Paul McCartney book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present" (November 2, 2021)

Your wait will continue…lyrics to ”Press” are not contained in the book.

 

Probably deemed too academically challenging to be included.

 

I don't know most people's top 14 Beatle songs. I suspect you don't either and are projecting your opinion onto others.

Love Me Do, the first Beatles song has 144 million streams on Spotify. Come On, the first Rolling Stones song has 3.8 million and I Want to Be Your Man, their first hit, 1.6 million.

Love Me Do being first will have helped, but in terms of hundreds of thousands, maybe single digit millions, but not 144 million.

It would be my 4th from that time period.

 

The list is really encouraging. I hope Paul gives just as much due to all of those Wings songs as the Beatles songs.

 

You've just encountered that person. ha! Love Me Do appears in my personal top 25 which I am about to rank order, so remains to be seen if it will indeed, make my top 14. No, I'm not joking, I made a thread about it and everything. Help me complete my Beatles Top 25 playlist? Poll . Linked you to post about why I like that song.

As someone who grew up not liking the Beatles, Love Me Do was the one song I actually liked. I still think there's something special about it. It has a sort of dreamy, escapist quality.

 

On a side note - this quote should be more common around this forum!

 

I stand corrected. My mistake. I confunded it with Secret Friend.
Maybe Paul picked Check My Machine because other artists have sampled it.

 

Wasn't that one of the first tracks recorded for McCartney II? He was literally testing out the equipment so perhaps he’s going to talk about this song in the context of that album?

 

Yep, you're right.

 

Disagree. Beatles and Stones are different beasts, so I don't find "first Stones single" and "first Beatles single" to be comparable.

There's much more interest in the history behind the Beatles, and given the drummer controversies and whatnot, there's a lot more attention given to "LMD".

It's not just my opinion that "LMD" isn't one of the band's best songs - it's shared by the majority of fans.

I mean, it's not exactly controversial to say that "LMD" isn't viewed as among their best moments.

But it was first, so it's significant.

And I remain convinced that's the only reason it's gotten so many streams...

 

To be clear, I don't dislike "LMD" - it's not a song I go out of my way to skip.

But compared to what would come, it's pretty meh.

I mean, their very next single blows it out of the water!

 

See, I strongly disagree. It always puzzles me when people say this as Please Please Me sounds kind of ordinary to my ears. But that is just my opinion, if other people like it then I don't try to come up with conspiracy theories why they do so. I just accept that others have different tastes. Now do I imagine Love Me Do has some more streams than Please Please Me(the name of their first album) due to historical fact, sure. But 105 million extra streams is due to many people preferring to listen to Love Me Do over Please Please Me.

What would you find comparable? How about the last ever Beatles song?

Two things, you don't speak for the millions of people on the planet who are Beatles fans. You might not even speak for the Beatles fans on this forum. You speak for yourself and perhaps people you have discussed this topic with.

Secondly, your complaint was not that this was one of the best Beatles songs. But that Paul is writing about it along with 153 other songs in a book.

No. But it probably is controversial to say it would not be in their top 14 songs of '62/'63. If you stated a reasonable position like that, I'd likely not have responded.

To be fair, it was only first in the UK. In the US and Australia, both countries it hit no1 (unlike Please Please Me) it was not.

 

And I continue to disagree. I've been a Beatles fan for 42 years and if there's ever been any strong fan affection for "LMD", it's completely escaped me.

Neither of us can ever prove our opinion, but I firmly believe "LMD" gets streaming plays due to its historical spot. I can't find any logical reason to believe it's actually beloved by the masses over so many songs that have been consistently ranked as superior over the last 50+ years.

That's not as neatly delineated. "LMD" is special because it was their first single. "Last single" is less appealing, especially because they continued to release singles after the break-up so it's not as clearly defined.

And as I noted, there's a good backstory behind "LMD" that adds intrigue.

Some "lasts" are memorable, and for obvious reasons, Candlestick 1966 is much more famous than probably every other Beatles concert except perhaps Shea 1965 because it was their last.

I've never specifically "discussed the topic". I've just experienced enough Beatles opinions over 40+ years to know that "LMD" has never been regarded as one of the band's better tracks.

Great historical significance, not a great song.

The general consensus has always been that "PPM" was a major jump in quality.

Again, not just me chatting with pals, but the broad sentiment of Beatles fans over the decades...

Where did I complain about that? I made no comment on the song's inclusion in the book at all.

And he should discuss "LMD"... because of its historical significance.

I said "LMD" might not be in my personal faves from 1962-63.

For S&G, here's my list of 1962-63 songs I like more:

"PPM"
"Ask Me Why"
"I Saw Her Standing There"
"There's A Place"
"She Loves You"
"This Boy"
"I Want to Hold Your Hand"
"It Won't Be Long"
"All I've Got to Do"
"All My Loving"
"Not a Second Time"
"I Wanna Be Your Man"
"Don't Bother Me"
"I'll Get You"

And that's just originals I like more - I'd rank "LMD" even lower if I counted covers!

Again: "LMD" is a perfectly decent little song, but it's much closer to the bottom of their discography than to the top.

Of course I don't believe everyone agrees with me, but the notion that its streaming status is because it's a much-loved song doesn't make sense.

It's because it's their first single!

But if you search "what was the Beatles first song", "LMD" is what appears.

As it should, because it was the first single they released period.

(Unless the "My Bonnie" people wanna argue otherwise... which they probably will! )

 

Personally I love Love Me Do. Catchy and Wonderful as most of the early Beatles
If you don t mind I will keep on enjoying it just as millions around the world
Not thst it means anything but the song is one of Beatles most streamed ones

 

You realize the entire discussion to which you replied exists because of those streaming numbers, correct?

