Comments on: In My Life

By: bryan zink

bryan zink — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 05:47:45 +0000

Although the mathematical approach sounds appealing to me, it appears they are concluding that Paul contributed less than John even said he did. And they then add that Paul wrote The Word, and John said he wrote it. So, I’m going to choose to believe that John wrote the verses melody, and Paul wrote the middle 8 melody. And then I’ll repeat my mantra that part of the magic of the early and mid Beatles was that they didn’t worry much about who was contributing what, and their surrendering of their individual egos was what made them so much better together than they were apart. They completed each other artistically in such a perfect way. It was only later after the bond was broken that they started worrying about individual credit. In the early days they spoke in terms of “we” I think.

By: Some guys the internet

Some guys the internet — Sun, 12 Aug 2018 12:47:05 +0000

Overall, yes, it’s definitely a Lennon song.

But I don’t doubt for a second that McCartney contributed to it

– on the “though I know I’ll never lose affection” section

– possibly when creating their vocal harmony, slight changes in the melody became necessary

By: the 1950s

the 1950s — Sat, 11 Aug 2018 09:30:22 +0000

If you meant to tell people to “just let it be”, as it’s a bad thing to try and seek the truth about these things, I think that appears as kind of an arrogant thing to say. It being a “great Lennon / McCartney song” isn’t necessarily “all that matters” for everyone. But maybe I misinterpreted you (sorry if that’s the case, then I’ll stand corrected). Anyway, it’s perfectly legitimate and actually very interesting for many Beatles-fans to get knowledge about these things.

About the study – which of course isn’t 100% scientific in itself – personally, I don’t think Paul didn’t contribute to this song. He clearly did. Far more than 0.018% or whatever that meant (I don’t think that’s what it actually meant..). What seems to be a reasonable reading of it though, is that John’s recollection of this is more believable than Paul’s. Nothing more.

PS I’m the same guy as “Vince”, had to create a new account.

By: brian

brian — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 19:25:47 +0000

All that matters is it’s a great Lennon / McCartney song as so many of them are. Just let it be.

By: brian

brian — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 01:40:59 +0000

The so-called scientific study “proves” Paul’s contribution to “In My Life” was minimal which is at variance with his recollection. I hope Paul doesn’t give in to any possible urge he may have to publicly respond to this. The song is a Lennon/McCartney masterpiece and let’s leave it at that.

By: Vince

Vince — Mon, 30 Jul 2018 22:24:23 +0000

In My Life has now been analysed sylistically, mathematically, by structure, tone, melody etc, by some Harvard people, and they found a very high probability for who made this song (the music that is).
You’ll find the allegedly convincing result here: https://phys.org/news/2018-07-lennon-mccartney-statistical-analysis-authorship.html

By: Roy Lay

Roy Lay — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 02:16:36 +0000

This song ranks up with the greatest Beatles tunes, Strawberry Fields, I Am The Walrus, Elanor Rigby, and A Day In The Life. Those songs were all masterpieces, the kind of songs where you could say, even if a person never did anything else in life, that song alone made them great.

By: Doc

Doc — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 00:45:46 +0000

This is the all time best “life” song that has ever been written. The words the melody the feeling. My wife and I walked my daughter down the isle to an amazing piano player do this in slow tempo. Hope some of you Beatle fans can one day do the same at your daughters wedding.

By: FAX

FAX — Sun, 04 Mar 2018 12:46:26 +0000

Of all the Beatles songs I love, know by heart, and have played for decades (which is almost all of them), this is, at once, the most heartbreaking and exhilarating.

Whenever I hear this track (and I’ve heard it thousands of times) images of people always flash through my mind. Like a dream, almost. But not a dream, just memories crowding one upon the other that feel dream-like at this point.

Sadness. Happiness. Melancholy. Wishfuillness. All of it in a rush.

Only music (lyrics, melody, and arrangement) can do that to a human. Nothing else.

By: amtlpaul

amtlpaul — Tue, 28 Nov 2017 01:15:22 +0000

Considering the number of songs they worked on and the fact that people’s memories can be unreliable,if they only disagreed on who wrote two of those songs, I’d say that ain’t bad at all. In both cases they agree that there was some collaboration; the disagreement is over the extent. I can easily imagine how such disagreements arise- they frequently arise in other bands. That’s one reason why crediting all the songs they wrote to Lennon-MccCartney was a good idea: there was no need to argue over the precise amount of credit each one should have for each song. At some points John wrote more; at others Paul wrote more. It seems to have more less evened out over time.

