Paul Mc Cartney and John Lennon have written so many songs.The words are just like poetry. They were so prolific too. Of course, George Harrisson also
penned a few songs.
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Paul Mc Cartney and John Lennon have written so many songs.The words are just like poetry. They were so prolific too. Of course, George Harrisson also
penned a few songs.
Also thinking about the Who as poets-and how they were inspires/influenced.
For example- "Baba O'Riley" by the Who and TS ELIOT.
McCartney is so-so at writing lyrics. Lennon was the brilliant one.
Edit: Also, while the Beatles undoubtley created fantastic, seminal music, I'm not sure all of their lyrics could stand on their own as poems. Perhaps some, like Julia, for instance.
;)Julia is ok as a song-it is more melancholylike "I'm so tired"and "cry baby cry."
In my year Eight class, we studied Eleanor Rigby as if it were a poem.
My brother worships Lennon. Does becoming dead increase the mystique of lyricism? It is a thought. The Beatles are who they are because of this chemistry combination. It befuddles me how one is given the 'gift' in a way the other is not. I don't understand. Do the silent dead shine while the living are left to blunder in their humaness so we cannot build them into something in our minds eye? Perhaps, had Lennon lived, he would be a paedophile. How would we feel about him then? It is something to ponder. That is all.
This is a critique often applied to singer/songwriters like Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Hendrix, etc. I cannot think that this can be applied to the Beatles. Lennon lived to 40, and by this time the Beatles had been defunct for quite some time. Whether Lennon would have continued to write music of the same quality beyond his assassination is a matter of speculation, but it is a fact that his reputation as a songwriter was firmly established before he died. "Imagine" and "Instant Karma" are fine songs, perhaps fantastic songs (especially the former), but Lennon could have written nothing except for the Beatles to establish his immortality.Quote:
Originally Posted by Delta40
Speaking of the Beatles chemistry, it definitely was a case where three of the greatest songwriters of the era just happened to be in the same musical group. However when I speak of their chemistry, I use the word "chemistry" loosely. The Beatles' internal conflicts are well known - The White Album features almost no collaboration whatsoever; each member simply wrote songs and either asked for the other members to play instruments or simply played all the instruments by themselves.
And on that note, Paul McCartney. McCartney's reputation is firmly established and he is still living. I prefer Lennon and Harrison to Paul, but not because they're dead.
You could be right. And in the end....it is a matter of opinion. I'm the same age as Lennon was when he died. It really is a unGodlike state. He himself said, 'They're just words.' I believe him. They held less meaning to him than to the rest of the world. Imagine that.
Across the Universe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko19oussVGQ
Great song, one of Lennon's personal favourites, you could say that the language is poetic in the traditional sense too.
when you die there is a certain legacy about you. you think of all the great stuff jimi hendrix could've done if his career wasn't so short. the whole "what could've been" concept.
the beatles broke up in 1970, and if they were still together by some miracle today people would see them as washups, and not give them the praise they deserve. They will suffer the same fate as artists like Bob Dylan, where you look back and be like "they used to be good".
that being said, the beatles are one of my favorite bands, and honestly i think their words are good, but most of the art of the beatles comes from their music. in rock music, lyrics are kind of just spontaneous and sometimes that is the brilliance of it, but the art is different and (in my opinion) better than poetry because it focuses not just on the song as a song, but in how the words SOUND and FEEL when played with the music.
I always think of The Waste Land whenever I hear Desolation RowQuote:
Originally Posted by Chris Marie
The first song George Harrison wrote for the Beatles was Taxman. Lennon helped him with some of it.
tomorrow never knows.
actually he started writing songs for the beatles on their second album.Quote:
Originally Posted by NikolaiI
on With The Beatles he wrote "Don't Bother Me"
on Help he wrote "I Need You" and "You Like Me Too Much"
on Rubber Soul he wrote "Think For Yourself" and "If I Needed Someone"
then he released taxman on Revolver, but he wrote two other songs on that album as well, so to say taxman was his first song just isn't true. And during this time period Harrison also recorded a lot of B-sides that didn't end up making it to albums. George Harrison wrote a LOT of songs, Lennon and McCartney would rarely put those songs on the albums though.
George Harrison was given around two songs on each Beatles album, all of which were completely written by George with the exception of Taxman where Lennon provided a couple lyrics.
