Sgt. Pepper: John Lennon Vs. Paul McCartney
By BrainFace on Aug 19, 2009 in Features
Even after Paul McCartney’s victory for Revolver, John Lennon is still up 6 to 1 in my album by album series on who contributed more to each Beatles album; Lennon or McCartney? Next, The Beatles 8th, and most famous, album; 1967′s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
01. “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” – Paul
The title song for the album was Paul’s.
02. “With a Little Help from My Friends” – Paul
John & Ringo should get assists on this. John helped some with the lyrics and it was Ringo who insisted upon changing the lyric from “What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you throw ripe tomatoes at me?” but Lennon said this was mostly Paul’s song (written specifically for Ringo to sing.)
03. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” – John
Mostly a John song but Paul definitely contributed both musically and lyrically as well. Plus, Paul’s bass throughout the song and his harmonies during the chorus real a huge part of what makes the song special.
04. “Getting Better” – Paul
Mostly Paul’s song, but the song is often used as an example of the Lennon/McCartney partnership because it was John who came up with the “it can’t get no worse” lyric which balances the optimism of the rest of the song.
05. “Fixing a Hole” – Paul
Some of Paul’s best lyrics with The Beatles.
06. “She’s Leaving Home” – Paul
Mostly Paul’s song although John did have input on it as well. The strings were not arranged by Beatles producer George Martin which was quite unusual. Martin was busy and Paul wanted it done right away so he had the score done by Mike Leander instead.
07. “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” – John
John got the lyrics (mostly word for word) from a 1843 circus poster.
08. “Within You Without You”
George’s song. I think it’s underrated. It’s an essential part of the album in my view because it gives it much more “weight.” It helps to convey the idea that you are really experiencing it all with this album.
09. “When I’m Sixty-Four” – Paul
Actually one of the first songs Paul wrote. His voice was speeded up to make him sound younger.
10. “Lovely Rita” – Paul
Bit of trivia: Apparently the four original members of Pink Floyd (Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, & Rick Wright) were present during the recording of this song.
11. “Good Morning Good Morning” – John
John was inspired to write this song by a TV commercial for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. Lennon was inspired by some interesting things for his songs on this album (a TV commercial, an old circus poster, his four year son’s drawing, and a story in a newspaper.) Paul gets an assist for the great guitar solo.
12. “Sgt. Pepper’s… (Reprise)” – Paul
I love how this version of the opening track is more rowdy. Like the band has really got loose over the course of their performance (the album.) I also love how the rooster sound of “Good Morning Good Morning” segues into the introductory guitar note.
13. “A Day in the Life” – John & Paul
The verses are John’s, the middle section is Paul’s. Pretty much the greatest song of all time.
VERDICT: Paul
Paul was nearly as dominant for Sgt. Pepper as John was for A Hard Day’s Night. An easy choice. Paul wrote 9.5 songs to John’s 3.5 (and Paul was more influential on John’s songs than John was on Paul’s.) This means Paul wrote over 70% of The Beatles most famous album. I think that pretty much destroys the theory that many uninformed folks have that The Beatles were John Lennon and 3 other dudes.
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Sgt. Pepper was definitely “Paul’s baby” as John later sang to himself “So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise?” at least I think that’s the lyric. Too lazy to look it up.
TheRoboticMushroom | Aug 21, 2009 | Reply
Seems like it took Lennon by surprise as Paul was the driving force behind it…never understood that line.
George Hasko | Aug 23, 2009 | Reply
George – Lennon said in one interview that song is actually to himself… Which makes that line( about Pepper) make more sense. But clearly some of the other lines are about Paul (“those freaks were right when they said you was dead.” & “The only thing you done was yesterday/And since you’ve gone you’re just another day”)
Marvin Marks | Aug 23, 2009 | Reply
Totally agree with you about Harrison’s contribution, though I think it’s as much George Martin’s as it is Harrison’s. The thing is, it’s really kind of a “Musician’s Only” tune; the way they adapted the authentic Indian 5/4 count thing, the orchestrations, etc. Hate to say it but it appeals mainly to musical “eggheads” (or the very open-minded casual listener). To most others it just sounds “weird”!
cellec | Sep 8, 2009 | Reply
I think it’s more than a little unfair to say that paul gets as much credit for a day in the life as john does. By that logic john and paul shoul split she’s leaving home seeing as he coontributed more lyrics for that song than paul did for a day in the life.
