DM's Beatles forums
Beatles forums => Polls => Topic started by: NowhereMan28 on February 02, 2012, 03:47:57 PM
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I personally feel that even though the album was pretty much "Paul's baby" as John said, John wrote the better songs on it, and that's including the Strawberry Fields single (which was supposed to be on the album). A Day In The Life, Strawberry Fields Forever, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite, these are all MUCH better songs than Sgt. Pepper/Reprise, Fixing A Hole, Getting Better, LOVELY RITA (album filler), She's Leaving Home, Penny Lane. Although Paul had already become the dominant write of the albums since Revolver, John was still the one writing better songs even if he had given up leadership duties or "gotten bored" with the group.
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I'd say they were kind of even. Though, leaving objectivism aside, I prefer Paul's songs. In my opinion, there isn't any song John wrote for Pepper's that can top 'She's Leaving Home'. 'Fixing A Hole', 'Penny Lane' and 'Lovely Rita' are another three Paul gems that I tend to prefer over John's songs.
One thing is for sure though, both Paul and John were at the top of their game in '67. Saying which one was better depends strictly on each's personal preferences, which in my case, is Paul.
Welcome to the forum, by the way. Keep them posts coming! ;)
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I guess that's why some people are "John people" and some people are "Paul people" lol...I have been listening to alot of Paul's solo stuff more recently. For a long time I had ignored it and thought it was too much fluff or corny. However, im EAGERLY awaiting his new album Kisses on the Bottom! I have it on pre-order on iTunes. and THANK YOU for the welcome ! =)
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A Day In The Life is co-written. SFF was not on the album. Those two doesn't count. I personally always skip Mr Kite. Never liked it. Good Morning Good Morning is not a strong song either imho. Leaves us with Lucy as the one and only song that really matters coming from John alone for Sgt. Peppers. Indeed, I prefer Pauls songs on the album.
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For me, Johns songs are what make the album compelling, mystical and magical. He was at his most creative in this period.
I absolutely love A Day In The Life (yes I Know Paul wrote the middle 8) hauntingly brilliant, those words are what made John a genius, same with Lucy, who else could write lyrics like that ? a song describing an LSD trip - a classic!
Mr Kite carries this on, a story about a strange circus with very strange characters, this song for me is like a painting, it triggers visions and feelings of another world of fantasy and imagination.
Good Morning is brilliant IMO, its one of the strangest pop songs you'll ever hear, strange time signatures, words about everyday life, why the animal noises at the end, LOL
As for Pauls I love Rita plus the brilliant title track and Ringo's, so he gets 3 hits for me, not too fussed on the others he wrote for the album, full marks to Paul though for the concept.
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Bobber, I wouldn't say A Day In The Life was truly "co-written". John needed a SMALL piece to fill the gap between Mal Evans counting and where they were going to put the orchestra arrangement. That is a very small contribution to a song. The whole concept and lyrics/music of the song were written or created by John. Although Paul does deserve points for conducting the orchestra with George Martin! And Strawberry Fields MOST CERTAINLY does count because they were intended for the album and only released as a single after pressure from EMI and Brian Epstein to release one! George Martin has called this the "biggest mistake" of his career! You can argue that Strawberry Fields was a stronger than ANYTHING on Pepper. There are some fluff album fillers on Pepper from Paul. When I'm 64/Lovely Rita comes to mind. Also, With A Little Help From My Friends was almost entirely co-written word for word and musically at home before John and Paul got to the studio to record it. That song was co-written more so than A Day In The Life. The whole idea of the fictional band performing instead of the Beatles was Paul's idea, after John's original idea of growing up/nostalgia theme of Liverpool was already used on the single.
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That's pretty ridiculous. You're assuming that the Mal Evans part counting was already there. Haha! A Day In The Life is at best a little song without the Paul McCartney middle part. It is not a 'very small contribution to a song', it is an essential part of this song. It is plain nonsense that the whole concept, lyrics and music of A Day In The Life was written solely by John Lennon. You suggesting that he did shows me you need to do some homework.
