Guess what? I never do this but I'm excited to tell you tomorrows video is "How The Beach Boys Made "God Only Knows". Everyone, it's such a beautiful story. Can't wait to see what you all think!
John signature song- “In My Life” Paul signature song - “Yesterday” George signature song- “Here Comes The Sun” or “Something” Ringo signature song- “Octopuses Garden” In my life I love them all
Martha B-C oh trust me, I know, I love most of the Beatles discography, I was trying to sum up each members favorite song that each member individually is credited with
@@Wired4Life2 for sure, they can surely count as "entertainment" measuring parameters. Not art. They are just events where rich people pat themselves on the back. But again art is subjective. So you are again correct.
It's a Paul melody but a John lyric. They always worked best as a team and/or a semi-team. Paul admired John's ability to write fantastic lyrics easily & John admired Paul's ability to easily write fantastic melodies quickly. That's what drew both of them together as a song writing team and very successful at the same time!
@@AndyMann0007 It is not Paul's melody. It is John's. By the time of 'in my life' John and Paul were writing their own songs rather than together like for 'she loves you'.
Danny Vine They started writing together or giving input in 1965 like on this song and with less dispute on more songs that year like “You’re Going to Loose That Girl” “Drive My Car” “We Can Work it Out” “Norwegian Wood” “Day Tripper” “The Word” they wrote a lot together that year actually Paul recalls going to John’s mansion frequently to write together for sessions
@@devinjerryfreedomisfree4599 Michelle, We Can Work it Out, etc., were all mainly Paul's songs virtually complete when John heard them. The same can be said for Norwegian wood and Day tripper by John. Only the arrangements needed organising. The word I would agree was more colliborative. Very few Lennon- McCartney songs were equal billing / input.
I saw Paul in an interview saying that"Yesterday " was all his but that he'd had nothing to do with "In My Life" and that it was all John's -- except for the sweet guitar intro and ending. He said George came up with that and to him, it "made the song".
I agree!!!!!!! There are 2 videos where Paul contradicts himself in regards to the song Help, one Paul says John wrote the song and I wrote the counterpoint. In another he said John and I wrote it together. I believe the first is where John said " the song Help was me crying out for help you know I had gotten fat and all " So it is possible Paul is remembering wrong!!!!! John was real and " The Walrus was Paul "
@@currentwork4353 Agree, I think it's impossible to analyze The Beatles' Genius or Quantify, or ( Especially ) to Categorize their Genre into Any or Only one Genre. They Were "A Movement" .
In My Life is in my top 5 songs of all time, ever(at least two other spots in my top five are held by the Beatles, being that they are my favorite band of all time). The lyrics are simply wonderful, the melody so memorable, and piano solo, it’s all there. It’s just awesome!
How Michelle won a grammy over a song as great as “In My Life” is unbelievable...the latter is a superior song, musically, lyrically, tonally and melody wise. It’s the perfect pop track, from the opening guitar riff to Lennon’s falsetto that ends the tune. Always magnificently choreographed and written. There was nothing as good as this at the time of its release and has never been since. Rubber Soul was a ground breaking album and a game changing catalyst for the band itself. George Martins half speed piano is a beautiful flavour and McCartneys harmony is as always awesome. It’s interesting that Paul dis-agrees/or remembers differently, as to who actually wrote the track but if John says he did then I believe him...he was always honest about his input or lack of on the other bands tracks and was equally straight about what he wrote. My favourite Beatles track alongside “A Day In The Life”. So many glorious songs to choose from. The Beatles are beyond definition and most certainly beyond comparison....the greatest by a proverbial mile of all time.♥️🎵x
One of their most esteemed tunes. You either know it or you don't and if you DO,it's one Beatles song you simply cannot dislike. The words mean everything.
"Is it a collaboration?" Musically, yes. That much is clear, according to both writers. The lyric was John's. The question is: How much of the music was John's, how much Paul's. According to John, Paul wrote the tune for "the middle eight itself" and the harmony for the rest. Of course there isn't a middle eight, but we know John must mean the tune of the B part ("I know that I will never lose affection / For people and things that went before / I know I'll always stop and think about them / In my life I love you more"). Oddly this sounds if anything more like John, whereas the A part ("There are places . . . " etc) seems more like Paul, but there you go! A recent statistical analysis famously claimed to have proved that John wrote the whole tune. But the same analysis "proved" that Paul wrote the whole tune of Michelle, when we know for sure that John had a hand in the middle eight; and it also "proved" that Paul wrote the tune of The Word, which is supposed to be a John song. So I think this should be disregarded. Reality is too complicated for such simplistic bean-counting. Is there a compromise solution? I think so. Paul recalls writing the whole tune on a visit to Kenwood. But it seems unlikely that John had no notion of a tune *at all* - this was a song that had been work in progress for a while in different versions by that time. To give both men the benefit of the doubt, what may have happened is : John had an idea for the A part and suggested this to Paul when he gave him the words ("I was trying ity like this - whaddaya think?" or something); Paul took this in and produced an A part tune based on that, adding the B part tune to it ; later it seemed to Paul as if he had written the whole tune, having absorbed John's original idea into his own arrangement. Speculation, obviously. But they could both have been conscientiously remembering half truths.
I was thinking the same thing having read Barry Miles's book - this seems most plausible to me - John sang the A melody to Paul but probably didn't have it completely down - and it needed to be different for the B melody - Paul approximated what John had sung for first melody and probably resolved it a little (hence causing the confusion) and then did the B melody - totally agree. It's certainly a John song but a big hand from Paul.
@@stephengow9590 Thanks, Stephen. Actually i just discovered a comment from John that throws more confusion into this. Here he is talking in 1980 about If I Fell: ""The harmony's Paul's ... and maybe the middle eight, let me think ... yeah [sings the verse through] that's all mine. I think maybe the middle eight he introduced the chord in there. I might have mixed up the story on the middle eight to In My Life and this one - I think it's *this* one he gave me the middle eight, on the F." (amoralto.tumblr.com/post/48091904152/august-1980-john-talks-to-playboy-writer-david) So what do we make of that? It absolutely confirms how tricky memory can be. On one hand you could say "There is now no evidence from John that support's Paul's claim to have written any part of In My Life". On the other hand, one could argue it undermines everything John thought he remembered about the music, which would strengthen Paul's 1971 claim to have written it. I don't know! What do you think? (Howsoever, it's very interesting that John credited the beautiful middle eight of If I Fell to Paul. Paul has only said they wrote it "together, but with the emphasis on John", without being specific.)
Thank you for pointing out that study was completely illegitimate. In my life has the octave rhyming and the lyrical rhyming progression with the melody that are only found in Paul songs
To insist that it is a “John song” or “Paul wrote it” is to ignore the creative process. John. Paul and George Martin pushed each other to create. George Harrison chimed in routinely, coming up with better guitar licks than originally composed and Ringo added just the right touch with his drum kit. All four Beatles and the production team pushed themselves to make the music. I worked for over 30 years in the field of television production and post-production. Producers I worked with pushed and inspired me to do my best and I pushed producers regularly to outdo their previous efforts. Additionally, the Beatles did not make music in a vacuum, and this video touches on this fact, as a random question from a reporter caused John to challenge himself to write a song based on his own experiences and introspection. Additionally, there were other musicians that the Beatles knew or read about that were doing new things and the Beatles’ music shows these influences as well. In the midst of any creative process, there is origination and execution. The Beatles fired a drummer who had issues with execution and hired Ringo. Their breakup was an issue of their need to originate more, knowing that there was a vast talent pool that they could, then, draw on for execution. I would state with certainty that Ringo Starr, the Beatle credited for no original composition, was a master of execution. When they went into the studio to record, they started out at the demo state, where Ringo would listen and start to complement what he heard on drums. As the tune came together, he would play all day and into the wee hours of the morning to get the song done and recorded. He worked as hard as anyone. Lose Ringo Starr and you completely lose the music. Lose George Harrison and, likewise, you lose the music. Writing credits were Lennon and McCartney mostly, as they were most involved in that process of origination. But I’m certain neither John or Paul told Ringo what to play. The credit on “In My Life” is Lennon and McCartney. That is a true statement.
Thank you Mark Hollis for your perspective from working in the entertainment industry. I enjoyed the process of originating versus execution life lesson. I understand perfectly because I have worked 30 years as part of a health team. Team usually is what gets the end result but rarely the praise...Doctors, Running backs,Quarterbacks, Presidents and Pitchers in Baseball are the heroes but could never have done anything without the team. I like how you pointed out George and Ringo being executors of the musical end result and there is also George Martin and who plays the harpischord?? I think a lot of us don't put a lot of thought into the process involved. It's easy to just recognize the names who wrote the song and not really give credit where credit is due. So I think this has to be a Beatles song especially that it makes sense that both John and Paul may not agree on exactly who wrote what part, they definently both say they both worked on it. I thank you for opening my eyes to the process. I should have remembered that there is a story behind every song.
