Lennon/McCartney Songs Hated…by Lennon

While it’s undeniable that the team of Lennon/McCartney produced some of the world’s most cherished hits, at least one of these gents was not a total fan. And he made no bones about going public with his opinions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the naysaying Beatle in question was John Lennon.

While John and Paul teamed up brilliantly, John carried an albatross of perfectionism placed on himself. It made his artistic calling disproportionately difficult. This is, after all, the man with one of the most distinctive rock voices who hated hearing his self-described “thin, nasal” tones because they so differed from what he heard in his head.

As a general observation, it’s safe to say that Paul McCartney gravitated towards a more mainstream pop vibe than Lennon, who leaned into an experimental and often surreal approach. Paul had a fondness for old-timey music and rippling keyboards; John preferred more dissonance.

In the post-Beatles years, John came clean with some of his true feelings. His opinions are as enlightening as they are confounding. Here’s a partial list of Beatles standards that weren’t up to John’s exacting standards.

“Run for Your Life” – Rubber Soul, 1965

 Lennon objected to “Run for Your Life” for a few reasons. He considered it a cheesy knockoff of Elvis’ “Baby, Let’s Play House.” And as his own sensibilities shifted over the years, he grew appalled by the inherent misogyny of the lyrics: “Well, I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man,” for starters. The cringe-y machismo mortified him. All in all? This is Lennon’s least favorite Beatles song.

“Hello, Goodbye” – non-album single, 1967

Lennon objected to what he considered the lightweight commercial pop qualities of the track, especially in contrast to “I Am the Walrus,” which meant infinitely more to him in its wild experimental scope.

To his chagrin, “Hello, Goodbye” got the “A” side of the single while “Walrus” was relegated to the “B” side. He resented this and described “Hello, Goodbye” as “three minutes of contradictions and meaningless juxtapositions.”

“Lovely Rita” – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967

 Sgt. Pepper, the Beatles’ 1967 conceptual masterpiece, was filled with wit, psychedelia, and new approaches to music. “Lovely Rita” is a whimsical number that plays like a roguish love song. He differed from Paul’s wider approach to songwriting, where he delved into the lives of people.

John’s take? “I’m not interested in writing about people like that. I like to write about me, because I know me. I don’t know anything about secretaries and postmen and meter maids.” Nor was he delighted by George Martin’s honky-tonk keyboard solo, which was not his vibe at all.

“When I’m Sixty-Four” – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967

 “Paul’s, completely. I would never dream of writing a song like that,” said Lennon in 1980. A sentimental ode to Paul’s dad, riddled with old-school instrumentation and a Tin Pan Alley approach, Lennon dismissed “When I’m Sixty-Four” as “granny music shit.” (He also used this categorization for “Honey Pie” and “Your Mother Should Know”.) Lennon preferred experimentation over nostalgia music every time.

“Let it Be” – Let it Be, 1970

John made it a frequent point that “‘Let it Be’ could have been a Wings song,” and disliked its ballad-y aspects and gospel overtones. He was uneasy with the allusions to “Mother Mary” as being too religious, though Paul maintained that it refers to his own mother.

John claimed it was a knock-off of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge over Troubled Water” (never mind that “Bridge” was actually recorded months after “Let it Be” in 1969) and made it clear that he had little use for the song and everything it stood for.

For all that, Lennon eventually did his own cover of “Let It Be,” with his own gritty flavor. It turned out to be an endearing homage.

 -Ellen Fagan

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