Julia living there with young John. She engineered it so that John came to live with her, much against Julia's wishes.

John lived with George and Mimi Smith at 'Mendips' on Menlove Avenue, and contrary to the myths put about, it was a comfortable, middle class existence....



Returning to the course outline:


Musical Influences and Models
  • British: Ballads, Music Hall

  • American: Dance Bands, Country, Blues, Rhythm & Blues, Rock & Roll, and Pop

  • British Reactions: Skiffle, Rock & Roll, and Pop



Please note that this section came early in the course, so it obviously did not delve into later musical influences such as American folk and folk-rock, Motown, and whatever term you want to apply to what Brian Wilson did. The only early musical influence I'd like to add is American musicals. Being in a "Music Man" cast, I'm obviously sensitive to this topic (my first exposure to "Til There Was You" was the Beatles version).


Early Attempts
  • Lennon: "Hello Little Girl" [D302-303], "One After 909" [D264-65], "I Call Your Name" [D64-65]

  • McCartney: "I Lost My Little Girl," "In Spite of All the Danger," "Cry for a Shadow," "Like Dreamers Do" [D303], "Love of the Loved" [D303]



Yes, they worked apart, even in the early days. In fact, the strength of their songwriting partnership came not from their collaborations, but from their contributions to each other's work.


Writing for Others
  • Lennon: "Bad to Me" (Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas) [D302]

  • McCartney: "World without Love" (Peter and Gordon), "From a Window" (Billy J Kramer with the Dakotas) [D302]

  • McCartney-Lennon: "I Wanna Be Your Man" (Rolling Stones) [K67; D55-56]



Even the best artists are businesspeople. When they became names in 1963, Lennon and McCartney started writing hits that others would perform (including "Love of the Loved," listed above). On the other side of the pond, Brian Wilson was in some respects a better businessman than his father (who hit the roof when Brian penned a number one hit for Jan & Dean before the Beach Boys had hit number one).


Rubber Revolver


I would have loved to have sat in on this part of the course. Of course, as mentioned above, I would also like to have heard coverage of Harrison's contributions beginning in this period.


The Beatles
  • Lennon: "Dear Prudence" [D223-24], "Glass Onion" [D224-25], "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" [D228], "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" [D230-31], "I'm So Tired" [D232], "Julia" [237-38], "Yer Blues" [D239-40], "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" [D241], "Sexy Sadie" [D242], "Cry Baby Cry" [D246-47], "Revolution No. 9" [K178; D247-50], "Good Night" [K178; D250]

  • McCartney: "Back in the U.S.S.R." [D222-23], "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" [D225-27], "Wild Honey Pie" [D227], "Martha My Dear" [D231], "Blackbird" [D232-33], "Rocky Racoon" [D234-35], "Why Don't We Do It in the Road" [D236-37], "I Will" [D237], "Mother Nature's Son" [D240-41], "Helter Skelter" [D242-43], "Honey Pie" [D245]

  • McCartney-Lennon: "Birthday" [238-39]



OK, I take that back. This is the part that I would have liked to have discussed. This album (which I don't even own at the moment) has been a major influence on me, and not just musically. (Heck, this BLOG is based upon this album.) This album is unlike any other (the only close equivalent that I know of is Queen's "News of the World") in terms of its variety. And it's not just the fact that you have four different songwriters on the album - you could take just the songs of Lennon, or McCartney, or even Harrison, and your head would spin around at the different sounds from one composer alone. Examples abound: if you ignore "Can You Take Me Back Where I Came From," you have three very different Lennon songs in a row - "Cry Baby Cry," "Revolution #9," and "Good Night" - all at the end of the album. And how about releasing "Helter Skelter" and (non-Wild) "Honey Pie" (I like this kind of music) as a double-sided single?

Also see these tangentially-related items:

The document that led to the end

Biggest Beatle ‘What-if?’ = “Lennon and McCartney, Unplugged”

Paris, October 1961.

Behind the Beatlemania: Just the Facts, Lots of Them

From the Ontario Empoblog

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