I've always been a John kinda guy but...
Been thinking about this. Listening to Paul's very early songs. (1956) He seemed so much more musical than John, he even gave him guitar lessons (teaching him how to play chords correctly).
Paul wrote two phenomenal songs at age 14, one of them "Suicide" the other was the brilliant "When I'm 64"
Both Jazz inflected, with clever chord configurations and melodies.
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Paul was also more prolific than John "I Lost My Little Girl" & "Thinking Of Linking" both very catchy.
I've been mulling over this period and I just think Paul was full of motivation, enthusiasm and goddam energy (as he was later in Get Back, MMT etc) and this may have helped John develop his own craft and overcome his laziness which was always a tendency of John's. Also he could've been intrigued at Paul's use of Jazz and more intricate chord progressions. (He could also play piano).
John's first complete song was "Hello Little Girl" in 1957, after Paul had joined the band, interestingly he used the "little girl" in the title as per Paul's previous song.
This isnt something that really matters, but just an interesting slant on things. Did Paul help John develop into what he became ?
What do you think, would John have written all those great songs if he'd never met Paul ? (or dont you care)