Paul McCartney vs. John Lennon

Paul McCartney vs. John Lennon: Two Very Different Song Writers

Considering the differences between two of the most prominent songwriters in modern music that made up the most successful band of all time, the Beatles.

From their formation to their eventual disbanding, the Beatles’ offered one of the most interesting and outstanding songwriting duos: the team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. In the early stages of their career Lennon and McCartney did not have distinctly different styles, but as the Beatles’ career progressed the two songwriters’ styles deviated. As Lennon and McCartney’s styles departed from one another, so did the members of the band. An obvious tension grew from the differing styles that, in addition to Brian Epstein’s death, lead to the band’s ultimate end. In the following discussion, I will compare two songs off Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and analyze two other songs, also off Sgt. Pepper’s, all suggesting that Lennon’s songwriting style is considerably more pessimistic than McCartney’s.

“A Day In The Life,” off of the Beatles’ album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, is actually two separate songs mashed together masterfully using a 41-piece orchestra. Of the two separate songs, Lennon wrote one and McCartney the other. The song begins with simple strumming of the guitar, and complementing piano riffs playing in a ¾ time signature. Lennon’s cheerless voice then enters, and the first line ends with an exhausted, “oh boy;” the feeling of pessimism and depression is palpable. From here on McCartney compliments Lennon’s sadness with a continually descending bass riff, and Ringo Starr offers a drumbeat that seems to drags along. Then a roar of orchestral instruments crescendos into the song, and when it settles there is nothing but a bouncing piano part playing one chord steadily and a constant bass riff playing in a new time signature, 4/4.
Then an alarm sounds, and Paul enters with a cheerful voice to match the lively movement by the piano. He sings, “I woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head,” and a full sentence later he playfully pants. When McCartney’s jovial contribution is finally complete, there is an epic-sounding orchestra sound on top of Lennon’s “ahhs,” and then the song returns to Lennon’s melodramatic style. The title, “A Day in the Life,” may signify the differences between McCartney and Lennon’s everyday lives. While Lennon is reading sad stories in the newspaper, McCartney is simply preparing himself for the day that lies ahead. Both Lennon and McCartney wrote their portions of the songs individually, and there is an obvious difference in both the lyrics and the aesthetics in these portions that hints at Lennon’s style being more pessimistic.

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Off the same album, and primarily written by Lennon is, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” The first thing that is heard is a strange sounding organ, followed by Lennon’s once again nasally voice. His psychedelic lyrics are well supported by a sitar that plays the same notes as Lennon sings creating a bizarre overtone. The lyrics that are sung refer to surreal imagery, and when Lennon sings, “Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes, and she’s gone,” a snare hits four times and a new time signature is introduced along with an optimistic bass riff and lyrical hook. McCartney’s songwriting shines through in this portion but only for a short time. The song quickly returns to its psychedelic state. The lyrics of this song suggest the use of hallucinogens, but whether or not this is true, the beautiful girl that Lennon is looking for, Lucy, disappears whenever he is looking for her. This pessimistic viewpoint conveys the belief that something so beautiful does not actually exist; it is merely a hallucination. Although McCartney’s portion does not have any lyrics that may support my argument the music he has written is laden with optimism. Lennon’s music and lyrics are both extremely dreamlike, and acknowledge Lennon’s desire to escape the “horrible” real world for a surrealistic one, which he can create. Similar to many of the other songs written individually, there are verses written by Lennon and a chorus written by McCartney.

The juxtaposition of McCartney and Lennon’s writing styles is evident again on another single released by the Beatles. “Strawberry Fields Forever,” written by John Lennon, was released as a single alongside McCartney’s, “Penny Lane,” in 1967. Looking at the two songs in comparison, “Penny Lane” is a much more delightful sounding song with some “pep” in it’s step, and “Strawberry Fields Forever,” has a romantic and reminiscent sound to it. “Strawberry Fields Forever,” does not necessarily have the most depressing lyrics, nor is the saddest sounding song, but when you listen to the style of lyrics in comparison to McCartney’s song, it is very pessimistic. In “Penny Lane,” McCartney describes a place in a very literal and straightforward sense, and the songs catchphrase, “Penny Lane is in my ears, and in my eyes,” has a joyful and optimistic outlook. In “Strawberry Fields Forever,” Lennon talks about everything as if it is not real and how it is easier to live with your eyes closed. The message in this song is consistently a pessimistic one. Lennon seems to be saying that the world and everything in it is bad, and the idea that something good exists in this world can only be a dream. That dream is “going to strawberry fields forever.” The idea that a happy life can only be lived in a dream world, in comparison to the idea that a single place can have such an impact on someone that it is engraved in their memory, is very pessimistic.

Toward the end of the Beatles’ career there was a brief period in which Lennon was writing songs such as, “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey,” “Glass Onion,” and “Happiness is a Warm Gun.” Which, despite some of the depressing names, are surprisingly happy when compared to Lennon’s earlier material. However, Lennon continued to write depressing songs like “Julia,” a song about Lennon’s mother’s death in 1958. McCartney continued to write his the optimistic pop, as seen in “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” and had fun with songs like “Rocky Raccoon.” Finally, Paul publicly left the band saying only that it was due to “personal, business, and musical differences,” and the Beatles came to an end. The team of Lennon and McCartney was one of the most fascinating and exceptional songwriting duos. When placed next to each other, McCartney’s playful pop makes Lennon’s pessimism become apparent, however, the merging of the two styles created extremely intriguing music.


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