Paul McCartney reveals John Lennon’s biggest problem
Later this year will mark the 59th anniversary of ‘Love Me Do’, the debut release by four young men from Liverpool playing music under the name of The Beatles. Even now, six decades after that special song hit the radiowaves, the band and its members remain as relevant as ever before.
While the song remains significant for many mind-boggling reasons, it also set the foundations for what was to be the greatest songwriting partnership in music history. It has since been confirmed that ‘Love Me Do’ was co-written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, with McCartney creating the verse and chorus while Lennon added his creative juices to the middle eight. However, like a vast majority of the Beatles’ creations, the lines remain blurred.
Lennon, looking back on his career, once said of the song: “‘Love Me Do’ is Paul’s song. I do know he had the song around, in Hamburg, even, way, way before we were songwriters”. However, Lennon was well known for distancing himself from certain creations later in his life. McCartney, meanwhile, remembers the birth of ‘Love Me Do’ differently. He said: “‘Love Me Do’ was completely co-written. It was just Lennon and McCartney sitting down without either of us having a particularly original idea. We loved doing it, it was a very interesting thing to try and learn to do, to become songwriters. I think why we eventually got so strong was we wrote so much through our formative period”.
McCartney added: “‘Love Me Do’ was our first hit, which ironically is one of the two songs that we control because when we first signed to EMI, they had a music publishing company called Ardmore and Beechwood which took the two songs, ‘Love Me Do’ and ‘P.S. I Love You’, and in doing a deal somewhere along the way, we were able to get them back”.
Of course, the finer details of one specific song is not so important in the wider picture of a band and partnership that is so powerful. However, what it does offer is a superb insight into the relationship of both Lennon and McCartney. While Lennon will be remembered as the outspoken, passionate and sometimes brash eldest founder of the band, McCartney would establish himself as the one with a more balanced understanding, the member who would eventually take control of the Beatles when their beloved manager Brian Epstein passed away.
The truth is, McCartney has always been more secure in himself. Always focused and balancing creativity with business desire, Macca knew – and still knows – just how important he and his band have been for the better part of six decades. Lennon, meanwhile, leaned a little further into the tortured artist sphere. Struggles with addiction and emotionally challenging relationships shaped him as a person, especially after the band’s break-up. However, according to McCartney, his closest confidant had always struggled with inner turmoil.
While appearing on The Penguin Podcast, McCartney explained one of Lennon’s biggest problems: “I remember John saying to me once, ‘What are people going to think of me when I’m dead? I wonder if they’ll like me,” he said.
“And I said, ‘Now just you stop. Listen to me. People are going to go crazy, people love you. And they’re going to love you more’.
“And obviously, that’s turned out to be the case,” he added. “Y’know I had to reassure him and say, ‘You’re great!’”
McCartney continued: ‘You may not think it, you may worry that you’ve not done enough, but believe me, you have’. It can happen to anyone.”
Asked if he needed similar reassurance throughout his life, the 80-year-old agreed. He said: “Yeah, sure. You’d think I’d know that I’d done okay. I’d think I’d amassed a little pile over here of success. So you’d think I could look at that and go, ‘I’m alright, I’m okay.’ It’s not that easy. Life’s not that easy.”
Listen to the full interview below.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.