Lennon–McCartney was the rock music songwriting partnership between English musicians John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles. It is one of the best known and most successful musical collaborations in history. Between 1962 and 1969, the partnership published approximately 180 jointly credited songs, of which the vast majority were recorded by the Beatles, forming the bulk of their catalogue. Sometimes, especially early on, they would collaborate extensively when writing songs, working “nose to nose and eyeball to eyeball”. Later, it became more common for one of the two credited authors to write all or most of a song with limited input from the other. Lennon–McCartney compositions have been the subject of numerous cover versions; according to Guinness World Records, “Yesterday” has been recorded by more artists than any other song. (More from Wikipedia)
After a few albums of (more or less) pure country, Linda Ronstadt perfected her sound when she connected with one of the top producers of the 1970’s, Peter Asher; he was also Ronstadt’s manager for several years. Peter Asher and Gordon Waller performed as Peter and Gordon, a British duo who enjoyed several years of success, particularly with their #1 hit in 1964, “A World Without Love”. The song was written by Paul McCartney but credited as Lennon/McCartney as was all of his music and that of John Lennon in the British Invasion period.
(October 2013)
As recounted in Greg Shaw’s liner notes for the English Freakbeat, Volume 2 CD, Kim Fowley connected with another American expatriate, P. J. Proby. After several failed singles in this country, Proby had a series of UK Top 20 hits that included his cover of a Lennon/McCartney song, “That Means a Lot” that the Beatles were never able to record to their own satisfaction.
(January 2015/1)
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Their second single was actually a Lennon/McCartney song, “I Wanna Be Your Man”; from Wikipedia: “According to various accounts, either the Rolling Stones’ manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham or the Rolling Stones themselves ran into [John] Lennon and [Paul] McCartney on the street as the two were returning from an awards luncheon. Hearing that the band were in need of material for a single, Lennon and McCartney went to their session at De Lane Lea Studio and finished off the song – whose verse they had already been working on – in the corner of the room while the impressed Rolling Stones watched.”
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As with Lennon/McCartney, additionally some of the songs were written only by Mick Jagger, and others only by Keith Richards. Wikipedia gives as examples that Mick Jagger wrote “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Brown Sugar”, and that Keith Richards wrote “Happy”, “Ruby Tuesday”, and “Little T&A”. In the same 1995 interview (with Jann Wenner) mentioned above, Mick Jagger said: “I think in the end it all balances out.”
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Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas had numerous hit songs, including several Lennon/McCartney songs in Britain (Billy J. Kramer was also managed by Brian Epstein) and a major U.S. hit, “Little Children” in March 1964. They used “with” rather than “and” so as to keep separate identities for the singer and the band. The Dakotas by themselves had a hit instrumental in the U.K. with “The Cruel Sea”; for its U.S. release, it was retitled “The Cruel Surf” and was later covered by the Ventures. A curious song by the Dakotas called “7 Pounds of Potatoes” – “ . . . come between me and my love”, according to the lyrics – is included on English Freakbeat, Volume 2 (both the LP and the CD).
(May 2015)
