Who was the greater talent, Lennon or McCartney ?

[Surf's Up]

Is the correct answer. Their success needed the ingredients of all four members.

I think George Martin had something to do with their music too.

 

[Kumquat]

I actually served Paul McCartney in a cafe the morning after he had the dream about the song "Yesterday". He looked a bit fraught and I asked him if he wanted his eggs fried, poached or scrambled. So arguably, it's me.

 

[Felpham Seagull]

Paul McCartney the" Frog Song "John Lennon "Give Peace a Chance"

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

To paraphrase Lennon, they weren't even the best songwriters in The Beatles.

Sinatra had it right when he said that the best Lennon & McCartney song is 'Something'.

Off the top of my head Dylan, Smokey Robinson, Ray Davies, Brian Wilson, Goffin & King, Pete Townshend, Holland, Dozier & Holland, Steve Cropper, Hayes and Porter, Bacharach and David, Roy Orbison, Gaudio and Crewe, John Fogerty, Jon Sebastian, Albert Lee and Bryan McLean, Sam Cooke, Cale and Reed, Peter Green, would mean they shouldn't even get close to the top ten of sixties songwriters.

As other have said, wrong, wrong and wrong.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

There is a fine line between heartfelt and trite and, although a brilliant songwriter, Wonder has stepped over this line just as often as McCartney. 'Isn't She Lovely' anyone? 'I Just Called to Say I Love You'?

I would agree about "I just called to say I love You"

But I think "Isn't she Lovely" is a glorious evocation of the joys of fatherhood. And as the father of two daughters and now a grandfather (of a granddaughter), I know what he meant.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Paul McCartney the" Frog Song "John Lennon "Give Peace a Chance"

If you're saying these songs were both rubbish, at least Lennon's rubbish was better rubbish. At least it says something worthwhile. And I quite like it anyway.

And in answer to the original question, I would always go for Lennon, but recognise he needed McCartney, that they both needed Harrison and Starr, and that George martin was important.
But it was Lennon and McCartney who wrote the songs.

 

[lawros left foot]

Lennons Working class hero, against Mary ha a little lamb, hmm, tough choice

 

[lawros left foot]

And McCartneys Wonderful Christmas time, turned me into a baby eating satanist!

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

Sean Lennon .. allegedly



All songs were listed as "Lennon & McCartney" (except the George and Ringo ones)

 

[Buzzer]

Undoubtedly Lennon. It's not really up for debate, surely?

 

[Stato]

As other have said, wrong, wrong and wrong.

Had you, and the others telling me of my wrongness, realised that the first two lines of this were a joke? Lennon was once asked whether Ringo Starr was the best drummer in the world and he answered that he wasn't even the best drummer in the Beatles. Sinatra used to cover George Harrison's 'Something' and on more than one occasion mistakenly referred to it on stage as his favourite Lennon & McCartney song.

The rest is not a joke. All those mentioned have produced at least one song which I would rate above anything that Lennon & McCartney did together or apart. I don't like The Beatles very much. This is not wrong. This is my opinion. This guy http://www.scaruffi.com/vol1/beatles.html somes up some of the reasons why, although I don't agree with him about the short pop song not being art.

Art is subjective and this is why some of fathers think that Stevie Wonder's tribute is heartfelt and some, like me, think that recording his baby's giggle and releasing it on a record goes a bit to far towards saccharine sweetness.

 

[Buzzer]

"A Day In The Life"

Lennon : "I read the news today oh boy, about a lucky man who made the grade and although the news was...."

McCartney: "Woke up, fell out of bed dragged a comb across my head..."

Says it all really.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

I was aware of the "best drummer of the Beatles" thing, but not of the Sinatra mistake.

And the third - and serious - part of your post is the one I would come closest to agreeing with if I were to think about it. I wouldn't rate all those you list as better than the Beatles Duo, but Ray Davies I think I would rate as the greatest British songwriter of his generation. On another thread I have just been reminded of Dylan's "Bringing it all Back Home", which I bought somewhere around 1966, and it had more great songs on it than most people manage in a lifetime....... and that is to name but two.

PS - I think one of the worst songs ever written is Yesterday

 

[Stato]

I'm glad we can find some common ground. I completely agree with you about Ray Davies and am of the view that virtually everything good that came out of the sixties music scene was, one way or another, connected with Dylan. One small example is that Sam Cooke wrote 'A Change Is Going to Come' as a direct response to hearing Dylan.

 

[The Lemming Stomper]

George Harrison wrote the best Beatles song ever.....ripped off by the Jam in 1980

 

[sams dad]

George Harrison wrote the best Beatles song ever.....ripped off by the Jam in 1980

He also wrote that awful ****ing dirge "My Sweet Lord"

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

George Harrison wrote the best Beatles song ever.....ripped off by the Jam in 1980

Improved by The Jam.

 

[Stato]

I look at Taxman as a good tune let down by the gormless lyrics. A rich pop star moaning about paying high taxes is pretty unedifying, but if you're going to do it, have the nous to laugh at the irony:



I can forgive George virtually anything though because he used the tiny amount the taxman left him to fund 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

I look at Taxman as a good tune let down by the gormless lyrics. A rich pop star moaning about paying high taxes is pretty unedifying, but if you're going to do it, have the nous to laugh at the irony:



I can forgive George virtually anything though because he used the tiny amount the taxman left him to fund 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'.

Agreed. The lyrics that Weller wrote were immeasurably better. Poignant and endearing.