 

No Bip Bop lyrics = no sale

 

I suspect Love Me Do’s high streaming numbers have to do with it being the first song on “1.”

 

Maybe it's down to our difference in ages. One of the reasons I love that song is the great harmonica, which is an unusual instrument in fairly modern songs (90's onwards), so perhaps a possible explanation is that people of my generation and younger like it for that reason.

Spotify Data Reveals Favorite Beatles Songs for Different Age Groups

Spotify's analytics reveals that Love Me Do is the 9th most popular song with under 17's and the 5th most popular song with 25-29 age range. Maybe many of the people it is popular with are just younger than you, so you have had less reason to come in contact with those listeners.

It is 144 million. The vast majority of those streams are going to be replays, rather than first time listeners.

What other songs do you think benefit from being historical? Either in the Beatles catalogue or for another artist?

You don't think people having different taste to you is a logical reason?

No. It exists because someone did not think Love Me Do warranted being included in Paul's book. I gave reasons why it deserves a mention, but the conversation on Love Me Do existed before streaming was brought up.

 

It has over a 100 million more than the second song on the 1 album.

 

It's not among my top favorites, but as a simple bluesy song, it does have a certain appeal.

Maybe its simplicity is a big part of its popularity...

Wanna cover a Beatles' song?? Try Love Me Do! You can learn it in less than 10 minutes [or 4 plays on Spotify]...

 

Let's also not forget that LMD is included on 1, while PPM is not. [ ]

So, if someone grabs the Beatles' greatest hits collection, the first song that hits them is.... Love Me Do. And if they don't stream the whole album, then the earlier songs get an unfair advantage...

[*** I say all this as a non-streamer, so I don't really know if anyone streams albums at all these days....]

 

There are some interesting choices on this list, as far as some controversy.

Eleanor Rigby, Yellow Submarine and Please Please Me.

The lyrics to Eleanor Rigby were apparently a group effort. Lennon claimed to write 70% of them at one point, but that is not believed to be correct.

"Ah, the first verse was his and the rest are basically mine. But the way he did it… Well, he knew he had a song. But by that time he didn’t want to ask for my help, and we were sitting around with Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall, so he said to us, ‘Hey, you guys, finish up the lyrics.’
Now I was there with Mal, a telephone installer who was our road manager, and Neil, who was a student accountant, and I was insulted and hurt that Paul had just thrown it out in the aid. He actually meant he wanted me to do it, and of course there isn’t a line of theirs in the song because I finally went off to a room with Paul and we finished the song. But that’s how… that’s the kind of insensitivity he would have, which upset me in later years. That’s the kind of person he is. ‘Here, finish these lyrics up,’ like to anybody who was around.

Oh, he had the whole start: ‘Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been.’ And he had the story and knew where it was going. So we had to work out, ‘Well, is there anybody else in this story?’ We came up with Father McCartney for a bit, but Paul said his dad would be upset, so we made it into McKenzie, even though McCartney sounded better. And then we went on to new characters… It’s hard to describe, even with the clarity of memory, the moment the apple falls. The thing will start moving along at a speed of its own, then you wake up at the end of it and have this whole thing on paper, you know? Who said what to whom as we were writing, I don’t know.

I do know that George Harrison was there when we came up with ‘Ah, look at all the lonely people.’ He and George were settling on that as I left the studio to go to the toilet, and I heard the lyric and turned around and said, ‘That’s it!’

John Lennon, 1980
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

Yellow Submarine was credited to Paul by he and Lennon later, but it was a co-write, confirmed by an interview from the time. Donovan also has a line in it. I

Please Please Me has always been believed to be a solo Lennon composition:

‘Please Please Me’ is my song completely. It was my attempt at writing a Roy Orbison song, would you believe it? I wrote it in the bedroom in my house at Menlove Avenue, which was my auntie’s place… I remember the day and the pink coverlet on the bed and I heard Roy Orbison doing ‘Only The Lonely’ or something. That’s where that came from. And also I was always intrigued by the words of ‘Please, lend me your little ears to my pleas’ – a Bing Crosby song. I was always intrigued by the double use of the word ‘please’. So it was a combination of Bing Crosby and Roy Orbison."

John Lennon, 1980
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

I am not sure if any new information will come to light on these songs or not.

 

Just to throw a spanner in the works (again - lol!),then how do you explain the likes of me? Brand new Beatles fan (well, as of last October) hadn't heard Love Me Do since I was a child. Yes, it was the one Beatles song I rated back then but I certainly wasn't 'nostalgic' for it since I didn't even like the Beatles until around 6 months ago. I like Love Me Do because it's a great song! Nothing to do with its history because I don't particularly care for all the other early/historical songs. I don't even own any early Beatles albums until A Hard Day's Night. That's where the Beatles start for me, Love Me Do the exception. It must be a better song than you're giving it credit for? And I guess millions of others must agree?

 

Paul McCartney: The Lyrics

"Showcasing previously unseen material from Paul McCartney’s personal archive, our free Entrance Hall display celebrates the life and art of one of the world’s most successful songwriters and performers."

 

Paul reveals the 154 songs featured in 'THE LYRICS: 1956 to the Present'

"This career-spanning selection also includes a set of lyrics to an unrecorded Beatles song: 'Tell Me Who He Is'. During the writing of The Lyrics, the hand-written lyrics were discovered in one of Paul’s notebooks, believed to date back to the early 1960s. "