The first ballad John Lennon ever wrote for The Beatles
The Beatles should be applauded for bringing the idea of a rock band to the masses. Though there had been some artists in the rock genre known for their backing groups, the Fab Four treated every piece of their career like a democracy, with every band member bringing something to the table. It all came down to the songs, though, and the work of John Lennon and Paul McCartney was a match made in heaven.
In the grand scheme of rock and rollers, Lennon and McCartney often fall into two distinct categories. For most of their career, Lennon was the clear leader of the group who was known for incorporating some of the best lyrics of their career, from the cries of pain in the song ‘Help!’ to the hard-hitting questions about the war in ‘Revolution’. Whereas McCartney was known for being the master of melody and the trademark balladeer, Lennon could still show his sensitive side when he wanted to.
Although most of the group’s early attempts had been a joint affair between Lennon and McCartney, ‘If I Fell’ was the first ballad to be written predominantly by Lennon, revealing the more paranoid side of his personality. As opposed to his first attempts at love songs, Lennon reveals that he’s more trepidacious than ever in this song.
Compared to McCartney’s gleeful optimism, Lennon wonders whether going into a new love affair is worth it, having been hurt many times before. As the rest of the band plod along, both Lennon and McCartney’s harmony work is sublime, no doubt copping the feeling from the Everly Brothers tunes they loved as kids.
Moving further in the narrative, Lennon has been hurt in the past and might have impure reasons for his new relationship. Since he wasn’t on good terms with his old flame, Lennon’s wicked side rears its head towards the end, wanting the sight of his latest affair to bring tears to his former lover’s eyes, knowing what she had lost.
Although the message is a bit dicey, this was the first time Lennon allowed himself to be this open in song, which would only blossom as the years went on. As he told Rolling Stone, “It shows that I wrote sentimental love ballads, silly love songs, way back when”.
While Lennon thought that the song may have been a bit simplistic later in life, this became the precursor to the introspective material he would make later on. From this song onward, Lennon’s penchant for moody love songs like ‘In My Life’ would become more prevalent before becoming his standard way of writing once he left his first wife, Cynthia, for Yoko Ono.
It’s not just the love songs affected by ‘If I Fell’ either. Since this brings to mind Lennon’s personal side, it’s easy to see this as the testing grounds for what would become ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, as he makes sure he’s on the right level to talk about his innermost feelings.
Despite Lennon trying to run away from the sentimental side of himself, McCartney always maintained the power he had within his ballads, saying, “People tend to think of him as an acerbic wait, but he did have a very warm side to him, which he didn’t like to show too much in case he got rejected”. Lennon may have still been steering the ship at this point in The Beatles’ career, but it was becoming apparent that the melodic side of McCartney was starting to rub off on him.
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