A modeling study was done in 2018 that indicated that the melody was all John with a * .018% * probability that Paul wrote the song. Bags-of-words modeling is what was used.
I always thought it was a John song ... I’m sure Paul, George and Ringo put their heart into it too... 🙏🏼 together they were all so brilliant 🎵 🎶 🇬🇧 🇦🇺
@@oliverfield877 Just in case you're too dim to realise, and I suspect you are, I think of it as a Beatles song, sung by John and written by Lennon/McCartney
I do get a little worked up over the Who wrote What debate. I'm a hardcore JL fan but I still think PM is beyond brilliant. I can easily envision JL writing the lyrics and chord progressions and PM writing the melody and the opening lick. I can just easily envision JL writing all of it but the middle eight, which he gave PM credit for creating. I can also imagine them both working on it together starting with JL's original inspiration. All of these scenarios are plausible because as songwriters they were both so flexible in that they could both write hard rockers, sensitive ballads & Top 10 pop hits with equal ease. Personally, and not without bias, I call it a John song with pieces of Paul sprinkled on top.
Great video and channel man! I am in the process of reviewing every Beatles album on my channel and some of your videos have been helpful in the research process! This is one of my favorite songs of all time... Lennon was a genius!
Just checked out your channel! Very good stuff, I like that part in your trailer when you mention those boring "reactions to famous songs". That was funny and too true.
The HollyHobs Thanks a lot my dude, appreciate it! One of the reasons I like your channel so much is that you actually learn something and it’s VERY well edited. You have a great personality to boot, and that makes for a fantastic channel. Keep up the good work my friend! 👍🏻
I've always loved this song, I sometimes play it myself and it always makes me think of all the people that I have known, who have passed through my life.
Great job, as usual. Financial implications aside, I think it is best to consider all songs written by either of them to have been written by both. They were, even in the tortuous end years, soulmates. They influenced each other, even when it was unconscious. Even the bulk of their solo catalogs show the ongoing influence. In fact, "In My Life" talks exactly about this, how places and people affect us, influence us, mold us. Neither John nor Paul would be himself, had it not been for the other. Thanks for another thought-provoking video about some of the most thought-provoking songs ever written.
Definitely mostly John's song, but I think Macca helped with the melody quite a bit. And your point isnt always true, for example, Eight Days A Week is mostly a Paul song, yet John sings it, and Every Little Thing is mostly Paul and Lennon sings that one as well. Day Tripper is mostly Lennon, yet Paul sings the lead there. So while generally true, there remain exceptions.
@@tysonjorstad it sounds like a double tracked John singing lead, however it's both John and Paul singing lead together. Paul was great at imitating John.
Lennon said "his contribution melodically was the harmony and the middle-eight itself." McCartney claimed he set Lennon's lyrics to music from beginning to end, taking inspiration for the melody from songs by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. "I liked 'In My Life'. Those were words that John wrote, and I wrote the tune to it. That was a great one."] A 2018 study that used bag-of-words modelling to analyze the song indicated that the music was entirely composed by Lennon. Based on the analysis, mathematician Keith Devlin reported a .018% probability of McCartney writing the song.
John certainly wrote the lyrics and I would not be surprised if Paul contributed to the melody. And of course, George Martin's piano piece is brilliant... Good video, man.! Thanks for posting!
One of the most beat songs ever written. I think of this one whenever I think back to not seeing a group of people regularly anymore (i.e. post high school)
If you see the handwritten original lyrics to the song before Paul even saw it, you can see the only line that hasn't been crossed out, apart from the three verses, is "all these places..", which is the first line of the bridge which he credits Paul with melodically. I think he knew pretty much where it was going and figured he'd work the rest out with Paul.
I grew up with "The Beatles" as I was 15 when they released "Love Me Do" and I followed them thereafter getting all their albums. I saw them when I was 16 and got 4 tickets for which I only paid £3 or about $4. In my opinion this song is mainly John's, he always contributed the deeper more thoughtful lyrics. He was a bit heavy and caustic and Paul was lighter and more cheerful. The combination of the two made them the perfect songwriters of their generation. Their songs made stars out of nobodies.
Great video, my friend. In My Life has always been my favourite Beatles track by far. The melody, the words, chord structure and amazing ‘harpsichord’ solo makes it a real signature song. The drums are kind of the same as on All I’ve Got to Do, I always thought that was funny.
As obsession tends to do to one, we who awaited every sound out of the Beatles most likely assumed this was John’s song. But more importantly it was a Great Beatle gift to us all....so utterly beautiful.
I'm just glad the song was made regardless who made it. It speaks for all of us in our lives we've been loved and given love as well as memories of. Place having there moments with people and friends we all can recall and the rest I say thank you lads, and God Bless You The Beatles will be forever Loved
2 Points ...1 The major shift in John’s writing is at this time and with this song but this is also the exact time they discovered pot and Dylan and John also said that pot gave him the window to no longer need to separate his song writing from his book writing - now he knew how to write personal songs ... 2. They couldn’t say it was just another Lennon & Mccartney song bcs later they were both asked specifically about who contributed what to each song - people wanted to know there recollections of this - John gave an interview to (Playboy Mag ithink) in 1980 was asked to recall every single song and how they came about -Paul later did a smaller/similar analysis in his memoir Many Years From Now - so I think thats why - thanks for the video - keep it up!!
I could describe this song as a John's story told by Paul's words with strong John's spirit, and it's delivered thru Paul's melody with strong impression of a John's song. idk if this makes sense Nonetheless it's John's true-to-self lyrics and Paul's melodic genius that made this phenomenal song so rewarding and it's my eternal fav of the Beatles
Rewriting the Beatles history and grabbing somebody’s intellectual property just because the person cannot defend himself anymore?? What a friend! Now I know why George is much closer to John..
I realize people like to dissect and peruse every nuance of meaning in these songs but the takeaway of this composition is how it resonates with each individual listener. Ringo's oblique drum track, John's bittersweet vocal, Martin's Baroque input all coalesce into a poignant remembrance of things past.
It’s got the tell tale Lennon melismas, lots of Lennonesque pentatonic phrasing. The first melodic figure could be McCartney’s. I do think Paul has penchant for over claiming authorship especially after John’s death which is really sad as he has so much to be proud of.
@@ewest14 he claims to have written/contributed lots of things - the intro to If I Fell for example, even though we have a solo Lennon ‘63 demo of the song with a different ending. He may have done and written a lot of things. No one talks about Lennon writing harmonic and melodic content to Yellow Submarine’s verses. The thing is Lennon is not around to respond and memories fade as well. I’m a big McCartney fan but when Lennon got killed it made him a martyr and that eclipsed McCartney and his contribution which led to many years from now and some overreaching. McCartney is totally amazing
@@dogmatronic Try thinking about this a different way. Lennon got all of his side of the story out from 70-80. Paul never felt the need to do it until after John died and Phillip Norman released his Shout with a false history of the band. That along with Lennon's interviews with Jann Wenner, which were heavily biased and provided false information to fans. For example John says he wrote 80% of Eleanor Rigby, which was proven to be untrue because even John's best friend said that John contributed basically nothing. John's own best friend backed Paul's story of John only helping with half a line. Paul knew that he had to set the record straight, even though he knew that it would look like him trying to revise history. So in reality, it's Paul fixing an already revisionist history.
dear beautiful soul reading this, you’re so loved❤️you’re a total champ and God loves you and He has amazing blessings and joy for you!! keep at it, ur a champ!✝️💗🙏🏻
It’s a without a doubt a John song. I believe what happened was it was John’s idea, then Paul came along and took out lyrics and maybe added a couple of his own. George Harrison probably helped with the guitar riff (similar to how he came up with the riff in And I Love Her) but it also could have been Paul. Then you add the beautiful piano solo by George Martin and Ringos simple but perfect beat. So, maybe it wasn’t a John song...it was a Beatles song lol
Paul's memory of such things as who wrote what is not nearly as precise as John's was. He often blusters, blunders or creates a myth that he then believes. This is clearly a John chord progression, which doesn't seem to be in dispute. The melody is almost certainly John's as it starts with one of John's signature moves: the first note on the first downbeat is a 9. He did this a lot and it's really, really tricky to do but John did it quite a bit. On the other hand, Paul writing the melody to what John calls the middle 8 is actually Paul writing the melody to the chorus. That melody really does sound like Paul. The verses though, not so much.
