The one Paul McCartney song John Lennon wishes he wrote: “It’s a damn fine piece of work”
When The Beatles first broke out of Liverpool and began making records in earnest, there was delightful energy to almost everything they created together. Brimming with enthusiasm and effervescent pop futurism, the group – and their principal songwriters John Lennon and Paul McCartney – were churning out hit songs like there was no tomorrow.
It’s difficult to envisage the passion and persistence with which Lennon and McCartney approached their songwriting. Given the briefest chance to start writing songs and have them be heard, the duo set about creating catchy ditties at a rate of knots. The two men had written songs before in their solitude, but together they were an unstoppable force, and the partnership only flourished within the comfort of the band. Being in the Fab Four was a feverishly creative place.
Alongside all of the hard work was a genuine encouragement from each member to write their own songs and not feel compelled to push everything through the lens of the three other members. While nobody knew it at the time, this philosophy would start an internal competition that would never truly end. The two men found themselves always at odds with one another, what had begun as a boyish battle of wits, trying to beat the other to the number one spot would become an internal turmoil that never rested.
After The Beatles broke up and the acknowledgement of their place in history was confirmed, the group started to open up about their time within the biggest band on the planet. As one might imagine, the man happiest to talk about his time, both celebrating and condemning it? John Lennon, of course.
The founder of the band and the well-oiled mouthpiece, Lennon was always happy to share a few words about the group and their career in the aftermath of their disbandment. Often, those conversations were littered with barbs and compliments in equal measure. It was an open approach that saw Lennon pick out his favourite songs and those he hated most, usually at the centre of both was Paul McCartney.
Lennon dominated much of the early writing for the band, but it was on their record With The Beatles that McCartney dropped “one of his first biggies”, according to Lennon, the brilliant song ‘All My Loving’. It was also a rare song for Macca as it remained an effort that Lennon loved throughout his life.
As well as referring to the song as a “biggie”, later, during his 1980 interview with Playboy, Lennon said: “‘All My Loving’ is Paul, I regret to say. Because it’s a damn fine piece of work. But I play a pretty mean guitar in back”. Guitars aside, it’s nice to see that Lennon was happy to compliment Paul when he saw fit. the tune isn’t exactly the kind of track one might align with Lennon’s more visceral output, but the rockabilly charm of the piece speaks kindly to Lennon’s earliest influences.
Taking notes from Chuck Berry, The Shadows and Buddy Holly, McCartney created the kind of pop song that would transform The Beatles from a small-time live band into the biggest thing music had ever known.
The track was a departure for Macca too, as he explained: “Yeah, I wrote that one. It was the first song I ever wrote where I had the words before the music. I wrote the words on a bus on tour, then we got the tune when I arrived there. The first time I’ve ever worked upside down.”
The song drove a serious amount of excitement around the band and gained considerable airplay across the US, Canada and Britain. It marked a change of atmosphere for the group as it noted Macca’s impending rise to the top of the songwriting pile and the competitive edge it would always give the band. But, for now, it is best to sit back and enjoy the unbridled energy of youth and listen to The Beatles sing ‘All My Loving’.
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