MUSIC Every number one song written by John Lennon

For even more fun, google "Bennet the Sage" counting down the best number-one songs of all time and the worst number-one songs of all time.

The worst is more fun. There are some truly excrement songs which made number one -- Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey" is my least favorite of all of them. Both videos are worth the time spent, which is rare for internet videos.
 
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philemer said:
I believe some of these were co-written with Paul. Yes?
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Yes. Actually, some of them were mostly written by Paul. Hey Jude, Eleanor Rigby, Lady Madonna and Get Back to name a few.
 
Rolltydr said:
Yes. Actually, some of them were mostly written by Paul. Hey Jude, Eleanor Rigby, Lady Madonna and Get Back to name a few.
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Indeed.
The Long and Winding Road, credited to Lennon-McCartney, was actually written by McCartney.

In interviews, Paul said the phrase, "the long and winding road" was inspired by the sight of a road "stretching up into the hills" in the remote Scottish highlands. "I just sat down at my piano in Scotland, started playing and came up with that song, imagining it was going to be done by someone like Ray Charles. I have always found inspiration in the calm beauty of Scotland and again it proved the place where I found inspiration."

Phil Spector added the orchestral + choral overdubs. That treatment was cited by McCartney in court filings as one of the reasons for the breakup of the Beatles.
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Talent312 said:
Indeed.
The Long and Winding Road, credited to McCartney-Lennon, was actually written by McCartney.

In interviews, Paul said the phrase, "the long and winding road" was inspired by the sight of a road "stretching up into the hills" in the remote Scottish highlands. "I just sat down at my piano in Scotland, started playing and came up with that song, imagining it was going to be done by someone like Ray Charles. I have always found inspiration in the calm beauty of Scotland and again it proved the place where I found inspiration."

Phil Spector added the orchestral + choral overdubs. That treatment was cited by McCartney in court filings as one of the reasons for the breakup of the Beatles.
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I have a personal anecdote about The Long and Winding Road. I was a high school senior in rural Alabama in 1972 and we were picking all our “Class Favorites”. Of course, we students were all huge Beatles fans and we selected The Long and Winding Road as our class song. Our teacher/sponsor was having none of it! She said there is no way I’m letting you have a “passionate love song” (her exact words) as your class song. I think there was actual laughter at that point. We tried to explain to her that the song could have many different meanings. In our case, it represented the long and winding road throughout our childhood, elementary and high school, and now into our young adult lives. She still wasn’t having it. She insisted we choose another song.

Again, this being Alabama, our class had been integrated only two years earlier. Another popular song at the time was Ray Stevens‘ “Everything is Beautiful“. We selected it to make a point to our parents, and maybe some of the teachers, too. Our sponsor wasn’t crazy about it and preferred a more traditional song, but she didn’t veto it and we felt like we made our point.
 
Rolltydr said:
... She insisted we choose another song.
Another popular song at the time was Ray Stevens‘ “Everything is Beautiful“. We selected it to make a point to our parents, and maybe some of the teachers, too..,
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Your teach should'a been relieved that you didn't
choose "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing"
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I'd like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees
And snow white turtle doves…
 
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To be fair, by their agreement, both were attributed as songwriter regardless of how much or little they contributed. We only know most of the details of who did what because Paul keeps reminding us every time he gets a chance. And, if you know much about both guys, it’s pretty easy to tell a McCartney song from a Lennon song. For the most part, Paul does write silly love songs and tells stories about fictional people. John wrote autobiographical songs about his life and his thoughts and feelings about what was happening in the world. Some of those, such as “Woman” were also silly love songs, but from a different perspective than most of Paul’s songs.
 
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