Well I've never been into the whole John vs Paul thing. I love them both (And I don't want to forget to mention how awesome George Harrison was as a song writer.), and whenever I hear one and think, "Yeah, I like him best." I'll hear something from the other and go, "but wait a moment". lol That being said, I'm giving this one to John. Only because Martin says it was a John song and doesn't mention Macca at all. When two geniuses disagree, best to listen to a third, unbiased genius to settle the matter.
I chose to walk up the aisle at my one and only son's wedding to "In My Life," played on a harp. I'd wondered if I would cry during the wedding...well, at the first NOTES, I started, and sort of cried through the whole ceremony! In my speech, I quoted Lennon's thoughts on love. God, I love John and Paul, still today.
In my life it's a song written by John, but that doesn't mean that Paul couldn't give him any important advice. The extraordinary thing about the songs by Lennon - McCartney is that even if Paul wrote a song himself, he asked John for advice and so did John with Paul. If the advice was followed, even if it concerned only 1% of the song, it often gave her something more, making it an absolute masterpiece.
Haha. I often try to do what many comments here have attempted. To choose the signature or best songs of this Beatle or that Beatle, or the Beatles generally. But it is pretty much impossible. I once had some time on my hands and tried to list the top 10 essential Beatles songs. I couldn’t do it, so I expanded the list to 20. I still couldn’t do it, so I went to 30! And at 30, I still felt guilty about so many songs that I had left out. A fun exercise, this, but in the end, impossible!!!
We played this song for the recessional at my wedding. My first thought was to play a string quartet version similar to something I'd heard on RUclips, but when I couldn't one similar available anywhere to purchase that would let me listen to a sample first (to make sure it was what I wanted!), I decided screw it, we will play the original, and we did! It was beautiful!
This song came out on their LP Rubber Soul. Although this album has outright songs by individual songwriters Lennon, McCartney & Harrison, John & Paul were still collaborating, sitting down with guitars, eyeball to eyeball for some of the songs: "Drive My Car" & "The Word" are two. I think Paul's recollection is correct. John was struggling with the words & then changed them after he & Paul had a guitar session together as they used to do when they were touring, writing together in hotel rooms or on the tour bus, guitar to guitar. So it is entirely feasible that Paul contributed more to the guitar changes/melody than Lennon did, while the song used Lennon's words entirely. And it should be noted that their collaborations extended into the "Sgt Pepper" album on songs like "With A Little Help From My Friends," "It's Getting Better" & "A Day In The Life," although the latter was more of a hybrid of putting two different songs together - - still, they seem to be working very closely together on this as well when one takes into account that they 'together' decided to put in the 'drug reference' of "turn you on."
Paul is more than likely goofing on us. This is John's song and John decalared this early on. John used to give many interviews and mix nonsense in with truth about song writing...example he said he wrote 50 per cent of Elenor Rigby which he did not........no doubt he did this to blurr the line for Beatle' s fans to keep them guessing who did what and not to deduce that one person was the beatles.............because the beatles were truly a dynamic group....After John dyed Paul was the only one to keep some of mystery alive. John said early on this was his song, maybe a little help from Paul......it does not sound like Paul' s style.
My memory is that the evolution of this song began as a retrospective on the places and people in Liverpool that the Beatles had encountered in their early lives. It then evolved into this one, a song with an outstanding first verse and a fairly standard second verse, and of course featuring the classical Beatles' harmonies. I also seem to recall someone referring to it as John's first certifiable work of genius. Great and memorable, but largely on the strength of that first verse.
It’s all John’s song. Paul only contributed some words. You can hear the awkward chord progressions is so much John. Listen to “we can work it out” you can tell who’s part is his in the song.
The song is a good song to fit any person. Anyone can relate to this. It is suitably vague and easily sung. Easy to remember, too. Every time I see a video where someone comments on a Beatles song, there's always a comment about "well this led to their breakup." Nothing could be farther from the truth. Paul has said himself that in a year's time, the Beatles' style evolved quickly, the style changed rapidly. They were just creating and making songs. *Rubber Soul* was one of those big evolutions of music. That and *Revolver* were great experimental and growing performances. Remember the Beatles never had a dry studio session, and Paul said they wrote more songs than got on the records. The ones that got on the records were the ones they could remember. It seems to me a good test of a song's staying power if you can remember it. They didn't write the music, only played it. *In My Life* was a Beatles song, even if you can distinguish who did what. It's no different than being able to parse out who sang what notes in the harmonies of, say, *Nowhere Man* You did listen to *Peter and the Wolf* and *Young People's Guide to the Orchestra* when you were young, didn't you?
Mr. Kite, A Day in the Life, and now this song? Wow, next time we'll hear Paul saying he can recollect writing Imagine on a napkin and slipping it on John's pocket because he thought it'd be funny.
They never disagreed on how A day in the life was written. See John's interviews, he says it's his song with Paul's part in the middle and the little lick was Paul's as well as the idea for the orchestration.
I've sat down and analyzed the melodies that John wrote versus Paul. In short, the melody of 'In My Life' does a lot of vocal modulation that almost never appears in Paul's songs. But, there are note intervals that almost never appears in John's work. While I firmly believe that the lyrics are definitely John, the melodic was co-written as it progressed. We've be very fortunate to see and hear many of their sessions like a fly on the wall. They chipped into each other's work. They were still a friendly working environment at the time so it seems very likely it evolved. (There were a lot of drugs then, too (wink))
Hello! Just found you, today 4/12! Awesome Pawsome! I remember when the Beatles came out, was my 1st album, i was 12! I thought all the screaming for Paul was stupid, how could u hear them, with all that screaming! My favourite is/was Ringo, John, and luscious George! I believe my answer about "In my Life" is John! Many Blessings!
I don't know what ever happened to Paul, IN MY LIFE, as George Martin said it is totally John song, I don"t understand McCartney just for ethics, John can not defend him self, but as everybody Knows Paul was always an admirer to John, and like this song it's the best of the Beatles, now Paul is saying to the contrary, the truth is Paul didn't even had collaboration in the middle eight, we that know Paul for so many years this song doesn't have a single word from his style. Paul McCartney was part of the group, but John Lennon was the group The Beatles, at least until Revolver, when the magic started to dim and go different ways. John didn't want a commercial group, Paul and George Martin knew that was where the money was. I was at two of the McCartney recent Concerts and I can assure, like me everybody else was there because it was the only chance to be as near from The Beatles used to be. Paul please just leave John alone, I dare you Paul ! take all the Beatles songs out of your repertoire, and you'll see how many people wouldn't go to your concerts. Telling lies about John will not bring the Beatles fans back, and even so I'm very tired of listen always the same: Let it be, Hey Jude, Penny Lane, Hello Goodbye, ob-la-di-ob-la-da and some others commercial songs. Have a little dignity, try to survive from what you did and leave John alone.
I feel that the original lyrics would have been a delight for Beatles fans not only because all of the places are also mentioned in other songs, but also because it's much more specific/personal to the Beatles/John Lennon than the lyrics we come to know and love
So it's a McCartney/Lennon song just like the tracks on Let It be Naked then. Funny that because I thought they only sang the song they either or wrote. That's it then. Paul really did write the music & John only wrote the words. Thanks for clearing that up Faul. Of course you were there when the real JPM didn't write the music. So honest of you....
Paul got jealous over most people crowning John as the genius behind the Beatles after the split and after his death, so Paul sadly tried to take credit for a lot of John's work. Its sad but I understand Paul's frustration/jealousy over people crowning John as the visionary of the Beatles. Paul wanted that crown for himself, oh well
I hear very little of Paul in this song. He may have helped a bit, but for me, "In My Life" is very similar structurally to John's song "Girl" and is pure John with a little help from his friend Paul.
In my life was the very first song I knew when I was starting to learn how to sing when I was around 4 or 5 years old listening on a Parlopone 45rpm record playing it over and over again and the other side was Run for your Life.
