The only Paul McCartney song John Lennon complimented: “One of my favourite songs of The Beatles”
There was a gang-like nature to the earliest moments of The Beatles. The band had not only found their feet on the streets that ran along the Mersey and naturally delivered the odd fist along the way, but their forceful push into the wider public eye when they were just young men ensured that the group bandied together against the world. But that doesn’t mean the group were a solid unit throughout their life as a band.
Perhaps one of the most notable dynamics within the group was the distinctive fracas fought between John Lennon and Paul McCartney on the songwriting battlefield. The rivalry between Lennon and McCartney may well have been heightened by increased press pressure, perhaps even gently pushed on by the group’s management. It may also have been largely manifested by their perceptions of one another. But it’s worth remembering that it did exist.
McCartney and Lennon may well have been songwriting partners, but by the end of their work with The Beatles, very few tracks were jointly created by the Liverpudlians. Long gone were the days the duo would write “eyeball to eyeball”. Normally, songs were brought in by each member, tried and tested, and then possibly recorded.
All the combining factors meant that if Macca had a new song he wanted to share with the public, he would first have to try it out in the studio and get it by the band. Getting the seal of approval from the band was no mean feat—just ask George Harrison—and turned the art of songwriting into a competitive sport within The Beatles.
During an intimate profile interview with 60 Minutes from back in 2018, reporter Sharyn Alfonsi spent a few days with McCartney during sessions at his recording studio. In the conversation, Macca details working with his Beatles bandmates and claims that Lennon only ever complimented his songwriting once.
It’s no surprise, looking back. The singer had a caustic wit capable of wobbling any confidence, and he wasn’t shy about sharing his thoughts on the fluffier side of The Beatles. He spent many interviews casually lambasting some of the tracks from the group that he hated. But while he was forthcoming with critiques, he wasn’t as good at complimenting his bandmates—at least not to their faces.
Apparently, the only time this happened was on The Beatles’ seventh studio album, Revolver. It’s the moment on record that the Fab Four began truly experimenting and breaking free from their boyband image and becoming the new-age free-thinking power pop icons they would end up being. “It was ‘Here, There and Everywhere’,” McCartney explains in the interview.
“This was a great one of his,” Lennon once said of the track during an interview. Perhaps the greater compliment would come when the songwriter refused to claim any credit for any of the lyrics: “That’s Paul’s song completely, I believe. And one of my favourite songs of the Beatles.”
“John says just as it finishes, ‘That’s a really good song, lad. I love that song.’ And I’m like, ‘Yes! He likes it!’” When asked as to whether he was openly complimentary with Lennon, he says he did, but that “you’d normally have to be a little drunk.”
It rings true. It’s not often at this time that a working-class lad from Liverpool would get too sentimental about their friends’ work. But while Lennon only ever complimented McCartney once, we’re sure his favourite songs include a few McCartney numbers.
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