Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Was just listening to BEATLES FOR SALE and John sings lead on 5 of the first 6 songs (alright, BABY'S IN BLACK is a duet w/ Paul) which leads me to ask if the Beatles themselves chose the song sequences of their albums.
Before any hasty answers mention the way Capitol chopped their albums for the USA releases, that's NOT what I'm talking about.
One would think the Beatles were very mature (especially Paul in this case) to let John have so much space. Almost half the LP!!

Steve: I suspect that George Martin as producer probably devised the sequence (at least on the early albums). I'm sure that Paul had a lot to say about sequence while working on 'Sgt Pepper' and beyond.

I have an interview with John bemoaning the early Capitol releases and how they would be different than the original Parlophone LPs (and shorter so as to make more albums). John explicitly said that one of the things that was bad was that Capitol screwed with the sequencing. "We had put a lot of work into the sequencing".... he said.

How much was "a lot" and how much was actually George Martin's doing is anyones guess, but clearly they had put some thought into the subject.

John was the main songwriter until Revolver.
McCartnes had only 2 or three, maybe four songs on
the early LPs (i.e. Can't buy me love, And I love her, Things we said today on AHDN-LP, and the Cover version of Long Tall Sally on the EP, although this was John's song, too, because he played the lead guitar part on his new 325 Miami)
And, sadly, the more songs Paul wrote,
the more "silver hammering" there was on the Beatles' LPs.
Steve, as far as I know it was George Martin together with the Beatles who made the order of the songs, but probably not on "Please Please me".

i disagree with the "silver hammering" comment.

>>>>McCartnes had only 2 or three, maybe four songs on the early LPs

huh? You are right that John wrote the majority of the early stuff, but (aside from the many close colaborations with what were Lennon's songs to start with), Paul was coming up with lots of his own stuff well before Revolver.... the ones you mentioned and also:

All My Loving, Hold Me Tight (mostly Paul), I Wanna Be Your Man (mostly Paul), She's A Woman (mostly Paul), I'll Follow The Sun, Eight Days A Week (mostly Paul), Every Little Thing (mostly Paul),What You're Doing (mostly Paul), I'm Down (mostly Paul), The Night Before, Another Girl, Tell Me What You See, I've Just Seen A Face, Yesterday, We Can Work It Out (mostly Paul), Drive My Car (mostly Paul), You Wont See Me, Michelle, I'm Looking Through You, and Paperback Writer (mostly Paul).

Yes, Kent.
From With the Beatles to Rubber Soul and 4 singles we have about 78 songs, with 21 McCartney's.
And most of them are pretty good!

ok.... then why did you say that McCartney had only 2 or three, maybe four songs on the early LPs?

Every Little Thing is mostly McCarthey's? It's got a Lennon lead vocal (lead guitar too, no?)and lyrics that smack of Lennon relationship-drama...

According to "Beatlesongs" by William J Dowlding its ".9 McCartney and .1 Lennon". This book also credits the lead guitar to George.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0671682296/002-9862679-9336007

and then there is this......

"Many sources say that John Lennon played the 12-string Rickenbacker opening signature lick, as well as the solo, since George Harrison showed up at Studio Two a couple of hours after the initial tracking was recorded. Some believe John "borrowed" George's guitar, which was already set up in Studio Two, while others claim it was George on the electric 12-string."

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3876

http://www.geocities.com/~beatleboy1/dba04sale.html

JOHN 1980: "'Every Little Thing' is his song. Maybe I threw in something."

PAUL circa-1994: "'Every Little Thing,' like most of the stuff I did, was my attempt at the next single... but it became an album filler rather than the great almighty single. It didn't have quite what was required."

#@%$!
Every Little Thing is one of my faves, and to them it was album filler. I should be so lucky!

it WAS amazing wasn't it? Most bands would give their right arm for just one of the songs that The Beatles threw away.