Hanging around most of the places growing up and my dad bieng lead singer of the merseybeats "almost blues band" and "valentinoes" also "the chants (with sugar Dean)" Smithtown Road, blast from the past I'd say these were John's lyrics and Paul George Ringo and Martin's input for the music backing. Beautiful honest song and original sound. Hands down one of the finest of the whole catalogue. R.I.P John Lennon R.I.P George Harrison Two of music's finest xxx
The source of this claim is in Paul's bio "Many Years From Now" based on loose and informal interviews with his friend Barry Miles conducted over several years. In the bio he makes many slightly desperate revisionist claims (I was the cool arty one really), although this one stands apart. This gives a fair assessment of how the bio was generally received by critics: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCartney:_Many_Years_from_Now I know John said Paul helped writing the "middle eight" (there is no real middle eight in the song) but the meaning is clear; Paul did contribute to the writing of the song. But if John didn't write a note of the music (which is basically what Paul claims), there is simply no way he would claim the song as mainly his. George Martin said it was John's song. It was John who asked Martin to come up with something "baroque" for the bridge. It is, and will forever remain, John's song with help from Paul (And G Martin). Peace.
Rubber Soul was John's album "in oh so many ways." In My Life was John's song. The Lennon and McCartney partnership at this point consisted mostly of a suggestion here or there. And the music doesn't sound anything like a Paul McCartney melody, it sounds very much like Johns style. John had the most unusual melodic lines on songs like Not a Second Time and Yes It Is, etc. The whole melody line throughout In My Life is just the same way.
It's interesting how this seems to matter to us, when the two of them for most of the time really did think of themselves as a partnership, and it was important to them that all of the songs were Lennon/McCartney, a statement of their fused musical identity. Having said that, my take is that the music is likely primarily McCartney, with some contributions from Lennon. Mostly because Paul's account of the writing is very detailed and specific, whereas I think John's was a quick one-liner without much thought having gone into it, in the middle of an interviewer asking about the authorship of a whole list of songs. Paul's account also seems consistent in other ways with the way the two of them worked. And it also just sounds more like a Paul song than a John song, even though we associate it with John because he sings it. If I remember correctly, the way Paul tells the story, John had been writing all of these words, which he didn't like and was feeling frustrated with. (And the video shows some of these). Paul suggests to him that he's trying to put in too much content, and that he needs to just pick one or two things and focus on those. This gets John over his block, and he starts reworking the lines he's written. While he's doing that, Paul goes over to the piano, which is in another room, and bangs out an initial version of the music and brings it back to John. I think they then talk it over, and Paul goes back to the piano and reworks it, perhaps with some of the finished lyric and perhaps with some musical ideas from John. (It's also plausible, as another commenter here mentioned, that John had an initial vague idea about the melody, perhaps singing some of his provisional lines, which Paul used as the basis for his initial version). And they spent the rest of the session finishing it up together. In any event, it sounds very much like a collaboration to me.
0:12 What controversy of who wrote the song "In My Life"? "There was a period when I thought I didn't write melodies, that Paul wrote those and I just wrote straight, shouting rock 'n' roll. But of course, when I think of some of my own songs - In My Life, or some of the early stuff, This Boy - I was writing melody with the best of them." John Lennon, 1980 "For In My Life, I had a complete set of lyrics after struggling with a journalistic vision of a trip from home to downtown on a bus naming every sight. It became In My Life, which is a remembrance of friends and lovers of the past. Paul helped with the middle eight musically. But all lyrics written, signed, sealed, and delivered. And it was, I think, my first real major piece of work. Up till then it had all been sort of glib and throwaway. And that was the first time I consciously put my literary part of myself into the lyric. Inspired by Kenneth Alsopf [sic], the British journalist, and Bob Dylan." John Lennon
It's interesting the way John started this, by describing what he saw and the places he passed by. Very similar to the way Chris Difford describes writing the lyrics to "Tempted" (by Squeeze), just ticking off the sites out his window while traveling. Tempted is fantastic; In My Life is brilliant. I guess I could almost believe anything about who wrote what in this song. I always considered it John's because he sang it, and it sounds like him to my ears, words and melody. John did seem to express some frustration with it, like it wasn't coming together or he didn't know how to bring it all to conclusion, and maybe Paul helped focus it. While I've always felt this was John's through and through, I like the commenters that are saying it's a Beatles song, with John as primary. Credit where credit is due, but that was one powerful collective.
I'm quiet shure, that the melody was composed by Paul. It's quiet hard to imagine that there could have been a demo version of this song in the style of Johns rough guitar playing, that is present in nearly all of his songs of this period. I don't know any other songs of John that have a similar character, maybe except 'If I Fell, but even there you hear his typical guitar playing. Paul said he wrote the melody by the mellotron, which was inspired by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles. Above all the structure of the chords seems very similar to 'You Won't See Me' on the same album, but also in 'Here There and Everywhere'. There is in both cases the immediate change from major to minor. Other similiarities in the chord-sequence can be found in 'The night before'. And it is typical fo John that he didn't honour the contribution of Paul to his songs; vice versa he claimed contributions to Pauls songs, although they were only marginal, as it happened in the caswe of 'Eleanor Rigby'. Nevertheless one should not value his genius less than Pauls!
The phrase sung during, "...all my life" in the first line is a phrase that was definitely used before in earlier Beatle tunes. Just the end of that first line. Therefore obviously, the song was written neither by John or Paul but by earlier versions of themselves.
Guess what? I never do this but I'm excited to tell you tomorrows video is "How The Beach Boys Made "God Only Knows". Everyone, it's such a beautiful story. Can't wait to see what you all think!
Hey Hobs!, can you please make a video about the turtles "happy together"
@@Sugi05 Great Idea! I absolutely love that song, I'll see what I can do.
@@JamesMaharajOfficial thanks! You're the best
Can’t wait, Thank you for all of your Videos, they are truly interesting and amazing. Sending all my support from Aus 🇦🇺!
Here's another video idea: "how The HollyHobs made their first album"
John signature song- “In My Life”
Paul signature song - “Yesterday”
George signature song- “Here Comes The Sun” or “Something”
Ringo signature song- “Octopuses Garden”
In my life I love them all
judedude John and Paul both have many more signature songs tho
Martha B-C oh trust me, I know, I love most of the Beatles discography, I was trying to sum up each members favorite song that each member individually is credited with
John's signature song is Strawberry Fields. Everyone knows that was his favorite song.
Though he didn't write it, Ringo's signature song is "Yellow Submarine," IMHO.
Hahahaha best comment!!
The line "some forever, not for better.." is brilliant, tender, bittersweet, and all Mr. Lennon.
Its something every human being can relate to and feel. Masterpiece
sweet melancholy
To my ear, it's John all over. He was on fire on Rubber Soul.
*Girls*
Anna Kermode Paul said he wrote the melody and chords.
Rubber Soul and Revolver are my favourite albums.
So many simple but profound songs
@@detroitfunk313 the best songs on Pepper are John songs
I wholeheartedly agree. It's a John song---and John was at his best on Rubber Soul.
In My Life is my favorite song ever. The nostalgia and the memories I have with this song in my life...simply amazing
Am I the only one who wishes that "In My Life" had won Song of the Year at the 9th Grammy Awards instead of "Michelle"?
Awards are bullshit, no one should think too much about them. Enjoy the art, man.
Especially Grammy's. Always decades behind.
@@mator2339 *On the contrary, sales and awards are the two sides of the coin of success in the entertainment industry.*
@@Wired4Life2 for sure, they can surely count as "entertainment" measuring parameters. Not art. They are just events where rich people pat themselves on the back.
But again art is subjective. So you are again correct.
@@mator2339 *Perhaps, but artists have to eat eventually. XD*
It's a John song with Paul's flavor and George Martins piano solo
It's a Paul melody but a John lyric. They always worked best as a team and/or a semi-team. Paul admired John's ability to write fantastic lyrics easily & John admired Paul's ability to easily write fantastic melodies quickly. That's what drew both of them together as a song writing team and very successful at the same time!
@@AndyMann0007 It is not Paul's melody. It is John's. By the time of 'in my life' John and Paul were writing their own songs rather than together like for 'she loves you'.
Danny Vine They started writing together or giving input in 1965 like on this song and with less dispute on more songs that year like “You’re Going to Loose That Girl” “Drive My Car” “We Can Work it Out” “Norwegian Wood” “Day Tripper” “The Word” they wrote a lot together that year actually Paul recalls going to John’s mansion frequently to write together for sessions
@@devinjerryfreedomisfree4599 Michelle, We Can Work it Out, etc., were all mainly Paul's songs virtually complete when John heard them. The same can be said for Norwegian wood and Day tripper by John. Only the arrangements needed organising. The word I would agree was more colliborative. Very few Lennon- McCartney songs were equal billing / input.
@@devinjerryfreedomisfree4599 " lose " that girl, not " loose ".
