“Paul McCartney and John Lennon Have A Song For You…Please Hold.”
Can you imagine getting THAT call? Well, it happened a number of times in the 60’s and 70’s – John Lennon and Paul McCartney routinely wrote songs The Beatles gave away to others!
When A “Beatles” Song ISN’T A Beatles Song!
Wikipedia has an entire entry about songs that were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney for other Artists..here is how they categorized them:
1 – Recordings by the Beatles of Lennon–McCartney songs that the group ultimately decided not to release.
2 – Lennon–McCartney songs that the Beatles deemed unsuitable for the group at the outset and did not even attempt to record themselves.
3 – Songs that had been intentionally written for other artists.
“The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away!”
Because EVERYTHING The Fab Four has done has been extensively documented, these songs exist for fans to enjoy.
This compilation album containing the original artist recordings of songs composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney was released in the UK in 1979! Here is a look at the lineup:
The first song on the compilation album is actually the last song that was given to others. “I’m the Greatest” was recorded by Ringo Starr for his “Ringo” album – and written specifically for him by John Lennon in 1973 – the rest of these songs were released as singles during the active Beatles years in the 1960s.
Ringo’s Classic “Ringo!”
All of the other Beatles gave Ringo a song for his classic solo album, which was a huge smash thanks to songs like “Photograph”.
Here is the video for John’s “cheeky” song “I’m The Greatest!”
Paul and George also gave songs to Ringo, but this Lennon tune is the best – and John included his version of it on his Lennon box set, playfully rehearsing the song to the others in the studio:
John was on his “lost weekend” at the time, in LA hanging out with Harry Nilsson…read about it here:
One of the greatest songs written for others was thanks to Paul McCartney, and it also had a Ringo connection!
Ringo’s Hilarious Movie! The “Come And Get It” Theme!
Paul also wrote a classic song for Ringo, except in this case, it was the theme song for Ringo’s movie “The Magic Christian.”
Check out the trailer here:
You must check out this movie…the theme song was a big hit for Badfinger, who recorded on The Beatles’ Apple label. Here is Paul’s demo of the song:
“If you want it, here it is
Come and get it m-m-m!
Make your mind up fast
If you want it anytime I can give it
But you better hurry ’cause it may not last”
McCartney recorded a solo demo of the song on July 24, 1969, when he arrived early for an Abbey Road session. He sang the double-tracked lead vocal and played all the instruments: he sang and played piano on the first take, sang again and played maracas on the first overdub, drums came third and bass guitar was added last. It took less than an hour to finish. It was officially released in 1996 on “The Beatles Anthology 3” and issued under The Beatles’ name, even though McCartney did the entire song by himself…
Here is an amazing montage of the songs that John and Paul wrote for others, thanks to the internet!
“SgtPepperChannel” on youtube posted this – bravo! As you can see, John and Paul did a ton of music for others, as they were amazingly prolific….
“It’s For You!”
You heard a snipped of this in the montage – “It’s for You” was written by John and Paul for popular singer Cilla Black – and it was a UK Top Ten hit in 1964.
Here she is performing the show on UK TV, with a cameo appearance by Paul and John at the end:
Singer Cilla Black recorded the song at Abbey Road Studios in July 1964, with George Martin producing the session. Can you imagine the creatively that was going on at the time?
Cilla Black recalled the recording session years later:
“That was some session…John and Paul joined me and George Martin. We made one track and then everyone had a go at suggesting how they thought it should be recorded. George said it should be one way, John and Paul another and I just added my suggestions while they were thinking of what else they could do with the composition.”
Macca’s “Penina!”
In the late 60’s, Paul was very prolific, and he wrote the song “Penina” at the Hotel Penina in December 1968, when he was vacationing in the Portuguese region of the Algarve.
Here is the song as recorded by the Portuguese singer Carlos Mendes:
George Writes With Eric Clapton!
The Beatles were so prolific as a group that they had more than enough hits of their own – and George got into the action as well!
George wrote “Badge” with Eric Clapton for his group Cream. The song was originally an untitled track. According to wikipedia:
“during the production transfer for the album Goodbye, the original music sheet was used to produce the liner notes and track listing. The only discernible word on the page was “bridge” (indicating the song’s bridge section). Due to Harrison’s handwriting, however, Clapton misread it as “badge” — and the song was titled soon thereafter.”
Ha! Here’s an audio only version:
Now back to that “bad handwriting” story – Harrison remembered the story differently:
“I helped Eric write “Badge” you know. Each of them had to come up with a song for that Goodbye Cream album and Eric didn’t have his written. We were working across from each other and I was writing the lyrics down and we came to the middle part so I wrote ‘Bridge.’ Eric read it upside down and cracked up laughing– ‘What’s BADGE?’ he said. After that, Ringo [Starr] walked in drunk and gave us that line about the swans living in the park.”
So there you have it, a drunk Ringo contributed as well! The Beatles were amazingly prolific, and left us with an unbelievable catalog of music to love.
However, their songs were sometimes used in some VERY questionable ways – like these two films!
“All The And World War WHAT!?!?!?!?”
If you haven’t seen this movie, you are lucky! It’s a documentary about World War 2, full of war images, death and destruction, with a Beatles soundtrack! See the unbelievably wrong trailer here:
https://johnrieber.com/2013/06/20/the-beatles-worlds-best-music-worst-movie-choices/
And here is an image you will never be able to burn out of your skull:
Yes, The Bee Gees are dancing in “Sgt. Peppers” outfits along with Peter Frampton and George Burns!
This movie is embarrassing for all concerned: stick with a Beatles classic like this instead:
Here is a look at the legendary “Let It Be” documentary, which includes lots of strife between he band members, and the incredible rooftop performance in London:
Leave me a note on your favorite Beatles anecdotes!
