Continuing the John Vs. Paul series I started yesterday with Please Please Me, this is The Beatles second album, 1963’s With The Beatles.

With The Beatles (1963)

The Beatles second album had 8 originals and 6 cover songs just like their debut. It is considered by most Beatles fans to be one of their lesser efforts.

In fact I would argue that it’s the worst album the band recorded save for Yellow Submarine which doesn’t really count as an album anyway. But that doesn’t so much mean there’s nothing good on this album, just that The Beatles recorded a lot of really great albums.

Like with Please Please Me, John & Paul were working very closely together on these songs which makes it a bit more difficult than it is with their later albums to say who did what as far as contributions to the creation of each of the album’s original songs.

1. “It Won’t Be Long” - John

This was primarily a John song, although Paul did help with the lyrics and the song’s arrangement. I think it’s one of their lesser album openers (which were usually very strong) but it’s still one of the better songs on this album which says a bit about the relative weakness of this album.

2. “All I’ve Got to Do” - John

This was written by John on his own. An interesting little tidbit about this song is that Lennon wrote the lyrics specifically for the American audience because at the time it would have been unthinkable to call a girl on the phone to English youth. This shows how much The Beatles were thinking about breaking through in America at this time (they were not yet known in the States when this album came out.)

3. “All My Loving” - Paul

Paul scores a big one here, as this is definitely the standout song on The Beatles second album. Interestingly enough, this song was one of the rare occasions where McCartney wrote the lyrics to one of his songs before the music. This was the first song that many Americans heard by The Beatles because it was the opening song on their February 9, 1964 debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

4. “Don’t Bother Me”

The first Beatles song that George Harrison wrote. George also sang it. It doesn’t factor into the John Vs. Paul competition I’ve got going on here.

5. “Little Child” - John & Paul

This one was written by Lennon & McCartney for Ringo to sing but they ended up having Ringo sing “I Wanna Be Your Man” instead. John does sing the lead vocal which is probably an indication that he had a bit more to do with the writing of this song than McCartney did. Regardless, it’s pretty much filler so John won’t get too much credit for it. John does bust some pretty rockin’ harmonica.

6. “Till There Was You” - Paul

A cover. This tune was featured in the musical/movie “The Music Man.” I do like Paul’s vocal on this. It’s a song that many people associate with The Beatles because it was performed on as the second song on The Beatles Ed Sullivan debut on 2/9/64.

7. “Please Mr. Postman” - John

Another cover, John sang lead. Not one of The Beatles better covers, although it is a good song so it’s still a somewhat enjoyable listen.

8. “Roll Over Beethoven”

George deserves most of the credit here, he sang lead and he did his best Chuck Berry impression on the guitar licks.

9. “Hold Me Tight” - Paul

Paul wrote this one and sang lead. Obviously the band didn’t think much of it, as it wasn’t included on Please Please Me even though it was recorded during those sessions. Or maybe it was just a poor recording? It was re-recorded for With The Beatles. I actually think it’s better than all of the originals on Please Please Me save for the obvious exceptions of the title track and “I Saw Her Standing There.”

10. “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” - John

John sang lead on this Smokey Robinson cover. It’s a great song so I do find this cover version pretty enjoyable. John’s voice was really strong in the early 60s.

11. “I Wanna Be Your Man” - John & Paul

This song was written by John & Paul for The Rolling Stones. The Stones version was released first. The Beatles included it here with Ringo singing lead. I’ve never been a big fan of this song but it does have a certain energy to it that I can appreciate now.

12. “Devil in Her Heart”

George sings lead for the 3rd time on this album. It’s a cover of a song called “Devil in His Heart” (The Beatles changed the pronoun) by the Motown group The Donays.

13. “Not a Second Time” - John

John wrote and sang this one. Check out the Aeolian cadences at the end of the tune (see this William Mann essay from ‘63.)

14. “Money” - John

Another great cover vocal by John. The Beatles didn’t hit it out of the park like they did with their Please Please Me closer “Twist & Shout” but this is pretty good. “Money” was a hit for Barrett Strong in 1959.

VERDICT: John

John wrote three of the originals on his own (”It Won’t Be Long,” “All I’ve Got to Do,” & “Not a Second Time.”) and he gave some inspired vocal performances on the covers of “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” and “Money.”

I think John edges out Paul here even though Paul definitely wrote the most memorable song of the album with “All My Loving” and I think his “Hold Me Tight” is actually a little underrated. Paul’s contributions were probably a bit stronger on average, but John’s were definitely more numerous as John sang lead on 7 songs to Paul’s 3. George sang lead on 3 songs as well (and Ringo sang lead on the other.)

This disparity in lead vocals gives the impression that as of 1963, John was the clear leader of the band. But at the same time it’s just as clear that Paul’s contributions were an essential part of the band, without “All My Loving” this album would look significantly weaker.

Trivia: With The Beatles was released on November 22, 1963 which was the same day that John F. Kennedy was killed. Brave New World author Aldous Huxley also died on that day. Huxley was later included on the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967. C.S. Lewis died on 11/22/63 as well.

The Beatles were still unknown in the US at this time. With The Beatles was not released in the US until The Beatles original UK catalog was put on CD in 1987.

Buy The Remastered With The Beatles CD

The Beatles Box Sets

With The Beatles is included in both The Beatles Mono Box Set & The Beatles Stereo Box Set which will be released on 9/9/9. They are both available for order at The Beatles Amazon.com store online.

Most Valuable Beatle, The Beatles, Paul McCartney, 60s, John Lennon

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