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 19 Nov 2017 15:01:26 +0000

The song belongs to John. Sorry, Paul.

By: Brian gregory

Brian gregory — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 20:25:29 +0000

Paul disagrees, read Many Years From Now

By: McKinzie Brantley III

McKinzie Brantley III — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 13:04:07 +0000

well, with the proviso that none of us were there, the disagreements are interesting. Basically Lennon is saying the melody is his and Paul helped tie the song together musically. Basically 80% Lennon and 20% Paul. Paul is saying that he wrote the intro bit and the music for the song…more of a 50/50 mix…Similar to their disagreement on Rigby…Lennon says he wrote about 50% of the lyrics…Paul said Lennon contributed about 20% with George, Ringo and Pete Shotten all helping with lyrics…So, who’s right? Who knows?

By: Ajax Rasputin

Ajax Rasputin — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 19:06:06 +0000

Use common sense. The lead singer of the song in 99.9% of Beatles tunes (excepting Ringo of course), is the main writer of the song. In this case, the evidence is the song, in addition to Lennon and George Martin’s quotes about whose song it is. Apparently by your logic, we don’t know who wrote any Beatles songs because, well…. “you don’t.”

By: Ajax Rasputin

Ajax Rasputin — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 16:34:33 +0000

Umm… not quite. John is saying that all Paul contributed (musically) was the instrumental middle 8 bars, and some harmony ideas. This is a Lennon song musically and lyrically through and through.

By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Tue, 09 May 2017 18:25:54 +0000

I love this song and I adore these comments as well. May I please try to clarify this issue. I believe they are referring to the musical link created by the melody of “With lovers and friends… ” heading back to … “In my life”. That may be considered the “middle 8” here, and it is genius. The song is genius, combining classical music with popular music and coming up with something unique and beautiful.
Paul is only writing that he took the musical ideas John handed him, told him to go have a cup of tea, sat down and put it all together. John is only saying he wrote the lyrics and had the general musical idea beginning with “There are places I remember…”. They really do not disagree that much. Both could be basically right. Paul could feel he tied it all together musically and John could remember that he had the musical idea and Paul tied it together with a twist on “With lovers and friends…”. Both agree on George Martin’s classical music input on the piano… Are they so far apart? I don’t think so. John certainly did not have a complete musical composition when he went to Paul. Paul certainly did not say he came up with the basic idea… they both deserve credit, and we may accept both 80 % to 90 % of both accounts.
Peace and love to all.
Cheers.
Vive les Beatles pour une éternité !

By: Curt B

Curt B — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 06:09:19 +0000

they only disagree on this one song. so much for taking credit for everything.

By: Curt B

Curt B — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 04:33:04 +0000

There are a few who say John’s claims were made well after John ‘buried Paul’ to be fair 😉

By: Curt B

Curt B — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 07:03:13 +0000

You make the assumption that both wrote songs that were like their other songs. Both P&J wrote together of course so could write like the other when needed. John wrote Goodnight on the white album, yet Paul is supposed to be the balladeer. and vice versa.
They could both write a wide variety of stories.

It is possible John had all the basics but as seen on the original lyrics, he needed help. John says Paul did the middle 8 so start there. paul likely helped him with the lyrics and helped him polish up the music.

So in each mind they did most of the work with help from the other. John sang the story so give him the points for being the main songwriter. But give paul more credit than John did for his efforts to possibly make it a better song with the song skills he had. As John did with giving Paul credit for the harmonies.

About 60/40 in john’s favor then.

By: Tony_M_1956

Tony_M_1956 — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 03:20:19 +0000

From what I have heard through all the bootlegs, anthologies, and released songs is that all the Beatles songs changed during the recording. Unlike the first Album where the Beatles brought in finished songs, by the time Rubber Soul came around the guys were bringing in incomplete lyrics and incomplete melodies. Listen to how Norwegian Wood changed as the recording progressed and the Beatles incorporated different instruments, trying to perfect a riff, lick, drum fill or percussion. To me, In My Life comes across as a John Lennon song. It’s does not sound like a Paul tune in any way, and in some ways the song is not even Beatle-esque, but more in the style of Lennon in his first two solo albums. I can’t see John Lennon needing any help to finish this great song. It was after all his life that he was singing about.