I've never written anything that was remotely as good as Lennon & McCartney (duh!). Just wondering if anyone else here dreams of writing a tune that would have impressed the Beatles themselves?
This really depends on what you mean by 'good'. That's a funny word with, I think, alot of bizarre associations. As dumb as this may sound, for me there aren't intrinsically "good" and "bad" songs because it's all so subjective. To me there are songs one likes, songs one dislikes and songs that one is indifferent about. Also, don't forget that first McCartney, then later Lennon were very much into avant garde stuff, much of which many of us wouldn't touch with a disinfected ten foot pole ! John was well impressed with Yoko's banshee wailing and Paul liked stuff by composers like Cage who recorded a piece of silence (and probably got the royalties if anyone other than Paul actually bought it !!) or AMM who would saw pianos and roll ball bearings down electric guitars, live......
So maybe it wouldn't take "much" to impress the Beatles !
The ability to write songs like The Beatles wrote is hardly obtainable. They were so awesome that they can not be matched. Tho many have come close, their is no substitute.
I love the Beatles' music, have done for 34 years and I dig it more now than I ever did. But I could say the same for loads of artists, some well known, many not. I think Lennon, McCartney and Harrison were superb songwriters. But they wrote in an era of great writers too (and by their own admission, they were hugely eclectic and like most songwriters, pilfered ideas from here and there and filtered them to come up with something new). The Stones' 65-'72 output was the equal of the Beatles, as were the Kinks, much Motown and Stax and alot more besides. And I mean
lots more besides. On all sides of the Atlantic and beyond. One of the most interesting Lennon quotes I ever read came a couple of months before he died;
In the early years, I'd often carry around someone else's song in my head and only when I'd put it down on tape-because I can't write music- would I consciously change it to my own melody because I knew that otherwise, somebody would sue me.
Ironically, he was sued for plaigiarizing Chuck Berry on 'Come together'.
I'm not knocking your quote, dodge, just disagreeing heartilly with it. I mean, that 1964-83 period of music is my favourite in all of human history and the Beatles figure heavilly in that. But I'm shamelessly biased there and I recognize there will always be people writing great songs, whether big pros or little people like us recording at home. There is no 'unobtainable' as far as I'm concerned. I guess that's the joy of a subjective view !