Strawberry Fields Forever is not on Sgt. Pepper. Period. Yes, I know the story behind it, but it's a fact this song is not on the album.
What you call fillers are the best songs to other fans. Personally I regard Lovely Rita to be one of the better songs on the album.
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Sgt Pepper's was very much Paul's "baby", and personally speaking I like his songs on the album best, including ADITL which was co-written.
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Some people think John's songs are better and some people think Paul's songs are better.
My favorite song on that album is Fixing A Hole.
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Some people think John's songs are better and some people think Paul's songs are better.
Yes I was just thinking as I read this thread that its actually quite pointless
We all like what we like
I went on an Pink Floyd forum once and it was mostly sqaublling between the Roger waters fans and the David Gilmour fans, I lasted about 5 minutes on there and just thought, surely there are more important things in life ha2ha
The point is, it doesnt matter who wrote the best songs, its The most celebrated Beatle album and its fecking great ;D
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Yes I was just thinking as I read this thread that its actually quite pointless
We all like what we like
I went on an Pink Floyd forum once and it was mostly sqaublling between the Roger waters fans and the David Gilmour fans, I lasted about 5 minutes on there and just thought, surely there are more important things in life ha2ha
The point is, it doesnt matter who wrote the best songs, its The most celebrated Beatle album and its fecking great ;D
And it really doesn't matter if I'm wrong
I'm right where I belong
I'm right where I belong
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You can't put Strawberry or Penny Lane on Sgt. Pepper because they weren't on there and we all know what Martin said.
You also can't put Imagine on Abbey Road as it was going to be if it were finished.
However, I think this is a great poll!
I think this is one of the few albums Paul was better than John, but only barely.
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Mr Kite carries this on, a story about a strange circus with very strange characters, this song for me is like a painting, it triggers visions and feelings of another world of fantasy and imagination.
That song is like a feast for the ears, especially now that I have the right headphones.
why the animal noises at the end, LOL
My dogs like that part. They also like that sound that John put in at the end of the album for them. ;D
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And it really doesn't matter if I'm wrong
I'm right where I belong
I'm right where I belong
;)
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I never said that I didn't like Pauls songs on the album cuz I do. I'm just saying that they were not as critically acclaimed universally as the Lennon songs were! And I will still maintain that A Day In The Life was 85% Lennon's / 15% McCartney ! I read in an article that Paul was really trying to keep up with Lennon's creativity. He said John came in with Strawberry Fields at the first session and he along with everyone else was floored. Then he introduced the Pepper theme and his songs, but John came out on top and toppled everyone including their competitors like Brian Wilson with Day In The Life.
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I never said that I didn't like Pauls songs on the album cuz I do. I'm just saying that they were not as critically acclaimed universally as the Lennon songs were! And I will still maintain that A Day In The Life was 85% Lennon's / 15% McCartney ! I read in an article that Paul was really trying to keep up with Lennon's creativity. He said John came in with Strawberry Fields at the first session and he along with everyone else was floored. Then he introduced the Pepper theme and his songs, but John came out on top and toppled everyone including their competitors like Brian Wilson with Day In The Life.
From what I know, Brian was a big fan of 'She's Leaving Home'. Isn't that the story? Just saying... :)
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I read in an article that Paul was really trying to keep up with Lennon's creativity.
I think from '65 on, both John and Paul were trying to keep up with each other's creativity.
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I'd call it a split. They were both in great form.
I like George's tune, too.
:)
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who did the aaahhhs on a day in the life? roll:)
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I'd call it a split. They were both in great form.
I like George's tune, too.
:)
I agree Klang, all the band deserve big credit for a completely classic album, I think its wrong to start saying his songs were better than his etc, lets just celebrate one of the best albums ever made.
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Some people think John's songs are better and some people think Paul's songs are better.
My favorite song on that album is Fixing A Hole.
So your favorite song on that album was a Mal Evans tune? ;D
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Catchy tune, that. I can't seem to get it out of my head.