Led Zeppelin also has some very poetic songs. Ten Years Gone is my personal favorite.
Reading their lyrics sucks. They are not even as good as Bob Dilan, Lou Reed or Leonard Cohen. But gladly, we listen to them.
I beg to differ. Lennon/McCartney is one of the greatest, and most well-known songwriting teams ever. Yes, some of their songs were nonsense: even they admitted it. But the majority are beautiful, and quite frankly genius.Quote:
Originally Posted by JCamilo
Personal favourites of mine are 'Fool On The Hill', "Eleanor Rigby" and "Strawberry Fields Forever". As well as "Working Class Hero", by John Lennon.
'Strawberry Fields, nothing is real. Nothing to get hung about, Strawberry Fields forever', it is obvious that John Lennon's past had an impact on his songwriting. The man was brilliant.
I'm with Camilio. They weren't that great as poets. If you are reading them, you must judge them as what you are reading, not what you are listening to. Would you choose to read the Beatles over Tennyson? You bias the music by using the term songwriter, when Shakespeare wrote songs 1000x better.
Oh Mistress Mine
O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O stay and here your true love's coming
That can sing both high and low.
Trip no further, pretty sweeting,
Journeys end in lovers' meeting
Ev'ry wise man's son doth know.
What is love? 'tis not hereafter
Present mirth hath present laughter,
What's to come is still unsure.
In delay there lies no plenty
Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty
Youth's a stuff will not endure.
In truth, Homer himself was sung, as was poetry for a long time. The Beatles were hardly great writers, outside of the fact that their music went well with their lyrics, and therefore are catchy.
I always liked "I am the Walrus"
Haha, put it this way... Lennon wrote masterpieces such as Jealous Guy and Imagine; McCartney wrote the Frog Song.Quote:
Originally Posted by mayneverhave
(And yes, I know I'm referring to song writing as opposed to lyrics in particular - couldn't help myself.)
I'm probably being a little harsh on account I don't particularly like Paul. In fact, I think a big part of why people hate Heather Mills is because they love him so much.
I don't know about poetry... but they produced some fantastic lyrics. I don't know, I never really got that; I always saw poetry and songs as different because sometimes it's the way in which you put the words across through the song.
David Sylvian's lyrics are good, better than Beatles or Dylan.
And Duran Duran! :) 'Don't say you're easy on me/You're about as easy as a nuclear war' Immortal brilliance!
many of the Beatles songs are poetic, I love Norwegian wood and blackbird, elanor rigby and so many others...
but Ringo is my favorite, maybe not as a songwriter but my favorite...
Leonard Cohen's songs are very poetic, I think he has written some books of poetry too...
some of David Grays lyrics too...
Guitar solo hereQuote:
Originally Posted by JBI
Quote:
Originally Posted by JBI
You’re right that “Taxman” wasn’t George’s first song for the Beatles — that was “Don’t Bother Me” on With The Beatles. So on that point, agreed.
That said, the original comment might have been getting at something slightly different. “Taxman” on Revolver is often seen as Harrison’s first major statement as a songwriter — more confident, more biting, and stylistically on par with Lennon–McCartney at that stage.
Also worth noting:
On Help! and Rubber Soul, his songs are solid but still developing
By Revolver, he’s writing things like “Taxman”, “Love You To”, and “I Want to Tell You” — a clear jump in originality and influence
On the “two songs per album” point — that’s broadly true, but it wasn’t just Lennon and McCartney blocking him. Early on, Harrison was still finding his voice, and the Lennon–McCartney partnership was incredibly dominant in both output and quality.
By the late period (White Album, Abbey Road), once Harrison’s writing fully matured, he started to push through standout tracks like “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Something”, which shows he wasn’t being held back in the same way anymore.
So yeah — not his first song, but arguably his first big leap as a songwriter.
I believe it was my junior/senior year in high school that we studied Eleanor Rigby & Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone & others... once I heard the comments from others, as urged on by Ms. Korman, I started thinking more of the poetry in lyrics, which is funny because when I 'listen' to music I rarely get the nuances as opposed to reading them... Songfacts has helped me quite a bit. https://www.songfacts.com/Quote:
Originally Posted by 1n50mn14
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor