Some of the comments for my last post about The Beatles songs that Paul McCartney wrote have lead me to the idea of doing an album by album series on who contributed more to each Beatles album; John Lennon or Paul McCartney. I’ll start off at the beginning with The Beatles debut album, Please Please Me.

Please Please Me (1963)

The Beatles debut album included 8 originals and 6 cover songs. At this early point in their career John & Paul were writing most of their songs together. Even with those songs where either John or Paul came up with the original idea, the other would usually contribute some ideas (whether musically or lyrically) to the song.

1. “I Saw Her Standing There” - Paul

The lead song on the album was mostly written by Paul and it was sung by Paul. John did contribute some lyric ideas which were crucial, Paul’s original lyric was “beauty queen” instead of “you know what I mean.”

2. “Misery” - John & Paul

This is one of the songs where John & Paul really wrote it together although John did claim once that the song was “more John than Paul” and since he sang lead there’s probably some truth to that as the lead singer on a Beatles song was generally the principle songwriter (with the exception of the songs that Ringo sang and the early songs that George sang.)

3. “Anna” - John

This is a cover but I do think John deserves credit for doing a great job with the vocal. It’s really an extremely cheesy song but there’s something about this one that makes it one of my favorite Beatles covers. Generally, I don’t really care for their covers.

4. “Chains”

A cover sung by George. John & Paul sang harmonies. This has always been one of my least favorite covers of theirs.

5. “Boys”

This cover is even worse than “Chains.” Sung by Ringo.

6. “Ask Me Why” - John

This one was sung by John and he was the principle songwriter. Definitely not among my favorite early Beatles originals but it does have some interesting elements.

7. “Please Please Me” - John

The biggest plus for John is that he was the lead singer and principle songwriter for the title track which I believe is the best song on the album. The song also featured John’s harmonica playing. The Beatles producer George Martin also deserves credit for this track because John initially wrote it as a slow bluesy type number and it was Martin who had the idea of speeding it up.

8. “Love Me Do” - Paul & John

The song was mainly written by Paul but John did write the bridge and he played the distinctive harmonica part. While it was The Beatles first single and did hit #1 in the US during Beatlemania, I think it’s among The Beatles lesser originals.

9. “P.S. I Love You” - Paul

There are some hints of the greatness of later Beatles songs hidden in this early Paul tune.

10. “Baby It’s You” - John

John sang the lead vocal on this cover. I’ve always liked this one too.

11. “Do You Want to Know a Secret” - John & Paul

It was written by John & Paul for George to sing.

12. “A Taste of Honey” - Paul

Paul sang this cover. I never really liked this one but I can kind of hear the appeal these days. I particularly like the “I will return…” part.

13. “There’s a Place” - John & Paul

This was co-written and co-sung. It’s somewhat remarkable for the harmonies and the lyrics. The lyrics are a bit “cerebral” for 1963. In other words they weren’t about romantic love which was a rare thing at the time.

14. “Twist & Shout” - John

The Beatles most famous cover largely because of the awesome vocal performance that John delivered. It makes the original version sound quite lame in comparison.

VERDICT: John

John wrote “Please Please Me” & “Ask Me Why” and contributed great vocals on three covers, most notably the legendary “Twist & Shout.” Paul wrote “I Saw Her Standing There” & “P.S. I Love You.” They each wrote 2 originals and they co-wrote the other 4. Largely because of his more numerous and better covers I think John has to get the win for Please Please Me.

The Beatles Box Sets

Please Please Me is included as a part of both The Beatles Mono Box Set & The Beatles Stereo Box Set. You can order them online at The Beatles Amazon Store.

1963, John Lennon, The Beatles, 60s, Most Valuable Beatle

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