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Post by pothos on Feb 13, 2016 12:59:08 GMT
I am terrified to ask this question as it could be perceived as a negative but it is something I have always wondered.
Lennon / McCartney and occasionally Harrison; seemed to have a very unusual way of writing for the band. For example The Who Townsend wrote their songs. Zeppelin had Page/Plant and at time all four creating their songs.
With The Beatles did the single writer add to the band's creativity or eventually cause issues if at all amongst these extremely talented and ambitious writers
Hope my query is not seen as a negative as it is not meant that way.
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Post by ROCKY on Feb 13, 2016 13:27:21 GMT
I guess you mean George since Ringo never wrote anything worthy. Towards the end George was probably upset that he only got one or two songs an album when he was writing songs that were just as good as Lennon/McCartney.
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Post by Amadeus on Feb 13, 2016 14:30:53 GMT
Plain and simple, Lennon/McCartney (likely McCartney more) viewed themselves as the real songwriters and George as second best who might get a spot or two per album. An example of how he got the shaft from them is the fact that a song like 'Not Guilty' was left off the White album. But MOST of all is the example of how they recorded a demo of 'All Things Must Pass', definitely a better song than 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer', and (Paul in particular) butchered it and then just forgot it. I feel The Beatles might have lasted longer if they gave their all to George's song for Abbey Road. Google 'The Beatles All Things Must Pass'. Youtube has it out there somewhere.
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Post by Bongo on Feb 13, 2016 17:27:46 GMT
John Paul Jones had a BIG hand in arranging a lot of Zeppelins work.
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Post by pothos on Feb 13, 2016 18:16:17 GMT
George was a great songwriter I guess I was also touching on how Lennon and McCartney spared off each other. I genuinely cannot think of another act who had such diverse and talented writers who seemed to write on their own. Getting tracks on LP's must have been one hell of a battle for all concerned.
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Post by bluemeaniepaul74 on Feb 13, 2016 19:15:24 GMT
George struggled to gain any leverage between John and Paul's burgeoning egos and he obviously suffered because of that. He probably also envied the songwriting relationship John and Paul had, as is evident from this interview excerpt (from the late 80s) where George responds to rumours that Paul would like to write with him.
"Yes, Paul has suggested that maybe he and me should write something again. I mean, it's pretty funny really. I've only been there about thirty years in Paul's life and now he wants to write with me. But maybe it would be quite interesting to do that."
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Post by ROCKY on Feb 13, 2016 22:46:11 GMT
It's really funny that John & George wrote one the first Beatle songs together put on vinyl. I often wonder what happened to that writing relationship that John would have picked Paul as his writing buddy instead. And think of what could have been if RSATH would have picked George as their lead guitarist and used some of his songs on stage to further their career along.
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henryj
For A Number Of Things
Posts: 792
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Post by henryj on Feb 14, 2016 0:15:00 GMT
The curious thing is that you never hear about John or Paul stepping in to add something to George's songs. Perhaps it was because of the agreement that John and Paul had that whatever songs either one wrote for the Beatles would be credited to Lennon-McCartney, regardless of how much one or the other of the two contributed to the song.
Maybe The Quiet/Shy Beatle was too closed-off to ask for songwriting help. It might have been interesting if it had been every man for himself in the songwriting department and if there had been various combinations (Lennon-Harrison, McCartney-Harrison, Lennon-McCartney-Harrison).
It's entirely possible that John or Paul gave George some uncredited songwriting fragments, much as George did for songs credited to Richard Starkey. You just never hear about it.
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Post by pothos on Feb 14, 2016 10:10:08 GMT
This is one of the great what if's if George had got into the RSATH so we would have had Harrison / Starkey in one band and Lennon McCartney in the other. Also in regards to Lennon and McCartney writing what was their process. Did they complete songs on their own, or were using each other as sounding boards. I think they are unique in their way they worked.
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henryj
For A Number Of Things
Posts: 792
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Post by henryj on Feb 14, 2016 13:46:46 GMT
Lennon once stated that he and McCartney wrote songs in every combination possible, which might have been only a slight exaggeration. Words, music, bridge, etc. One site mentioned that "We Can Work It Out" was written by Paul, except for the bridge, written by John.
My What If is, what if George had contributed to Lennon-McCartney songs? Lennon-McCartney-Harrison, or uncredited?
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Post by ROCKY on Feb 14, 2016 14:38:15 GMT
How about this guy, tried his hand at songwriting. Song is about all his friends that are 'Gone'. Not sure if he was thinking of John & George at the time. I also think he knew by now that he wasn't that good at his profession and brought in another guy to help out. But in the end the song isn't that bad, reminds me of 'Penny Lane'.
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Post by Bongo on Feb 14, 2016 17:19:55 GMT
Geez, is Pete that bad of a drummer to bring in another? ?
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Post by dennis1960 on Sept 27, 2016 19:47:48 GMT
Just finished reading "George Harrison Beyond the Locked Door" and it gives excellent detail on the challenges he faced as a songwriter during his development as a Beatle and beyond. Due to being the youngest - and clearly not as talented a songwriter as John or Paul - he was always looked down on and many times his song ideas were not taken very seriously or given the attention they deserved. Not to mention the amount of songs where he'd record the guitar solo and then Paul would return to the studio later and replace it with his own solo. Anyway, it's the best George book I've read so far and gives more info to the songwriting duties of the band and how George did or did not fit in...
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