the beatles paper

When people hear the name "The Beatles" most people think of
lead singer, John Lennon. However, the role of Paul McCartney is
often overlooked. It was McCartney, not Lennon who was the
driving force behind the Beatles. John Lennon and Paul
McCartney were in many bands together before the forming of
the Beatles. In 1962, along with Ringo Starr1 and George
Harrison, they formed the rock group known as "The Beatles".
The group featured a modern rock that was new and popular
during the period with John and Paul composing and doing the
leads on most of the songs. They were backed by George on
rhythm and bass guitar and Ringo on drums. George and Ringo also
assisted on backing vocals. When they first began
playing, the main influence inside the band was John Lennon,
who had an uncanny ability to compose songs at a moments
notice with an inspiration that others missed. He pushed the
members of the band during their touring years and was able to
achieve the best possible results from the group. The band
began playing in a Music Hall style that is very effective for the
audiences but was lacking on their albums. Together with
Paul, John began to evolve the band. As the years began to
pass, the band was obviously beginning to grow musical- ly.
They had moved from simple lyrics like "Love me Do" to harshly
aware reflections of life in their home country in "Eleanor
Rigby"2. There were attempts, some more successful than
others, to incorporate the other Beatles into the idea stage.
George Harrison made this leap successfully with such tracks as
"I want to tell you", "TAXMAN", and the psychedelic "Love you
to". Ringo was featured in the humorous "Yellow Submarine
As the group matured, their creativity began to rely more on the
effects and manipulations that they were able to produce in the
studio. The Beatles agreed to end their touring career after an

American tour of large halls that they failed to fill. It was
around this time, that John Lennon began to search for himself.
He began using any means that he thought might help him
connect. This era was marked by the Beatles visits to the
Maharashi Mahesh Yogi, and the beginning of heavy drug use3.
As Lennon began to use LSD in greater and greater quanti-
ties4, the other Beatles began to have more and more influence in
the production of the albums. Lennon began to become almost
reclusive, and often delayed recording sessions. By the
time that they were recording Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band in 1967, Lennon would simply propose songs and
themes, and McCartney was left to execute the plans and tie
together whims. They began to make demands of the crew:
Beatles songs were quite simple in the early days, you couldn't
play around with them too much. But by 1967 we were building
sound pictures and my [George Martin] role had changed-it was to
interpret the pictures and determine how best to get them down
on tape. Paul was fine-he could express what he wanted, the
sounds he wa nted to have. But John would make whooshing
sounds and try to describe what only he could only hear in
his head, saying he wanted a song to 'sound like an orange'.5
As soon as the Sgt. Pepper album was underway, Paul McCart-
ney came up with the idea of actually creating a band and pre-
forming the songs as that band. They took the Idea from there
and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band came into existence,
never to see the outside of studio 2 at Abbey Road. They spent
nearly a year recording various tracks for the album and John's
state of mind was steadily declining. In 1969 when they
issued Abbey Road it was no longer diffi- cult to distinguish
between the writings of Paul and John . John was producing

works like "I want you (she's so heavy)" which had the lyrics:
I want you so bad it's driving me mad
She's so heavy6 And the more musical and thoughtful work of
McCartney, such as "Golden Slumbers" which was almost a
lullaby: Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home Sleep pretty darling do
not cry And I will sing a lullaby Golden slumbers fill
your eyes Smiles awake you when you rise Sleep pretty
darling do not cry And I will sing a lullaby7 The writing
of the material on The Beatles8 seemed more balanced as
Lennon began writing more cogent songs, and collaborating on a
song-by-song basis with McCartney. Their songs varied from a
slow ballad in McCartney's "Blackbird" to the bizarre and in-
triguing "Revolution #9) by Lennon. Yet McCartney was needed to
control Lennon when he recorded the original version of "Sexie
Sadie" with the verse: You little twat Who the fuck
do you think you are Who the fuck do you think you are
Oh, you cunt.9 Fortunately McCartney prevented the track from
proceeding any farther than rehearsal. He ended up
suggesting that the song take a more sympathetic note and,
eventually, Lennon agreed. During this time, one almost
constant presence in the re- cording studio was Yoko Ono,
John's wife. This was against an unspoken code amongst the
Beatles not to allow wives and girl- friends into the studio. Yoko
had a large affect on John, almost completely altering his style,
and inspiring such songs as "I want her (she's so heavy)" and
"Revelation #9". Many of the other songs that Yoko and John
created were rejected by the group, but her presence changed
John's behavior and performance. The Beatles final album
together was Let It Be released in 1970. The album was not in

any way spectacular and exhibited many of the traits that are
associated with the Beatles writing. The title track, "Let It Be" is
one of the most famous tracks recorded by the group. The
music on the album was a last chance effort to keep the group
together, and although the album was well received, it was not
what the group had in mind. The Bea- tles did not make
another recording after that date, though there were rumors of
the group reforming until the shooting of Lennon in 1980.
One of the most obvious indicators of the heavy hand that
was often kept on Lennon is the progress of his band which he
formed after the breakup of the Beatles. The Plastic Ono Band
was an only moderately successful group that took the popular
psycedalia a few steps to far and lost most of its popularity.
Lennon attempted to enter theater, but it was quickly obvious
that he was no actor. He lived a bizarre and drug ridden life
secluded in his apartment with his wife Yoko Ono and his son.
Both he and his wife were reported to have serious heroin addic-
tions and were often said to be high in the presence of visitors.
After the breakup, McCartney launched a moderately success-
ful solo career. He has released many recordings both in the
United States and abroad. His most recent accomplishment was the
"Liverpool Oratorio" which is no small feat considering that
McCartney never learned to read music. The songwriting
styles, the studio records, and the individ- ual careers all show
that there was a very large influence in the group, and in the
music, by Paul McCartney. Equal to Lennon in the beginning,
but surpassing him at the conclusion of the rela- tionship. Two
key factors that probably caused this are his affection and
infatuation with Yoko Ono, and the heavy use of hallucinogenic
drugs. On some occasions, both of those factors may have

given Lennon inspiration for his music, but they greatly reduced
his control and influence in the band.