Headley Talks

Like every intelligent breathing mammal on this planet, I’m a Beatles fan. Now that the mono albums have been released, I know exactly what to expect under my Christmas tree in December. If even one of them is missing, I know someone who is going to be served with divorce papers in the new year. And in the asset dividing, she can have the house, the car, the everything! As long as I get those mono albums. The joke’s on her anyway. My car’s financed and we’re home renters. She does however, own the CD player. What the heck am I going to play them on?

We’ll cross that bridge when I live under it. Right now, I want to talk about the August 19^th 2009 issue of Rolling Stone magazine titled, Why The Beatles Broke Up (The Inside Story). First, I should point out what a big insider the author of the article, Mikal Gilmore, really is. After all, it only took him forty years to get his big scoop. Perhaps the next time he’s writing about the band, his headline will be, John Lennon murdered in New York City! Having said that, I understand that as a rock magazine, you have to publish this kind of article from time to time. Right now, there is a whole new generation of teenage Beatles fans looking for answers to the questions that I had as a kid in the early 90’s. People must have thought it was enough already when I was reading it then.

There are many parts of this article I enjoyed. Initially, Gilmore went beyond the martyrdom of Lennon and showed Paul McCartney to be the true driving force behind the Beatles. He also revealed Lennon’s insecurities at being unable to keep up with Paul’s genius during the most critical albums that solidified the Beatles place at the top of the classic rock cannon. But then, in typical Rolling Stone fashion, he threw McCartney under the bus claiming Lennon was responsible for most of the Beatles masterpieces. This point does not even need to be argued because it is so factually inaccurate. I recognize that music is subjective and people have their preferences, but I can never understand why the Lennon obsessed (which includes Rolling Stone magazine) are so quick to completely discredit McCartney’s gargantuan role in the most successful band of all time.

Indeed, the majority of the biggest Beatles songs ever are McCartney compositions. Hey Jude, Let It Be, Get Back, The Long and Winding Road, Helter Skelter, Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby; really it’s pointless to start rolling out the carpet sized list of Paul’s musical perfections. The concepts for Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour were created entirely by him. On Abbey Road, his contributions are the nucleus of the famous medley that ends the album. Gilmore himself suggests that had Paul not held things together, the Beatles may have never made an album beyond Sgt. Pepper. Their status in rock history would have been very much diminished had that been the case.

It is difficult to split the Lennon/McCartney atom, but all evidence also indicates McCartney’s genius was his alone. On songs like Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby, there aren’t even any other Beatles on the track. The entire Let It Be sessions seem like a Paul McCartney solo project with John and George as his side men. Most McCartney songs came into the studio as completed compositions with Paul knowing exactly how he wanted the others to play them.

John however, really flourished with Paul’s musical ability to help Lennon shape his music. Without McCartney’s musical understanding of looping and backwards recording techniques, Lennon numbers like A Day In The Life and Tomorrow Never Knows could never have been realized. In some ways, it is impossible to call A Day In The Life a Lennon number. Not only did McCartney write the middle eight, he also wrote a portion of Lennon’s sung lyrics. Add the fact that Paul and George Martin basically directed the orchestra during recording sessions, and Paul’s fingerprints are all over this one. The piece’s climactic crescendo was also under Paul’s direction.

The instantly recognizable signature style drumming on Tomorrow Never Knows was another Paul invention taught to Ringo in the studio. Some have suggested that when a strung out Lennon brought Don’t Let Me Down into Abbey Road, it was in ram shackles, and it took McCartney’s touch to actually mould it into a song. McCartney even claims that he wrote the melody to Lennon’s In My Life on Rubber Soul. This is a point of contention, but many melody experts have backed Paul’s claim saying it’s structure much more resembles a McCartney song. I could go on forever, but the crux of this argument is that Lennon needed McCartney more than McCartney needed Lennon. Listen to post Beatles McCartney albums like Ram or Band On The Run. It’s clear that Paul was the most significant voyager leading the band into un-chartered musical landscapes and sounds.

Which leads me to their solo careers and what may in fact be Rolling Stone magazine’s greater atrocity. In their immortals countdown (the top 100 recording artists of all time) Lennon ranks # 38, but Paul doesn’t even appear on the list. The Beatles were number one. At least they got that right. But how they could leave the most successful recording artist of all time in the history of pop rock off their stupid ranking system is beyond me. Yes, it’s an opinion piece, but they’re supposed to be professionals with musical insight. Apparently, Rolling Stone has the mentality of a fourth grade child. I can’t speak for them, but I’m sure their view is, “John looked cooler with his long hair and National Trust spectacles.” Alright, we get it! Paul has a weird baby face, does not seem quite as cool and wasn’t martyred like Saint John. It doesn’t change the fact that he was and still is the greatest!

# 38 all time is also way too generous to Lennon as a solo artist. Yes, he wrote Imagine, Happy Christmas War is Over and a few other nice jigs, but essentially, he made two really good albums after the Beatles broke up; John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band and Imagine. He also made a lot of garbage. Have you ever heard Lennon do reggae? Some of these awful numbers are included on the Definitive Lennon disc. Believe me, you don’t want to check them out.

McCartney lived through the 80′s and as a result, he made some bad music. Lennonites love to punish him for it. Whenever they talk solo careers, they say, “Which song is better, Imagine or Ebony and Ivory?”

But 70′s McCartney is far greater and more consistent than Lennon ever was. Just listen to the albums McCartney, Ram and Band on The Run. You can build a better greatest hits collection than Lennon’s with those three records alone.

And mid nineties McCartney to present has been fantastic. Flaming Pie, Run Devil Run, Driving Rain, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, Memory Almost Full and Electric Arguments are all fantastic records. McCartney is still a song writing craftsman, and his musical legacy (which is what this should be about) blows John’s out of the water.

My ultimate point here is not to tear Lennon down (although it may appear that way). It’s hard to argue Lennon verses McCartney with Lennon fans because in truth, I probably love Lennon the musician more than they do. He’s my second favourite rock musician of all time!

But the Lennon myth has clouded reality, and it’s time for rock writers to recognize how critical McCartney was to the success of the world’s greatest band. The Beatles could not have happened without either man. This was a match made in rock music heaven. But Lennon was an eccentric personality who was murdered and has become an all consuming rock deity. His martyrdom has overshadowed Paul’s legacy. That’s another tragedy.

By: Alex Headley,

(the very Headley of, Headley Talks, and man did he talk a lot in this blog.)

Note: Because this is an online blog and not a PhD thesis paper, I have decided not to site my sources for the facts listed in the above article. Should you email me, I will be happy to point you in the right direction.

Additional Note: If some of these ramblings resemble the opinions of Null on Rolling Stone magazine’s web site, it’s because I am Null!!! This blog contains portions of my tirades in their comment sections. (in some cases, word for word)

Final Addition: Sorry about the justification on this one. It’s driving me crazy, but that’s technology for ya! (at least when it’s being operated by an idiot)

Tags: beatles, mccartney, Music

This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 5:39 pm and is filed under Music, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.