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Catchy tune, that. I can't seem to get it out of my head.
Then shake it!
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I think Johns stuff was stronger.
Rita is my favorite off of the entire album, but its not the best song on the record. I love Fixing A Hole and the title track by Paul, but John had Lucy and his output on ADITL is better than Pauls middle. Good Morning rocks and pops and I like it while BFTBOMK is cool too. Paul gave us She's Leaving Home which is beautiful, but I always felt misplaced. Paul loses points for When I'm 64 which is a sore spot on the record.
I dont know. I just feel Johns stuff had more umph.
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I also cannot believe Rita was considered to be "filler," and I know George Martin didn't really like it...I thought it was terrific...
Someone asked George Martin which two songs would be removed and he said Rita and Fixing a Hole (I'm pretty sure on Fixin)...Did anyone else ever read that anywhere?
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I personally feel that even though the album was pretty much "Paul's baby" as John said, John wrote the better songs on it, and that's including the Strawberry Fields single (which was supposed to be on the album). A Day In The Life, Strawberry Fields Forever, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite, these are all MUCH better songs than Sgt. Pepper/Reprise, Fixing A Hole, Getting Better, LOVELY RITA (album filler), She's Leaving Home, Penny Lane. Although Paul had already become the dominant write of the albums since Revolver, John was still the one writing better songs even if he had given up leadership duties or "gotten bored" with the group.
I think there's only Johns part of ADITL that is greater than anything Paul wrote around this era. Apart from that I think they were faiirly evenly matched for quality but Paul wrote more inc. WALHFMF which is kinda seen as a joint composition but it was pretty much Pauls song from what I can gather.
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You can't put Strawberry or Penny Lane on Sgt. Pepper because they weren't on there and we all know what Martin said.
You also can't put Imagine on Abbey Road as it was going to be if it were finished.
However, I think this is a great poll!
I think this is one of the few albums Paul was better than John, but only barely.
How do you know John was working on Imagine as early as 69?
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Paul wrote some good solid songs on Pepper, but for me songs like Getting Better, Leaving Home and When Im 64 etc weren't in the psychedelic mould that I think the album called for, but take Johns songs......his part of ADITL, Lucy & Mr Kite were quite mind blowing at the time, and thats what grabbed me, like Strawberry Fields, you'd never heard anything like it in 1967, for me those songs are what made the album a classic.
Paul wrote some beautiful melodies (as he did on all the albums) but it was nothing new in terms of genre bending.
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How do you know John was working on Imagine as early as 69?
I read this in a recent book and I'm ticked at myself for not jotting down where...The author said Imagine and Jealous Guy were initially slated for Abbey Road (admittedly, this is the first I'd heard of this)...I think it might have been the book written about the White Album that had Revolution in the title..I'll find out..again, sorry I don't have the exact details..
I'm wondering if anyone else read this anywhere.
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I read this in a recent book and I'm ticked at myself for not jotting down where...The author said Imagine and Jealous Guy were initially slated for Abbey Road (admittedly, this is the first I'd heard of this)...I think it might have been the book written about the White Album that had Revolution in the title..I'll find out..again, sorry I don't have the exact details..
I'm wondering if anyone else read this anywhere.
The music for Jealous guy was already written by then. It was written with entirely different lyrics in India but possibly because the lyrics were similar to paul's Mother natures son it seems to have sidelined.
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The music for Jealous guy was already written by then. It was written with entirely different lyrics in India but possibly because the lyrics were similar to paul's Mother natures son it seems to have sidelined.
Actually, Toe..now that I think about it, Jealous Guy, in the other form, was rejected.
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I agree with all of Nimrod's and tkitna's comments.
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It's fun reading replies over multiple years time.
I consider myself a "John" person more than a Paul person. That said, the notion of one being better than the other on a particular album or overall is a tough one. The album is great because they both contributed great songs. ADITL is great because of both John's parts and Paul's middle.
Again, fighting over supremacy when few others have provided repeated greatness and depth is silly.