I saw Paul in an interview saying that"Yesterday " was all his but that he'd had nothing to do with "In My Life" and that it was all John's -- except for the sweet guitar intro and ending. He said George came up with that and to him, it "made the song".
I agree with Elaine. Now please take your seats, class.
I agree!!!!!!! There are 2 videos where Paul contradicts himself in regards to the song Help, one Paul says John wrote the song and I wrote the counterpoint. In another he said John and I wrote it together. I believe the first is where John said " the song Help was me crying out for help you know I had gotten fat and all " So it is possible Paul is remembering wrong!!!!!
John was real and " The Walrus was Paul "
I didn't see that
@@jackdemolay3545 he never says anything but that they wrote it together
Now THIS makes more sense. That guitar bit sounds a LOT like George
As an engineer, I can only draw from my own experience and say the best collaboration is when you leave not knowing who contributed what.
as a gardener, I agree
That’s quite beautiful.
To state that "In My Life" was John Lennon's first introspective song ignores his earlier plea in "Help!".
Exactly
@@currentwork4353 Agree, I think it's impossible to analyze The Beatles' Genius or Quantify, or ( Especially ) to Categorize their Genre into Any or Only one Genre. They Were "A Movement" .
And before Help, there was I'm A Loser. And before I'm A Loser there was I'll Cry Instead.
But John was still hiding his emotions in "Help" while "In My life" is fairly out front in his emotions.
In My Life is in my top 5 songs of all time, ever(at least two other spots in my top five are held by the Beatles, being that they are my favorite band of all time). The lyrics are simply wonderful, the melody so memorable, and piano solo, it’s all there. It’s just awesome!
How Michelle won a grammy over a song as great as “In My Life” is unbelievable...the latter is a superior song, musically, lyrically, tonally and melody wise. It’s the perfect pop track, from the opening guitar riff to Lennon’s falsetto that ends the tune. Always magnificently choreographed and written. There was nothing as good as this at the time of its release and has never been since. Rubber Soul was a ground breaking album and a game changing catalyst for the band itself. George Martins half speed piano is a beautiful flavour and McCartneys harmony is as always awesome. It’s interesting that Paul dis-agrees/or remembers differently, as to who actually wrote the track but if John says he did then I believe him...he was always honest about his input or lack of on the other bands tracks and was equally straight about what he wrote.
My favourite Beatles track alongside “A Day In The Life”. So many glorious songs to choose from. The Beatles are beyond definition and most certainly beyond comparison....the greatest by a proverbial mile of all time.♥️🎵x
Everytime you post a video I literally go “Yes!”
Same
The only youtuber i watch every video of when released
You're one of the few people I've heard sing a Beatles song and treat it with respect while letting your great voice shine through.
One of their most esteemed tunes. You either know it or you don't and if you DO,it's one Beatles song you simply cannot dislike. The words mean everything.
"Is it a collaboration?" Musically, yes. That much is clear, according to both writers. The lyric was John's. The question is: How much of the music was John's, how much Paul's.
According to John, Paul wrote the tune for "the middle eight itself" and the harmony for the rest. Of course there isn't a middle eight, but we know John must mean the tune of the B part ("I know that I will never lose affection / For people and things that went before / I know I'll always stop and think about them / In my life I love you more"). Oddly this sounds if anything more like John, whereas the A part ("There are places . . . " etc) seems more like Paul, but there you go!
A recent statistical analysis famously claimed to have proved that John wrote the whole tune. But the same analysis "proved" that Paul wrote the whole tune of Michelle, when we know for sure that John had a hand in the middle eight; and it also "proved" that Paul wrote the tune of The Word, which is supposed to be a John song. So I think this should be disregarded. Reality is too complicated for such simplistic bean-counting.
Is there a compromise solution? I think so.
Paul recalls writing the whole tune on a visit to Kenwood. But it seems unlikely that John had no notion of a tune *at all* - this was a song that had been work in progress for a while in different versions by that time. To give both men the benefit of the doubt, what may have happened is : John had an idea for the A part and suggested this to Paul when he gave him the words ("I was trying ity like this - whaddaya think?" or something); Paul took this in and produced an A part tune based on that, adding the B part tune to it ; later it seemed to Paul as if he had written the whole tune, having absorbed John's original idea into his own arrangement.
Speculation, obviously. But they could both have been conscientiously remembering half truths.
I was thinking the same thing having read Barry Miles's book - this seems most plausible to me - John sang the A melody to Paul but probably didn't have it completely down - and it needed to be different for the B melody - Paul approximated what John had sung for first melody and probably resolved it a little (hence causing the confusion) and then did the B melody - totally agree. It's certainly a John song but a big hand from Paul.
@@stephengow9590 Thanks, Stephen. Actually i just discovered a comment from John that throws more confusion into this. Here he is talking in 1980 about If I Fell:
""The harmony's Paul's ... and maybe the middle eight, let me think ... yeah [sings the verse through] that's all mine. I think maybe the middle eight he introduced the chord in there. I might have mixed up the story on the middle eight to In My Life and this one - I think it's *this* one he gave me the middle eight, on the F."
(amoralto.tumblr.com/post/48091904152/august-1980-john-talks-to-playboy-writer-david)
So what do we make of that? It absolutely confirms how tricky memory can be. On one hand you could say "There is now no evidence from John that support's Paul's claim to have written any part of In My Life". On the other hand, one could argue it undermines everything John thought he remembered about the music, which would strengthen Paul's 1971 claim to have written it. I don't know! What do you think? (Howsoever, it's very interesting that John credited the beautiful middle eight of If I Fell to Paul. Paul has only said they wrote it "together, but with the emphasis on John", without being specific.)
Thank you for pointing out that study was completely illegitimate.
In my life has the octave rhyming and the lyrical rhyming progression with the melody that are only found in Paul songs
To insist that it is a “John song” or “Paul wrote it” is to ignore the creative process. John. Paul and George Martin pushed each other to create. George Harrison chimed in routinely, coming up with better guitar licks than originally composed and Ringo added just the right touch with his drum kit. All four Beatles and the production team pushed themselves to make the music.
I worked for over 30 years in the field of television production and post-production. Producers I worked with pushed and inspired me to do my best and I pushed producers regularly to outdo their previous efforts. Additionally, the Beatles did not make music in a vacuum, and this video touches on this fact, as a random question from a reporter caused John to challenge himself to write a song based on his own experiences and introspection. Additionally, there were other musicians that the Beatles knew or read about that were doing new things and the Beatles’ music shows these influences as well.
In the midst of any creative process, there is origination and execution. The Beatles fired a drummer who had issues with execution and hired Ringo. Their breakup was an issue of their need to originate more, knowing that there was a vast talent pool that they could, then, draw on for execution.
I would state with certainty that Ringo Starr, the Beatle credited for no original composition, was a master of execution. When they went into the studio to record, they started out at the demo state, where Ringo would listen and start to complement what he heard on drums. As the tune came together, he would play all day and into the wee hours of the morning to get the song done and recorded. He worked as hard as anyone. Lose Ringo Starr and you completely lose the music. Lose George Harrison and, likewise, you lose the music. Writing credits were Lennon and McCartney mostly, as they were most involved in that process of origination. But I’m certain neither John or Paul told Ringo what to play.
The credit on “In My Life” is Lennon and McCartney. That is a true statement.
Thank you Mark Hollis for your perspective from working in the entertainment industry. I enjoyed the process of originating versus execution life lesson. I understand perfectly because I have worked 30 years as part of a health team. Team usually is what gets the end result but rarely the praise...Doctors, Running backs,Quarterbacks, Presidents and Pitchers in Baseball are the heroes but could never have done anything without the team. I like how you pointed out George and Ringo being executors of the musical end result and there is also George Martin and who plays the harpischord?? I think a lot of us don't put a lot of thought into the process involved. It's easy to just recognize the names who wrote the song and not really give credit where credit is due. So I think this has to be a Beatles song especially that it makes sense that both John and Paul may not agree on exactly who wrote what part, they definently both say they both worked on it. I thank you for opening my eyes to the process. I should have remembered that there is a story behind every song.
A modeling study was done in 2018 that indicated that the melody was all John with a * .018% * probability that Paul wrote the song. Bags-of-words modeling is what was used.
In my life is the best songs ever written
I always thought it was a John song ... I’m sure Paul, George and Ringo put their heart into it too... 🙏🏼 together they were all so brilliant 🎵 🎶 🇬🇧 🇦🇺
To me the melody is evocative of the many simple, melancholy pieces by Paul, but it's long been considered John's song and no reason to dispute it.
It's not a John song or a lennon/mccartney song.
