John Lennon's best Beatle year as a songwriter

1964 (A Hard Days Night LP) and 1968 (the White Album) for me.

 

All were great.
But 1964 he dominated their output, practically all of Hard Days Night lp.

 

1964 - Hard Days Night is almost a Lennon solo album

 

Easily 1968 for me.

I'd probably go with Plastic Ono Band as the runner up (1970).

Third place goes to 1965.

 

I'd love to discuss Lennon's 72 songs with you Arnie, or anybody ! No one will discuss them with me ! Basically except for Happy Xmas most people here & ( elsewhere ) say they hate them, or often don't know any of them. Actually all the 72 songs, or most of them were written in 70-71..

Arnie I'm a Lennon, Beatles, McCartney & Harrison fan, I try & like everything any of them do or did. But the combination of timelessness, commerciality it's artistry, abundance, longevity, ratio of classic material to just decent writing makes 1965 hard to beat.

63-64 the material is more primitive & more cowritten I'd say. 66-67 He's great but only records 6-7 new songs each year. Plus a few significant cowrites.

Now 68 he writes a lot, & lots of great tunes. Numerically 68 is about the same as 65 roughly. His best 68 songs, Revolution, Dear Prudence, Sexy Sadie, Across The Universe, I'm So Tired, Happiness is a warm gun, are as good as anything he ever did imo.

But 68 has a higher ratio of decent but not incredible Lennon material.

1. Bungalow Bill
2. Me & My Monkey
3. Yer Blues
4. Julia
5. Glass Onion

Stuff like that. I like all those tracks, & most of them rock, but no way does about 1/2 the 68 material rise to the artistry or appeal of Nowhere Man, Norwegian Wood, or Help.

Boy I'd sacrifice a lot for a chance to hear just a couple more of those Lennon throwaways. From an alternate Universe or the box under Yoko's shoe closet.

By the way Arnie you don't mind if I admit to everybody, that you're actually Julian Lennon.

What's your pick on his best year Julian, er I mean Arnold

 

I love these three. They're among my favorites on the album. No they're not the greatest he's written, but I'd say they're more than half as great as his top tier stuff

 

I dont like Revolution 9

 

66 has my favorite Lennon songs. Overall though, I will take 64.

 

Mr. Positive!

Picky, picky, picky....

 

Please Arnie Seventy twoooooooo

 

I would say for consistency the best John Lennon songs are on AHDN & the white album. So 1964/1968.

 

Early years definitely. His thumbprint is over so many of the early tracks. It wasn't as personal as his later compositions but he really had a gift for creating catchy melodies and clever, creative lyrics. In the last few years I've started to really pay attention to the Lennon-heavy early Beatles songs and consider them in the light of John's later and post-Beatles songs, and it's an interesting exercise. We think of Lennon as being this really opinionated, political and philosophical character but the earlier pure pop hits are just as much an expression of his massive creativity.

 

1965

 

I hate to say it, but I'm going to make 1972 even worse as "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" actually was released in December 1971 (in the USA; it did come out in December 1972 in the UK).

As for 1972 in general: John's songwriting streak had to end at some time.

 

As I've been told: "No, you're not", said Little Nicola...

 

If I must pick a single year, I'd have to say 1968, and the reason is that I can also include Hey Bulldog, Across The Universe, and Child Of Nature along with John's White Album songs.

 

I'm always surprised at how much love Lennon gets for his White Album material.
As a Beatle 65 is peak, with 64-66 being his era.
Solo, 70-71 is phenomenal

 

66 if I can lay claim to SFF which wasn't released til early 67. Then 68.

 

For ssure. Not forgetting a few other songs that didnt make the Whie Album. Across The Univese, Revolution (single version), Polythene Pam, Mean Mr Mustard, child of Nature, and Whats The New Mary Jane. Ok foget that last one

Unfortunately Yoko got him onto smack and he dried up for a while. But then again, getting off it again resulted in one of my favourite Lennon songs.

 

1967

Strawberry Fields Forever
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
A Day in the Life
I Am the Walrus
Baby You're a Rich Man

80% of this is basically career highs.

 

I Don't often hear people using Baby You're A Rich Man as an example of a great Lennon song !!!

Lennon wrote the verse but MCartney wrote the chorus

Now the bridge bit, "Take all your money in a big brown bag, Inside the zoo , it's the thing to do....

Not sure who wrote that bit...Anybody happen to know ?

 

You did

(the correct lyrics are 'You KEEP all your money in a big brown bag inside a zoo, WHAT A thing to do')

 

This.

 

67

Strawberry Fields Forever
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite
Good Morning Good Morning
A Day in the Life
I Am the Walrus
Baby You're a Rich Man
All You Need Is Love

 

By picking Lennon's best year, you are really buying into a favored style or phase of his songwriting. Its simply a snapshot.

The fact is Lennon was a master rock songwriter from 1963 to his death in 1980. The quantity and quality of his output over those years were not very consistent, especially 69, 70 and mid period solo years, but always had flashes of brilliance throughout.

All that said, I do prefer 63-66 because he was the best rock singer and writer on the planet, and the leader of one of the best live bands in R&R history