Danny's Den

A true Lennon/McCartney collaboration, the song was recorded during the "Rubber Soul" album, but was only released as a single and with "Day Trippper" became a double-sided hit. The song was also released in the USA on the LP "Yesterday and Today" in 1966.

The Beatles Bible reports the song was:" Recorded over two days in sessions amounting to 11 hours - The Beatles' longest time spent completing a song to date - We Can Work It Out bore the distinctive hallmarks of both its songwriters.

Paul McCartney wrote the upbeat verses and chorus, reportedly after a disagreement with Jane Asher, while John Lennon had the idea for the pessimistic "Life is very short" counterpoint."
Paul confirmed the collaboration later in an interview"

I had the idea, the title, had a couple of verses and the basic idea for it, then I took it to John to finish it off and we wrote the middle together. Which is nice: 'Life is very short. There's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend.' Then it was George Harrison's idea to put the middle into waltz time, like a German waltz. That came on the session, it was one of the cases of the arrangement being done on the session. Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

The song means alot to me, as I was once again in love with a girl. Amazing how music helps you to remember stuff when you were only 12-15 years old isn't it? And yes, I had Beatle boots, the now Justin Beiber haricut and was crazy for some girl. Got dumped for another guy, but just because he had a car and a drivers license too. I was crushed- but always thought we could work it out! 

The double-sided songs were numbers 1 and 2 on the US charts. Even now, the lyrics have meaning for no matter how difficult the now can seem-"We Can Work It Out." screams to be played for so many that give up so quickly for truly" Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting...."

A John Lennon solo recording,"Julia", his first and only while a Beatle, appeared on the White Album released in1968. It was the last song recorded for the the 2 LP set, and unlike Paul, who had already recorded several solo songs, all of which are so called Lennon/McCartney compositions. "Julia" met resistence with the band just like Paul's "Yesterday" for it was was released as a single as a B-Side with ""Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da as the A-side. The song was released eight years later. Truly a heartfelt composition.

John had met and fell in love with Yoko, and it is apparent that for the the first time he was comfortable in writing a song in tribute to his Mother, Julia Lennon (1914–1958), who was knocked down and killed by a car driven by a drunk off-duty police officer when John was 17 years old. Parts of the song also reflect his love for Yoko," which is reported in Wikipedia,"whose first name, which literally means "child of the sea" in Japanese, is echoed in lyrics such as "Oceanchild, calls me."

The Beatles Bible states," The song was written in India. Like Dear Prudence and Happiness Is A Warm Gun, it contained the fingerpicking guitar style taught to Lennon by Donovan.

Sections of the song were adapted from lines from the poem Sand And Foam by the then-fashionable Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran. The opening words of Julia were taken from Gibran's lines, "Half of what I say is meaningless; but I say it so that the other half may reach you."

Lennon also adapted the lines "When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind" from Gibran's "When life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind". Other imagery, including 'seashell eyes', was also taken from Gibran.

As an exorcism of years of hurt and regret at losing her, Julia marked the point at which Lennon laid bare his soul after years of writing allusions to mother/lover figures. The song implies that he has, in Yoko Ono, finally found a love to equal his mother's, and was thereafter free to lay his soul bare to his new muse."

Lennon never refuted those statements. This was a solo, with not one other band member in the studio when John recorded it. Vocals and some acoustic guitar were double-tracked when the project was completed on Sunday,October13,1968.

So, we have John, his mother Juila and Yoko included in this song. To me, "Julia" not only marked the beginning of Lennon's solo career, but added to the individualism of the band, and less of a cohesive unison that made The Beatles-the Beatles. If "Imagine" was to be John's greatest solo, and is, this would be my pick for no.2. STILL a Lennon/McCartney composition this is no.11A.

This is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. It still has the Lennon/McCartney trademarks, but this one was the First that was only a Paul song without the Beatles. Only true Beatle compositions can make my top 10, therefore, it arrives here.
The song was written around 1964-5, during the time the movie "Help" was in production. Paul never asked for Lennon's assistance on the lyrics, and worked hours on the piano prior to switching to guitar for the final version. According to WikiPedia,

"During the shooting of Help!, a piano was placed on one of the stages where filming was being conducted and McCartney would take advantage of this opportunity to tinker with the song. Richard Lester, the director, was eventually greatly annoyed by this and lost his temper, telling McCartney to finish writing the song or he would have the piano removed.[5] The patience of the other Beatles was also tested by McCartney's work in progress, George Harrison summing this up when he said: "Blimey, he's always talking about that song . You'd think he was Beethoven or somebody!"[6]

George's irony turned out to be correct. The song has been covered over 1,600 times and makes the Guiness Book Of Records for the most covered song of all time. What started out as "Scrambled Eggs" became a classic.