Its a Beatles song
All The Beatles played on it but not all of them wrote it. I say it's a Lennon/McCartney song.
@@CB-xr1eg when you think of "In My Life" do you think of it as a song by The Beatles or by Lennon/Mccartney?
@@oliverfield877 What a stupid fucking question! My comment states quite clearly what I regard it as.
@@oliverfield877 Just in case you're too dim to realise, and I suspect you are, I think of it as a Beatles song, sung by John and written by Lennon/McCartney
ah, a semantics lover. How sad.
I do get a little worked up over the Who wrote What debate. I'm a hardcore JL fan but I still think PM is beyond brilliant. I can easily envision JL writing the lyrics and chord progressions and PM writing the melody and the opening lick. I can just easily envision JL writing all of it but the middle eight, which he gave PM credit for creating. I can also imagine them both working on it together starting with JL's original inspiration. All of these scenarios are plausible because as songwriters they were both so flexible in that they could both write hard rockers, sensitive ballads & Top 10 pop hits with equal ease. Personally, and not without bias, I call it a John song with pieces of Paul sprinkled on top.
Great video and channel man! I am in the process of reviewing every Beatles album on my channel and some of your videos have been helpful in the research process! This is one of my favorite songs of all time... Lennon was a genius!
Just checked out your channel! Very good stuff, I like that part in your trailer when you mention those boring "reactions to famous songs". That was funny and too true.
The HollyHobs Thanks a lot my dude, appreciate it! One of the reasons I like your channel so much is that you actually learn something and it’s VERY well edited. You have a great personality to boot, and that makes for a fantastic channel. Keep up the good work my friend! 👍🏻
My favorite Beatles song. It always makes me teary-eyed.
This is John's... Only he can pull out so much soul and emotion.
One of my favourite Beatles track! Thanks for this!
I've always loved this song, I sometimes play it myself and it always makes me think of all the people that I have known, who have passed through my life.
Great job, as usual.
Financial implications aside, I think it is best to consider all songs written by either of them to have been written by both. They were, even in the tortuous end years, soulmates. They influenced each other, even when it was unconscious. Even the bulk of their solo catalogs show the ongoing influence.
In fact, "In My Life" talks exactly about this, how places and people affect us, influence us, mold us. Neither John nor Paul would be himself, had it not been for the other.
Thanks for another thought-provoking video about some of the most thought-provoking songs ever written.
By far my favorite "John" song...pretty sure I hear Paul in there because...there's a melody.
For me...WITHOUT ANY DOUBT THE MOST TOUCHING ,AND BEAUTIFUL WORDS EVER WRITTEN TO MUSIC....
From what I read, The Beatles had a deal. The writer of the song would sing lead. John sings lead here. So I think it is John's song.
Ikr
Definitely mostly John's song, but I think Macca helped with the melody quite a bit. And your point isnt always true, for example, Eight Days A Week is mostly a Paul song, yet John sings it, and Every Little Thing is mostly Paul and Lennon sings that one as well. Day Tripper is mostly Lennon, yet Paul sings the lead there. So while generally true, there remain exceptions.
@@tysonjorstad John and Paul both sing Eight Days A Week. Listen closely.
@@MarkMikelVideos Paul sings a harmony, John sings lead
@@tysonjorstad it sounds like a double tracked John singing lead, however it's both John and Paul singing lead together. Paul was great at imitating John.
Lennon said "his contribution melodically was the harmony and the middle-eight itself." McCartney claimed he set Lennon's lyrics to music from beginning to end, taking inspiration for the melody from songs by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. "I liked 'In My Life'. Those were words that John wrote, and I wrote the tune to it. That was a great one."] A 2018 study that used bag-of-words modelling to analyze the song indicated that the music was entirely composed by Lennon. Based on the analysis, mathematician Keith Devlin reported a .018% probability of McCartney writing the song.
I only found this channel yesterday and its one of my favorites!
I found this channel by his video about The Beatles "Yesterday" lol.
theghostofchrispontius
when all your troubles seems so faraway
John certainly wrote the lyrics and I would not be surprised if Paul contributed to the melody. And of course, George Martin's piano piece is brilliant... Good video, man.! Thanks for posting!
One of the most beat songs ever written.
I think of this one whenever I think back to not seeing a group of people regularly anymore (i.e. post high school)
If you see the handwritten original lyrics to the song before Paul even saw it, you can see the only line that hasn't been crossed out, apart from the three verses, is "all these places..", which is the first line of the bridge which he credits Paul with melodically. I think he knew pretty much where it was going and figured he'd work the rest out with Paul.
I grew up with "The Beatles" as I was 15 when they released "Love Me Do" and I followed them thereafter getting all their albums. I saw them when I was 16 and got 4 tickets for which I only paid £3 or about $4. In my opinion this song is mainly John's, he always contributed the deeper more thoughtful lyrics. He was a bit heavy and caustic and Paul was lighter and more cheerful. The combination of the two made them the perfect songwriters of their generation. Their songs made stars out of nobodies.
Great video, my friend. In My Life has always been my favourite Beatles track by far. The melody, the words, chord structure and amazing ‘harpsichord’ solo makes it a real signature song. The drums are kind of the same as on All I’ve Got to Do, I always thought that was funny.
As obsession tends to do to one, we who awaited every sound out of the Beatles most likely assumed this was John’s song. But more importantly it was a Great Beatle gift to us all....so utterly beautiful.
I'm just glad the song was made regardless who made it. It speaks for all of us in our lives we've been loved and given love as well as memories of. Place having there moments with people and friends we all can recall and the rest I say thank you lads, and God Bless You The Beatles will be forever Loved
One of the best song ever written.
2 Points ...1 The major shift in John’s writing is at this time and with this song but this is also the exact time they discovered pot and Dylan and John also said that pot gave him the window to no longer need to separate his song writing from his book writing - now he knew how to write personal songs ... 2. They couldn’t say it was just another Lennon & Mccartney song bcs later they were both asked specifically about who contributed what to each song - people wanted to know there recollections of this - John gave an interview to (Playboy Mag ithink) in 1980 was asked to recall every single song and how they came about -Paul later did a smaller/similar analysis in his memoir Many Years From Now - so I think thats why - thanks for the video - keep it up!!
I could describe this song as a John's story told by Paul's words with strong John's spirit, and it's delivered thru Paul's melody with strong impression of a John's song.
idk if this makes sense
Nonetheless it's John's true-to-self lyrics and Paul's melodic genius that made this phenomenal song so rewarding and it's my eternal fav of the Beatles
Rewriting the Beatles history and grabbing somebody’s intellectual property just because the person cannot defend himself anymore?? What a friend! Now I know why George is much closer to John..
Paul claimed that in the 70s before John died
Man
As soon as i saw the notification
I clicked immediately
My favourite song “ in my life”
ur second kid hahaah
It's a great John song with Paul melody and a great piano bridge by Martin. It's in the top 5 and as great as Eleanor Rigby.
NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES
Second being a douche bag maybe
I realize people like to dissect and peruse every nuance of meaning in these songs but the takeaway of this composition is how it resonates with each individual listener. Ringo's oblique drum track, John's bittersweet vocal, Martin's Baroque input all coalesce into a poignant remembrance of things past.
Your last sentence is spot on.
Good way to start off my morning! I was literally in the process of adding Beatles songs to my car playlist, good video :D
Please tell me "Long, Long, Long" is gonna be on there, that is the perfect song to drive home to after a long day of work.
It’s got the tell tale Lennon melismas, lots of Lennonesque pentatonic phrasing. The first melodic figure could be McCartney’s. I do think Paul has penchant for over claiming authorship especially after John’s death which is really sad as he has so much to be proud of.
No he doesn't. This is the only song that Paul disagrees with Lennon about.
@@ewest14 he claims to have written/contributed lots of things - the intro to If I Fell for example, even though we have a solo Lennon ‘63 demo of the song with a different ending. He may have done and written a lot of things. No one talks about Lennon writing harmonic and melodic content to Yellow Submarine’s verses. The thing is Lennon is not around to respond and memories fade as well. I’m a big McCartney fan but when Lennon got killed it made him a martyr and that eclipsed McCartney and his contribution which led to many years from now and some overreaching. McCartney is totally amazing
@@dogmatronic Try thinking about this a different way. Lennon got all of his side of the story out from 70-80. Paul never felt the need to do it until after John died and Phillip Norman released his Shout with a false history of the band. That along with Lennon's interviews with Jann Wenner, which were heavily biased and provided false information to fans. For example John says he wrote 80% of Eleanor Rigby, which was proven to be untrue because even John's best friend said that John contributed basically nothing. John's own best friend backed Paul's story of John only helping with half a line. Paul knew that he had to set the record straight, even though he knew that it would look like him trying to revise history. So in reality, it's Paul fixing an already revisionist history.
dear beautiful soul reading this, you’re so loved❤️you’re a total champ and God loves you and He has amazing blessings and joy for you!! keep at it, ur a champ!✝️💗🙏🏻
John's words.
