The best song writer; Lennon OR McCartney

[Fish the Mod]

I know Mecca has 20 years extra but who was indeed the better song writer either as a Beatle or Solo Years.
Pauls Hey Jude, Yesterday and Back in the USSR to name a few, Johns I'm am the Warus, All you need is love or in my life. Then we have Johns solo years, Imagine, Jealous Guy, Working class hero or Wings stuff which is fab. You decide and why.
juice mobiledisco north london play all the above.

[almusic10]

John Lennon was by far the better singer/song writer, hey jude is the only song that is worth a listen the rest well, no.... lennon is the true legend,

[Alibobs]

I think it's all down to personal taste, neither is better, they are just different

For what it's worth I'm a McCartney girl on the whole yet one of my favourite ever songs is In my life

[Mattk]

very interesting question.i would also have to vote lennon but they are/were both phenomenal.

[Ctrak]

BOTH.

Lennon being the master lyricist, McCartney the composer. Without one spurring on the other (even during the later days when it was more through hate) they were both relatively weak.

[Mattk]

but they both wrote many classics whilst solo.

[Johnmof]

If you judged it on the basis of who wrote more tripe, McCartney has to lose. Mull of Kintyre, Pipes of Peace, Mary Had a Little Lamb, the Frog Cghorus and the worst Christmas song ever. As far as solo work is concerned, I preferred George Harrison's stuff.

[Backdrifter]

There's a lot of received crap out there about how Macca wrote rubbish and Lennon was some sort of genius. Yes, some of Macca's solo stuff was banal. But if the pro-Lennonites are claiming that Lennon never sunk to those levels, they're deluding themselves. He turned out his share of bland, album-filling pap, no question. But I love #9 Dream, Mind Games and Instant Karma.

As far as the Beatles are concerned, it's close but for me Macca edges it. I'd like to assume the person who said "Hey Jude is the only song worth a listen" was being provocative - even allowing for personal opinion, that's a tad extreme for anyone with any kind of liking for the Beatles. Penny Lane, For No One, Eleanor Rigby, You Never Give Me Your Money, Getting Better, We Can Work It Out... none of them worth a listen?

I also respect Macca's role more - by most accounts he seemed to become the main driving force and creative thinker in the latter half of their career, while Lennon became increasingly uninterested. Nothing wrong with that, it's just that I warm more to Macca for his working hard to keep things going.

To echo what someone else said, let's not forget Harrison's songwriting contributions - Taxman remains one of the best album openers ever, Something is one of the best love songs ever.

[Backdrifter]

PS People only say things like "Lennon is the true legend" because he's dead. If he was still around, my guess is that he'd have dried up creatively long ago and people would be saying "shame he fizzled out".

[almusic10]

Backdrifter., I say lennon is the true lengend because is was better than paul, if it wasnt for lennon the paul would be nothing, am glad that michael jackson own alot of the copy rights to the beatles songs, so paul cant make billions of them

[brachiopod]

My vote would be for whoever is the genius behind Octupus' Garden and Obla-Di Obla-Da.....

[Ctrak]

Brachiopod - so that'd be a bizarre genetic mashup between Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney then?

Hmm...

[brachiopod]

..that explains a great deal.

"The Beatles are the greatest band that ever lived"

my ▓rse.


[*sigh* - cue the death threats, insults to my mother etc etc.]