The 1969 Beatles song that only features John Lennon and Paul McCartney
The heart behind The Beatles’ music has always been the bond between John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
While every member of the ‘Fab Four’ made them what they were, the balance of Lennon’s gift for lyrics and McCartney’s gift for melody always intertwined in just the right way, offering up one of the most eclectic songbooks in rock and roll history. Although George Harrison and Ringo Starr added their personal touch to every Beatles project, one song in their canon only features the songwriting duo working things out.
After the maligned sessions for The White Album, the band decided to take a break from each other to let their creative juices loose. With every member becoming more opinionated about how they wanted their respective songs to go, this was meant to be a way for them to recharge their batteries before going into the next album cycle. As Harrison practised different forms of Eastern spirituality, John Lennon was getting married to artist Yoko Ono and would hold one of their many bed-ins for peace.
The marriage didn’t go smoothly, though, with Lennon and Ono having to crisscross through Southampton before heading to Spain and then later honeymooning by the River Seine. Immediately inspired by his latest romance, Lennon wrote a song inspired by his madcap adventure, booking time at Abbey Road Studios.
The only problem? Only Paul McCartney was available since Harrison and Ringo Starr were already occupied. Rather than wait for their bandmates, Lennon and McCartney decided to press on anyway, laying down ‘The Ballad of John and Yoko’ by themselves, with McCartney handling the rhythm section and Lennon singing and playing the guitar.
What emerged from those sessions was one of Lennon’s most direct pieces of storytelling. ‘The Ballad of John and Yoko’ plays almost like a musical diary, with Lennon recounting the chaos of the previous weeks in real time, from their marriage in Gibraltar to their bed-ins for peace. Built around a swaggering rock and roll groove that nods to the band’s early love of Chuck Berry and skiffle, the track moves with a restless energy that mirrors the whirlwind nature of the events it describes.
Even though Lennon and Ono were dealt with a fair bit of criticism for what they were doing, Lennon’s take on their whirlwind love affair turned everything around to have a sort-of comedic slant, with Ono telling Rolling Stone, “We were having a very hard time, very heavy stuff going on. He just made it into a comedy instead of a tragedy”. Although Lennon was far from being a superior guitar player in the group, his lead work on the song is impressively tasteful, even ending the song on a jazzy sixth chord to emphasise the zaniness of it all.
In many ways, the recording session also offered a glimpse of what the Lennon/McCartney partnership had always done best. Working quickly and instinctively, the two musicians slipped back into the dynamic that had defined the band’s earliest years, with Lennon focusing on the narrative while McCartney stitched everything together musically. For a brief moment, the tensions surrounding the band seemed to disappear, replaced by the effortless collaboration that had powered The Beatles from Liverpool clubs to the biggest stages in the world.
Although the common consensus was that the two musicians were bitter towards each other by the end of their time together, the Beatles Anthology series shows the funny side of their relationship, including one botched take where they refer to each other as ‘George and Ringo’ due to Macca being behind the kit.
Although ‘Ballad’ was a sign that Ono was driving a wedge between The Beatles, Lennon was delighted when it reached the top of the singles chart, despite the BBC censoring sections of the song for the line “Christ! You know it ain’t easy”. As much as the Fab Four drifted apart around this time, Ono remembers McCartney as supportive of Lennon, recalling, “People like the idea of John and Paul as two boxers, but it wasn’t always like that. I think Paul knew about John’s aggravation, about people being so nasty, and he just wanted to make it well for him. Paul has a very brotherly side to him”.
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