Paul's melody.
George Martins middle eight.
John's personal experience.
John's song with a little help from his friends.
The last line is the answer
Call Melody, if you
NOT Paul's melody lol thats what Paul would lead you to believe. I'll go with the songwriter John and producer George Martin vs Paul wanting credit
@@andrescarrero8152
I don't think Paul would lie.
He loved John.
@@markrymanowski719he didn't! he just love himself
It’s a without a doubt a John song. I believe what happened was it was John’s idea, then Paul came along and took out lyrics and maybe added a couple of his own. George Harrison probably helped with the guitar riff (similar to how he came up with the riff in And I Love Her) but it also could have been Paul. Then you add the beautiful piano solo by George Martin and Ringos simple but perfect beat. So, maybe it wasn’t a John song...it was a Beatles song lol
Paul's memory of such things as who wrote what is not nearly as precise as John's was. He often blusters, blunders or creates a myth that he then believes. This is clearly a John chord progression, which doesn't seem to be in dispute. The melody is almost certainly John's as it starts with one of John's signature moves: the first note on the first downbeat is a 9. He did this a lot and it's really, really tricky to do but John did it quite a bit. On the other hand, Paul writing the melody to what John calls the middle 8 is actually Paul writing the melody to the chorus. That melody really does sound like Paul. The verses though, not so much.
Well I've never been into the whole John vs Paul thing. I love them both (And I don't want to forget to mention how awesome George Harrison was as a song writer.), and whenever I hear one and think, "Yeah, I like him best." I'll hear something from the other and go, "but wait a moment". lol
That being said, I'm giving this one to John. Only because Martin says it was a John song and doesn't mention Macca at all. When two geniuses disagree, best to listen to a third, unbiased genius to settle the matter.
Thank you for making my request
I chose to walk up the aisle at my one and only son's wedding to "In My Life," played on a harp. I'd wondered if I would cry during the wedding...well, at the first NOTES, I started, and sort of cried through the whole ceremony! In my speech, I quoted Lennon's thoughts on love. God, I love John and Paul, still today.
Yes!!! I’ve been wait for this one!
YES! My favourite song of all time!
Same :")
In my life it's a song written by John, but that doesn't mean that Paul couldn't give him any important advice. The extraordinary thing about the songs by Lennon - McCartney is that even if Paul wrote a song himself, he asked John for advice and so did John with Paul. If the advice was followed, even if it concerned only 1% of the song, it often gave her something more, making it an absolute masterpiece.
It’s a beautiful Beatles song. It’s very
John. I do feel it!
It is a Beatles track. That's all I know.
I heard that George Martin recorded the piano part.
24-yr old fan here and I believe this is John's 😍
jazel estolas You’ve been a fan for 24 years or you’re 24 years old
I agree.
Haha. I often try to do what many comments here have attempted. To choose the signature or best songs of this Beatle or that Beatle, or the Beatles generally. But it is pretty much impossible. I once had some time on my hands and tried to list the top 10 essential Beatles songs. I couldn’t do it, so I expanded the list to 20. I still couldn’t do it, so I went to 30! And at 30, I still felt guilty about so many songs that I had left out. A fun exercise, this, but in the end, impossible!!!
We played this song for the recessional at my wedding. My first thought was to play a string quartet version similar to something I'd heard on RUclips, but when I couldn't one similar available anywhere to purchase that would let me listen to a sample first (to make sure it was what I wanted!), I decided screw it, we will play the original, and we did! It was beautiful!
This song came out on their LP Rubber Soul. Although this album has outright songs by individual songwriters Lennon, McCartney & Harrison, John & Paul were still collaborating, sitting down with guitars, eyeball to eyeball for some of the songs: "Drive My Car" & "The Word" are two. I think Paul's recollection is correct. John was struggling with the words & then changed them after he & Paul had a guitar session together as they used to do when they were touring, writing together in hotel rooms or on the tour bus, guitar to guitar. So it is entirely feasible that Paul contributed more to the guitar changes/melody than Lennon did, while the song used Lennon's words entirely.
And it should be noted that their collaborations extended into the "Sgt Pepper" album on songs like "With A Little Help From My Friends," "It's Getting Better" & "A Day In The Life," although the latter was more of a hybrid of putting two different songs together - - still, they seem to be working very closely together on this as well when one takes into account that they 'together' decided to put in the 'drug reference' of "turn you on."
Paul is more than likely goofing on us. This is John's song and John decalared this early on. John used to give many interviews and mix nonsense in with truth about song writing...example he said he wrote 50 per cent of Elenor Rigby which he did not........no doubt he did this to blurr the line for Beatle' s fans to keep them guessing who did what and not to deduce that one person was the beatles.............because the beatles were truly a dynamic group....After John dyed Paul was the only one to keep some of mystery alive. John said early on this was his song, maybe a little help from Paul......it does not sound like Paul' s style.
Best lyrics to any song ever written in my opinion.
My memory is that the evolution of this song began as a retrospective on the places and people in Liverpool that the Beatles had encountered in their early lives. It then evolved into this one, a song with an outstanding first verse and a fairly standard second verse, and of course featuring the classical Beatles' harmonies. I also seem to recall someone referring to it as John's first certifiable work of genius. Great and memorable, but largely on the strength of that first verse.
In My Life is probably my favorite Beatles song
so?
@@AnthropoidOne Just enjoy it!
Its completely John's song...like John's "This Boy" , "If i Fell", "Yes It Is" or "Dear Prudence", "Julia" - John said: "He could write ballads too"
It’s all John’s song. Paul only contributed some words. You can hear the awkward chord progressions is so much John. Listen to “we can work it out” you can tell who’s part is his in the song.
Overtime someone says it’s a “John song”, John get his wings
The song is a good song to fit any person. Anyone can relate to this. It is suitably vague and easily sung. Easy to remember, too.
Every time I see a video where someone comments on a Beatles song, there's always a comment about "well this led to their breakup."
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Paul has said himself that in a year's time, the Beatles' style evolved quickly, the style changed rapidly. They were just creating and making songs. *Rubber Soul* was one of those big evolutions of music. That and *Revolver* were great experimental and growing performances.
Remember the Beatles never had a dry studio session, and Paul said they wrote more songs than got on the records. The ones that got on the records were the ones they could remember.
It seems to me a good test of a song's staying power if you can remember it. They didn't write the music, only played it.
*In My Life* was a Beatles song, even if you can distinguish who did what. It's no different than being able to parse out who sang what notes in the harmonies of, say, *Nowhere Man*
You did listen to *Peter and the Wolf* and *Young People's Guide to the Orchestra* when you were young, didn't you?
''And these memories lose their meaning, when I think of love of something knew''
Maybe John's most beautiful lyric.
Mr. Kite, A Day in the Life, and now this song? Wow, next time we'll hear Paul saying he can recollect writing Imagine on a napkin and slipping it on John's pocket because he thought it'd be funny.
lol
They never disagreed on how A day in the life was written. See John's interviews, he says it's his song with Paul's part in the middle and the little lick was Paul's as well as the idea for the orchestration.
A Day in the life was co-written and the orchestration was Paul's idea
@@herculepoirot6632 Yeah but it starts from a Lennon idea. So in my view it's a Lennon song.
No but John did credit Yoko for the original idea for Imagine. lol
I've sat down and analyzed the melodies that John wrote versus Paul. In short, the melody of 'In My Life' does a lot of vocal modulation that almost never appears in Paul's songs. But, there are note intervals that almost never appears in John's work. While I firmly believe that the lyrics are definitely John, the melodic was co-written as it progressed. We've be very fortunate to see and hear many of their sessions like a fly on the wall. They chipped into each other's work. They were still a friendly working environment at the time so it seems very likely it evolved. (There were a lot of drugs then, too (wink))
I read some where years ago that the song "In my life" was about the place John when on holiday in Sango Bay, Durness, Scotland.
This is the most important Beatles song to me, it makes me cry every time I hear it, than k you for this video
Hello! Just found you, today 4/12! Awesome Pawsome! I remember when the Beatles came out, was my 1st album, i was 12! I thought all the screaming for Paul was stupid, how could u hear them, with all that screaming! My favourite is/was Ringo, John, and luscious George! I believe my answer about "In my Life" is John! Many Blessings!
