John Lennon’s favourite lyrics by The Beatles: “The best lyrics I’ve written”
As The Beatles progressed in their career, one key aspect of their artistry that particularly evolved was their lyricism. In their earlier days, John Lennon and Paul McCartney offered a direct approach almost exclusively tied to the notion of young love.
The Beatles became teenage heartthrobs who stormed the world by writing songs like ‘Please Please Me’ and ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’. Those tracks came naturally to the Fab Four then, but new influences, such as Bob Dylan, entered their lives and altered the course.
With every passing year, Lennon became more skilled with the pen, weaving storytelling narratives into his craft and using an advanced level of metaphorical language. As a lyricist, Lennon believed his best offering came on The Beatles’ final album, Let It Be. While this chapter of their career is also blighted by many songs, including many written by McCartney, that Lennon didn’t think were up to scratch, there were several moments to remember.
Admittedly, whenever Lennon spoke at length following the group’s demise, his most commonly used words were “lousy” and “garbage”. Nevertheless, more fascinatingly, Lennon also spoke about the moments that filled him with immense pride, which, albeit, occurred on a rarer basis.
Let It Be was the perfect way for The Beatles to conclude their supreme reign. However, while millions around the globe adore it, Lennon did have his issues with the record as a whole. He once admitted, “We were going through hell. We often do. It’s torture every time we produce anything. The Beatles haven’t got any magic you haven’t got. We suffer like hell anytime we make anything, and we got each other to contend with. Imagine working with The Beatles; it’s tough.”
Despite the pain that he endured while making the project, Lennon was exceptionally fond of his lyrics for ‘Across The Universe‘. He told Rolling Stone in 1970: “It’s one of the best lyrics I’ve written. In fact, it could be the best. It’s good poetry, or whatever you call it, without chewin’ it.”
Lennon elaborated, “See, the ones I like are the ones that stand as words, without melody. They don’t have to have any melody, like a poem, you can read them.”
On the tender ‘Across The Universe’, Lennon makes peace with a higher power, whom he credits with the lyrics rather than himself. One night, after an argument with his first wife, Cynthia, Lennon sat down to deal with his frustrations, and from nowhere, these words spilt out of him. Unfortunately, despite Lennon’s superlatives about the lyrical component of ‘Across The Universe,’ he deeply regretted the musical element of the composition.
“It was a lousy track of a great song and I was so disappointed by it,” he told David Sheff a decade later in 1980. “It never went out as The Beatles; I gave it to the Wildlife Fund of Great Britain, and then when Phil Spector was brought in to produce Let It Be, he dug it out of the Beatles files and overdubbed it.”
Lennon continued: “The guitars are out of tune and I’m singing out of tune ’cause I’m psychologically destroyed and nobody’s supporting me or helping me with it and the song was never done properly.”
By this stage, Lennon had lost the vigour for The Beatles that had once driven him to greatness. He had mentally checked out of the band and could not do his own majestic lyrics justice in the studio. Although Lennon did accept a portion of the blame for ‘Across The Universe’ not reaching the heights he had wished for, he also believed McCartney was culpable.
Lennon told Playboy, “Paul would sort of subconsciously try and destroy a great song usually, we’d spend hours doing little detailed cleaning-ups of Paul’s songs; when it came to mine somehow this atmosphere of looseness and casualness and experimentation would creep in. Subconscious sabotage.”
Ultimately, by this stage in The Beatles’ career, Lennon and McCartney were no longer aligned in their creative thinking. With ‘Across The Universe’, they both had different visions for the song, and as the lyricist behind it, Lennon should have stood his ground. However, rather than step into the driving seat, he became a passenger and allowed McCartney to take control.
Nevertheless, despite Lennon’s regrets regarding ‘Across The Universe’, it’s still a classic track of the highest standard, even if he wasn’t a fan of the final product.
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