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It's fun reading replies over multiple years time.
I consider myself a "John" person more than a Paul person. That said, the notion of one being better than the other on a particular album or overall is a tough one. The album is great because they both contributed great songs. ADITL is great because of both John's parts and Paul's middle.
Again, fighting over supremacy when few others have provided repeated greatness and depth is silly.
Agreed. They're the best combination in music and won't ever be topped. If push comes to shove, I'm a John guy. But I'm more than happy to heap praise on Paul. He really was firing on all cylinders towards the end of the Beatles' recording history.
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Why doesn't the poll function show for this thread?
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Loco, you might remember that in the switch to a new platform for the Forum about ten years ago, we lost the poll function, retaining only the discussion posts in each poll.
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Loco, you might remember that in the switch to a new platform for the Forum about ten years ago, we lost the poll function, retaining only the discussion posts in each poll.
Can we have a vote on that ? party2
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Can we have a vote on that ? party2
I added a new poll. Go ahead, everyone, and vote. :)
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Hey. Where’s the George option!?!?
;D
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Sgt Pepper is a funny beast. The only song I regularly have on playlists is A Day in the Life, which is mainly John although with Paul’s middle 8. There’s clever stuff on there but fewer songs than on most other Beatle albums that I want to listen to standalone. It’s more an album I listen to as an album. So I wouldn’t try to decide between John and Paul as I don’t rank many of the individual songs highly in either of their catalogues.
But the album is still a great listen.
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Hello Goodbye: Thanks for adding the poll. I voted immediately. I see there's only two of us so far who've done that.
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You're welcome, Loco. I couldn't retrieve the original poll results. It was lost in the transition to this new platform.
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I voted John
It's a tough decision though
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You're welcome, Loco. I couldn't retrieve the original ahh's. It was lost in the mix
;D
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^
Ah! The ahh's!
It was Paul
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^
Ah! The ahh's!
It was Paul
Thought he was dead by then Baz ???
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Thought he was dead by then Baz ???
Oh, that's right, Kev...
(https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/960x0/https%3A%2F%2Fblogs-images.forbes.com%2Fmarkbeech%2Ffiles%2F2017%2F05%2FRS23_05_Gatefold-1200x594.jpg)
(https://ajournalofmusicalthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Paul-McCartney-OPP-Patch3.jpg)
Poor Paul. :'(
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I voted John
It's a tough decision though
Me too, and agreed! A tough call. John will always edge out Paul in my opinion, though.
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Me too, and agreed! A tough call. John will always edge out Paul in my opinion, though.
Abbey Road and Let it Be are Paul's imo
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Sgt Pepper is probably the first Beatles album where Paul takes the main plaudits for me. He is more consistent than John here and that became even more pronounced for me on the White Album, which I regard as more "Paul" than Abbey Road ever was.
That said, my personal highlights on Pepper are Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and John's parts on A Day In The Life.
But Mr Kite! is largely transcribed from a poster and Good Morning Good Morning, inspired by a box of cornflakes, is probably my least favourite on the album.
So for consistency alone I would just hand it to Paul, who only dips slightly with She's Leaving Home - somehow too humdrum, soppy and out of step with the theme of the album but nevertheless a good song, even if out of context.
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Abbey Road and Let it Be are Paul's imo
How about Revolver? Paul has several classics on there. John’s tunes are really good too of course but Paul stepped up a huge gear from RS to Revolver.
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How about Revolver? Paul has several classics on there. John’s tunes are really good too of course but Paul stepped up a huge gear from RS to Revolver.
That one is a seriously tough call. Two of my very favorites overall, and not even just on this LP, are Paul's "For No One" and John's "Tomorrow Never Knows," and that's just my split-second, off-the-top-of-my-head reaction without even considering the others.
This will give me something to mull over as I stock hardware parts this morning. ;)
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How about Revolver? Paul has several classics on there. John’s tunes are really good too of course but Paul stepped up a huge gear from RS to Revolver.
Revolver, Paul edges it