I don't know what ever happened to Paul, IN MY LIFE, as George Martin said it is totally John song, I don"t understand McCartney just for ethics, John can not defend him self, but as everybody Knows Paul was always an admirer to John, and like this song it's the best of the Beatles, now Paul is saying to the contrary, the truth is Paul didn't even had collaboration in the middle eight, we that know Paul for so many years this song doesn't have a single word from his style. Paul McCartney was part of the group, but John Lennon was the group The Beatles, at least until Revolver, when the magic started to dim and go different ways. John didn't want a commercial group, Paul and George Martin knew that was where the money was. I was at two of the McCartney recent Concerts and I can assure, like me everybody else was there because it was the only chance to be as near from The Beatles used to be. Paul please just leave John alone, I dare you Paul ! take all the Beatles songs out of your repertoire, and you'll see how many people wouldn't go to your concerts. Telling lies about John will not bring the Beatles fans back, and even so I'm very tired of listen always the same: Let it be, Hey Jude, Penny Lane, Hello Goodbye, ob-la-di-ob-la-da and some others commercial songs. Have a little dignity, try to survive from what you did and leave John alone.
“In my life” is simply a song where the two just understood the meaning but both just didn’t wanted to destroy each other’s filings.
*feelings?
I feel that the original lyrics would have been a delight for Beatles fans not only because all of the places are also mentioned in other songs, but also because it's much more specific/personal to the Beatles/John Lennon than the lyrics we come to know and love
So John wrote Penny Lane before Paul even thought of writing it.
How the Beatles Made "I'll be back" . I'm more into John than beetles and I really wish to see more of *his songs. Btw you're great man
I’m so mad that this video is over 😂 I’m loving the new videos
So it's a McCartney/Lennon song just like the tracks on Let It be Naked then. Funny that because I thought they only sang the song they either or wrote. That's it then. Paul really did write the music & John only wrote the words. Thanks for clearing that up Faul. Of course you were there when the real JPM didn't write the music. So honest of you....
Paul got jealous over most people crowning John as the genius behind the Beatles after the split and after his death, so Paul sadly tried to take credit for a lot of John's work. Its sad but I understand Paul's frustration/jealousy over people crowning John as the visionary of the Beatles. Paul wanted that crown for himself, oh well
I hear very little of Paul in this song. He may have helped a bit, but for me, "In My Life" is very similar structurally to John's song "Girl" and is pure John with a little help from his friend Paul.
In my life was the very first song I knew when I was starting to learn how to sing when I was around 4 or 5 years old listening on a Parlopone 45rpm record playing it over and over again and the other side was Run for your Life.
Hanging around most of the places growing up and my dad bieng lead singer of the merseybeats "almost blues band" and "valentinoes" also "the chants (with sugar Dean)"
Smithtown Road, blast from the past
I'd say these were John's lyrics and Paul George Ringo and Martin's input for the music backing.
Beautiful honest song and original sound. Hands down one of the finest of the whole catalogue.
R.I.P John Lennon
R.I.P George Harrison
Two of music's finest xxx
Ello from the Philippines!
The source of this claim is in Paul's bio "Many Years From Now" based on loose and informal interviews with his friend Barry Miles conducted over several years.
In the bio he makes many slightly desperate revisionist claims (I was the cool arty one really), although this one stands apart. This gives a fair assessment of how the bio was generally received by critics:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCartney:_Many_Years_from_Now
I know John said Paul helped writing the "middle eight" (there is no real middle eight in the song) but the meaning is clear; Paul did contribute to the writing of the song. But if John didn't write a note of the music (which is basically what Paul claims), there is simply no way he would claim the song as mainly his. George Martin said it was John's song. It was John who asked Martin to come up with something "baroque" for the bridge. It is, and will forever remain, John's song with help from Paul (And G Martin).
Peace.
I love your videos
Rubber Soul was John's album "in oh so many ways." In My Life was John's song. The Lennon and McCartney partnership at this point consisted mostly of a suggestion here or there. And the music doesn't sound anything like a Paul McCartney melody, it sounds very much like Johns style. John had the most unusual melodic lines on songs like Not a Second Time and Yes It Is, etc. The whole melody line throughout In My Life is just the same way.
It's interesting how this seems to matter to us, when the two of them for most of the time really did think of themselves as a partnership, and it was important to them that all of the songs were Lennon/McCartney, a statement of their fused musical identity. Having said that, my take is that the music is likely primarily McCartney, with some contributions from Lennon. Mostly because Paul's account of the writing is very detailed and specific, whereas I think John's was a quick one-liner without much thought having gone into it, in the middle of an interviewer asking about the authorship of a whole list of songs. Paul's account also seems consistent in other ways with the way the two of them worked. And it also just sounds more like a Paul song than a John song, even though we associate it with John because he sings it.
If I remember correctly, the way Paul tells the story, John had been writing all of these words, which he didn't like and was feeling frustrated with. (And the video shows some of these). Paul suggests to him that he's trying to put in too much content, and that he needs to just pick one or two things and focus on those. This gets John over his block, and he starts reworking the lines he's written. While he's doing that, Paul goes over to the piano, which is in another room, and bangs out an initial version of the music and brings it back to John. I think they then talk it over, and Paul goes back to the piano and reworks it, perhaps with some of the finished lyric and perhaps with some musical ideas from John. (It's also plausible, as another commenter here mentioned, that John had an initial vague idea about the melody, perhaps singing some of his provisional lines, which Paul used as the basis for his initial version). And they spent the rest of the session finishing it up together.
In any event, it sounds very much like a collaboration to me.
Keep these videos coming! Love your channel and I'm glad you're uploading a lot these days! :D
0:12 What controversy of who wrote the song "In My Life"?
"There was a period when I thought I didn't write melodies, that Paul wrote those and I just wrote straight, shouting rock 'n' roll. But of course, when I think of some of my own songs - In My Life, or some of the early stuff, This Boy - I was writing melody with the best of them."
John Lennon, 1980
"For In My Life, I had a complete set of lyrics after struggling with a journalistic vision of a trip from home to downtown on a bus naming every sight. It became In My Life, which is a remembrance of friends and lovers of the past. Paul helped with the middle eight musically. But all lyrics written, signed, sealed, and delivered. And it was, I think, my first real major piece of work. Up till then it had all been sort of glib and throwaway. And that was the first time I consciously put my literary part of myself into the lyric. Inspired by Kenneth Alsopf [sic], the British journalist, and Bob Dylan."
John Lennon
It's interesting the way John started this, by describing what he saw and the places he passed by. Very similar to the way Chris Difford describes writing the lyrics to "Tempted" (by Squeeze), just ticking off the sites out his window while traveling. Tempted is fantastic; In My Life is brilliant. I guess I could almost believe anything about who wrote what in this song. I always considered it John's because he sang it, and it sounds like him to my ears, words and melody. John did seem to express some frustration with it, like it wasn't coming together or he didn't know how to bring it all to conclusion, and maybe Paul helped focus it. While I've always felt this was John's through and through, I like the commenters that are saying it's a Beatles song, with John as primary. Credit where credit is due, but that was one powerful collective.
Your videos make me so so happy! I hope you are having a wonderful day too 😘
PS: am digging the haircut
Thank you! I filmed myself cutting it all off for a future video lol
I'm quiet shure, that the melody was composed by Paul. It's quiet hard to imagine that there could have been a demo version of this song in the style of Johns rough guitar playing, that is present in nearly all of his songs of this period. I don't know any other songs of John that have a similar character, maybe except 'If I Fell, but even there you hear his typical guitar playing. Paul said he wrote the melody by the mellotron, which was inspired by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles. Above all the structure of the chords seems very similar to 'You Won't See Me' on the same album, but also in 'Here There and Everywhere'. There is in both cases the immediate change from major to minor. Other similiarities in the chord-sequence can be found in 'The night before'. And it is typical fo John that he didn't honour the contribution of Paul to his songs; vice versa he claimed contributions to Pauls songs, although they were only marginal, as it happened in the caswe of 'Eleanor Rigby'. Nevertheless one should not value his genius less than Pauls!
The phrase sung during, "...all my life" in the first line is a phrase that was definitely used before in earlier Beatle tunes. Just the end of that first line. Therefore obviously, the song was written neither by John or Paul but by earlier versions of themselves.
a how the beatles made for "here, there and everywhere" would be great
"You Never Give Me Your Money"
Please, it's my favourite song
Sooooooooooooooooo underrated. What a beautiful song.