aubrey | Feb 6, 2010 | Reply
Same George Hasko from Colonia NJ? Looking for ya. Just wanted to say HEY! auntfluff03@yahoo.com
Jennifer Pierce | Mar 19, 2010 | Reply
I agree with Aubrey. Also, just to add some balance to the discussion: when we consider the major songs from Sgt Pepper, the ones that are truly memorable, what stands out? Besides the title track and “Little Help”, I think “Lucy” and “A Day in the Life.” Although Paul can claim credit for most of the tracks, “Getting Better”, “Fixing A Hole” and “Lovely Rita” are more filler than classics. Lennon by default gets two fillers: “Kite” and “Good Morning”. In fact, George Martin once admitted that if he were to add “Penny Lane” & “Strawberry Field”s to the album, he would cut “When I’m 64″ and “Lovely Rita!”
Nate | Aug 28, 2010 | Reply
Nate – I can’t disagree more strongly about there being “filler” on Sgt. Pepper — There is no filler. It’s an album and meant to be heard as an album. Not a few singles with “filler” … I don’t think this is an appropriate way to talk about an album like this… “filler” is a word to describe the non-singles on a Britney Spears album, not on a work of art like Sgt. Pepper.
Also, specifically, “Getting Better” and “Fixing a Hole” are godlike. Definitely classics in my book.
Marvin Marks | Aug 28, 2010 | Reply
Re: “A Day In The Life” (Paul credit) vs. “She’s Leaving Home” (John credit) … Perhaps John does deserve a co-credit for “She’s Leaving Home” – Paul does indicate in some interviews that John played an important part in the song.
But there’s also no doubt that Paul deserves a credit for “A Day in the Life” as he wrote the middle section and the “i’d love to turn you” bit as well as coming up with the idea for the orchestral buildup. These are not small things… While John does deserve top billing, Paul played a huge part in making that song the classic that it is.
Marvin Marks | Aug 28, 2010 | Reply
Marvin, both John and Ringo have said the Pepper concept goes nowhere–esp after the first two songs. As much as I’d like it to be a whole work of art, I think some of the songs aren’t as strong as those found on Revolver, nor do they carry forward the theme of Sgt. Pepper.
John and Paul should both get credit for Day in the LIfe AND She’s Leaving Home. John wrote the”long sustained notes” of the chorus (per Paul in Many Years From Now) as well as the lines spoken by the parents. That’s basically the whole chorus of the song!
I would add that it’s not clear cut that Paul came up with the idea of the orchestral build-up on A Day in the Life–George Martin attributed the idea to John in his “All You Need is Ears” book.
Nate | Aug 29, 2010 | Reply
It’s not a proper “concept album” in the later sense of the word – the songs are not linked by an obvious theme – but that doesn’t mean it’s not a work of art or that any of the songs are “filler” — personally I usually don’t like the really obvious concept albums because they overplay it… with sgt pepper it’s more like a trip through all of these different styles of music, yet they somehow all fit together as being by the same band.
Anyway… personal preference is just that… I mean my favorite Beatles album is probably their least cohesive (The White Album) but Sgt. Pepper is my second favorite – I just think it holds together better as an album than Revolver (#3) and I like the songs better than Abbey Road (#4)
Marvin Marks | Aug 31, 2010 | Reply
John and Ringo describe it as a concept that doesn’t go anywhere!
You can’t always trust The Beatles’ word on their own music! Sometimes they’re a bit scatter brained about their own albums!
In Anthology, Ringo says that George really blossomed on Rubber Soul and Revolver.
“Which one of his were on those ones?” Something like that.
Amadeus | Jul 7, 2011 | Reply
it is a fact that sgt.pepper is paul’s baby
but the most prominent songs are written by lennon..
for me it is not right to say that because, many people admired pepper, it suggests thst mccartney is the best beatle..
a day in the life, is the greatest song done by the beatles – mainly of lennon.
louie | Jul 28, 2011 | Reply
This is a great album. Paul definitely deserves this one. While John did right most of the best song ever Paul wrote the middle and had the orchestra. Sgt. Pepper was definitely Paul’s.
Chris | Jul 31, 2011 | Reply
Its a very special and great lp for sure.Im a huge lennon fan,but id say this lp was pretty much pauls baby.
manny lopresto jr. | Oct 25, 2011 | Reply