Please Please Me - McLennon Analysis
John and Paul were constantly communicating through their lyrics, but just how much of it was dedicated to each other? Their debut album, Please Please me, might not be as lyrically-McLennon-packed as their later albums, but there it still a surprising amount to say about how they made music with each other during this era.
I Saw Her Standing There
'I Saw Her Standing There' was the first song credited as 'McCartney -Lennon' rather than their later usual 'Lennon - McCartney'. During the song-writing process, John and Paul's back-and-forth banter and suggestions would typify how they would later work in partnership, "when I showed it to John, he screamed with laughter, and said 'You're joking about that line, aren't you?' And I realized that, in fact, I was, and we changed it."
Paul McCartney and John Lennon writing 'I Saw Her Standing There', Forthlin Road, November 1962.
'Paul said this was one of the most important photographs I had ever taken because it showed him and John exactly as they were together. They used to form ideas, write them out and then play them with the band. It shows the camaraderie, the togetherness and the professionalism of what they did.' (Mike McCartney)
The lyrics are rather pop-standard, as are the rest on this album, in the sense that John and Paul hadn't yet started communicating lyrically through their music. Considering 'I Saw Her Standing There' had started being written in late 1962, their relationship had not yet suffered - far from it - they were, rather, becoming closer and would do for the next half decade. However, on the 28th of November, 1974, Madison Square Garden, John Lennon sang 'I Saw Her Standing There' alongside the Elton John Band, his last major live performance, and introduced with "we thought we'd do a number of an old, estranged fiancé of mine, called Paul". Before the show, Elton later told Sean, John became physically sick from nerves. Out of all Beatles songs, why did John choose this one? Perhaps we need to read no further than the lyric "how could I dance with another?", John is not only recalling the beginning of his music career but also the start of a blossoming relationship and wanted to summon Paul's presence in face of such a large, intimidating crowd, "if he couldn't look across the stage and see his friend, he could at least summon his presence." (Ian Leslie)
"And it was great because he said he had never sung it. Paul sang it." (Elton John)
Funnily enough, after the show, John reunited with his then estranged wife Yoko Ono backstage.
Misery
Like many songs on this album, Misery's song-writing process differs not much from the rest. However, a notable claim for John was that "it was kind of a John song more than a Paul song, but it was written together." While Paul's version of events were slightly different, "I don't think either one of us dominated on that one." This is an early taste of their future bickering, claiming that they had more claim to a particular song than the other.
Anna (Go To Him), Chains, Baby It's You, A Taste of Honey and Twist and Shout are all covers, most of which (while amazing) are not notable in the McLennon sense.
Boys
'Boys' is also a cover song from the American girl group 'The Shirelles', and while there isn't much on John and Paul's thoughts at the time, notably The Beatles did not care for the possible homosexual undertones of singing about 'Boys', as Paul McCartney later confirms in 2005, "Or it was a gay song. But we never listened. It's just a great song. I think that's one of the things about youth - you just don't give a shit. I love the innocence of those days."
Ask Me Why
Paul had been quite easy in admitting "it was John's original idea and we both sat down and wrote it together, just did a job on it. It was mostly John's."
Please Please Me
'Please Please Me' is one John wrote alone and one which Paul has never claimed collaboration on, always referring it as "John's" (although most record labels would list it as a 'McCartney - Lennon' composition). "That was one of the great things about working in a collaboration. I could bring something in that John would spot needed alteration." I think that song-writing was how they initially became so close with each other, sharing their most personal lyrics, and letting the other judge and amend them freely, which is why the innocence of this album is such an integral stepping stone for their future songs.
"John liked the double meaning of 'please.' Yeah, 'please,' y'know, pretty please. 'Please have intercourse with me. So, pretty please, have intercourse with me, I beg you to have intercourse with me.' He liked that, and I liked that he liked that. This was the kind of thing we would see in each other, the kind of thing in which we were matched up. We were in sync." Paul and John always seem to have this insistent nature on describing their relationship as something bonding - they were always "dissolving into each other", using intimate language to define their relationship, noting how they understood each other like no one else.
In Paul's 2005 US tour, Paul closed off an encore with 'Please Please Me', which was a large surprise as it's a song entirely composed by John (who also did lead vocals). In his live performances, Paul would only sing those where he was the lead singer himself, thus 'Please Please Me' breaks this pattern.
Love Me Do
As kids, they would scribble songs in a school notebook, always writing 'Another Lennon–McCartney Original' on top of each page, "we wanted to be famous". This album captures that innocent sound of their dreams of stardom, it's so cute. There isn't much I could find on this song particularly worth writing about (except that John thought he was going to go to prison for stealing the harmonica which he used for that song).
P.S. I Love You
"It was pretty much mine. I don't think John had much of a hand in it. There are certain themes that are easier than others to hang a song on, and a letter is one...'Dear John' is the other version of it. The letter is a popular theme and it is just my attempt at one of those." It's both agreed by John and Paul that it was mainly Paul's song, although Chris Salewicz's 1986 biography 'McCartney' said that John "helped with the lyrics", while John himself said in the 1980 Playboy interview that he personally "might have contributed something".
Also, while researching, I discovered that a 'Dear John' letter is one where a man or woman writes to their lover that their relationship is over, usually because they've found another lover. I thought it was interesting enough to mention but not enough so to make its own post.
In 'Do You Want To Know a Secret', although written by John and Paul, then gifted to George to sing because he was a "lesser singer", there is nothing to write home about regarding Paul and John's relationship.
Similarly, in 'There's a Place', besides slight discourse on who played a bigger role in the making of the song, there is not much else to be said.
I could have never imagined that there was so much to write about in their debut album and I imagine the length of these posts are only going to increase with every album. If there's anything I missed or anything I've misinterpreted, please do let me know!
Thank you @unknowingdice and @frogsdontcry for the help on this post!
If anyone would like to work on an album together, please pop me a message, I'm extremely keen on being more active in the community <3!
gummygunk
origamiaround
dailybridgerton
2087
izzy806
kianamaiart
snowghoul
amandla