The song could have been released on many Beatles albums, including "Help", Beatles VI but was only released in the USA as a single, and in 1966 on the LP "Yesterday And Today". A compliation of songs that many folks already had. The other band members refused to allow the song to be included on their albums."Although McCartney had fallen in love with the song, he had a much harder time convincing the other members of the band that it was worthy of an album place, the main objection being that it did not fit in with their image, especially considering that "Yesterday" was extremely unlike other Beatles' songs at the time. This feeling was so strong that the other Beatles—Lennon, Harrison and Ringo Starr—refused to permit the release of a single in the United Kingdom."

Reports have it that Paul actually wanted Yoko to remove the Lennon part of the composition, and make it a McCartney composition. She refused. The basis- The Beatles performed the song live at Shea Stadium and on Ed Sullivan as a group.

George Martin even approached Brian Epstein on the song and mentioned that this was only Paul, and should be released accordingly. The Beatles Manager declined in order to keep the band together.

After the initial LP release in 1966, the song appeared again on The Beatles 1, in 2002. It took the UK eleven years to release the song, and the USA many years later on an LP. Such a great song, but, did this start the breakup of The Beatles? Me vs.You? In later years, none of the band members recorded a song without the band-except Lennon.

A treasure forever- and STILL a Lennon/McCartney composition. It makes my list at 11B

From The Beatles first film "A Hard Day's Night" the song was released in the US as a B-Side to the films title song. A Lennon composition and the last song that had the harmonica intro. John did play the harmonica on other songs, most notably "I'm A Loser" on Beatles 65.
According to The Beatles Bible," The Beatles began recording I Should Have Known Better on 25 February 1964, a day which also saw them record Lennon's You Can't Do That and McCartney's ballad And I Love Her.

That day the group recorded three takes of I Should Have Known Better. At this stage the song was quite different to the final version, containing a Dylanesque harmonica solo and ending on a lead guitar line.
Only one of the three takes was complete; the second attempt was a false start which ended when Lennon collapsed into hysterics over his harmonica playing.
The Beatles returned to the song the next day, recording 18 takes. Again there were many aborted attempts, and the final version was take nine.
John Lennon double-tracked his lead vocals and overdubbed his harmonica part to complete the song. The final version, including these additions, was take 22."

John Lennon played a Gibson Jumbo J-160E electro acoustic guitar. Harrison, meanwhile, used his new Rickenbacker 360/12 Deluxe 12-string, which quickly became a trademark sound on the A Hard Day's Night album."

The song has meant so much to me as this was the first Beatles song I learned to play on the guitar. Playing a Fender Mustang through a Tremolux piggy-back amp, for once I was in tune with the 45, and finally got it down. When I purchased the soundtrack LP, I practiced others, but "I Should Have Known Better" still pleased my ears better-no pun intended. My parents should have known better than to buy me a guitar in the first place.

The song was not released by Capitol Records until years later. United Artists did the original soundtrack in 1964. It was in 1970 with the "Hey Jude" compliation that Capitol finally released the song.

A song that brings back memories, and of a particular scene in "A Hard Days Night", this makes my top 20 at no.12.

Released on Sgt.Peppers Lonely Heart Clubs Band in 1967, it is a Paul song for sure. Like "Eleanor Rigby", the Beatles do not play on this song. In fact, Paul could not get George Martin on the day that he was inspired to score it, so Michael Leander was called to arrange it. He obligated himself to the project, and added the violins and other instruments. Later George Martin stated," I couldn't understand why he was so impatient all of a sudden. It obviously hadn't occurred to him that I would be upset."
Fact is Martin did finish the song and added the first solo from a female that was on a Beatles album, Shelia Bromberg, the harpist, and added so much to the texture of the song. He is quoted as saying in The Beatles Bible that,"it made me cry."
The Beatles Bible also reports. In February 1967 McCartney read about Melanie Coe, a 17-year-old A-level schoolgirl from Stamford Hill, north London. She went missing without her car, cheque book and spare clothes. Her father was quoted as saying, "I cannot imagine why she should run away. She has everything here." Thus his inspiration for the song.
John added backgroud vocals and added the lines he sang to the song to make it a complete Lennon/McCartney composition.

This one can relate to many folks and makes my Top 20 at No.13

I have decided to forget the blog and include my comments and oratory here, especially with the iTunes acquistion of their music. Released on Rubber Soul, it is a John written song, although Paul admits adding the lines " Was she told when she was young that pain would lead to pleasure" and "That a man must break his back to earn his day of leisure" According to The Ultimate Beatles written by Bill Harry it was one of John's favorite songs.
Under a tight schedule the song was recorded in only 1 day, Nov.11,1965. There are many doubts about the chorus background saying"did did did or tit tit tit.
John added years later that "Girl" did not influenece his composition "Woman", only to add she had grown up. The song has Lennon's writings for sure. "When you say she's looking good, she acts as if it's understood."
The rumors also continue around the smell, some say it was a joint the guys were smoking, others the smell of a woman. Like most of The Beatles songs years later, memory seems to change the intent and who wrote what, but, one thing does not change-a great song is just that. It makes my top 20-No.14