Paul McCartney: Why The Beatles Felt The Supremes’ Songs Were ‘a Bit Boring’
The Beatles and The Supremes gave the world some of the most famous songs of the 1960s. Despite The Supremes’ popularity, Paul McCartney said the Motown girl group didn’t impress the Fab Four much. He said The Beatles had a very different approach to music compared to The Supremes.
Paul McCartney said The Beatles’ singles were very different from The Supremes’ singles
During an interview with Reverb.com, Paul noted The Beatles released an eclectic group of songs as singles, including “Get Back,” “Penny Lane,” and “Strawberry Fields Forever.” He said the single selection process felt random.” It was like numbers going in a hat, and someone might pull your number out,’ he said. “Bit of a lottery really, ‘Oh, I’m the single, great.'”
Paul compared The Beatles’ songs to The Surpremes’. “So we were always thinking in terms of singles, and it would be very boring if all your singles sounded the same,” Paul said. “It was like, The Supremes we always thought were a bit boring. It always sounded like the same song almost, or very near. They were trying to keep the Motown-Supremes sound.”
Paul McCartney revealed how The Beatles tried not to repeat themselves
Paul elaborated on the ways The Beatles tried to avoid repeating themselves. “Well, we always weren’t trying to keep the Beatles sound,” he said. “We were always trying to move on.
“That was why we always did a lot of [slaps legs], that might be the drums, [hits the table], that might be the drums, or the kit might be the drums, or it was, ‘Don’t use your cymbals on this one,’ ‘No echo on this one,’ whatever,” he added. “We were always trying to get a new sound on every single thing we did.”
10 of The Supremes’ No. 1 songs were written by this songwriting team
While Paul’s claim that The Supremes’ singles sounded the same is subjective, it is true that The Supremes often relied on one songwriting team: Holland–Dozier–Holland. The team was composed of Motown songwriters Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland. While Holland-Dozier-Holand sometimes wrote songs for other groups like Martha and the Vandellas and KC and the Sunshine Band, it was most known for writing for The Supremes.
The partnership between Holland-Dozier-Holland and The Supremes was incredibly fruitful. Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote 10 of The Supremes’ 12 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 songs. The songs in question were “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love,” “Come See About Me,” “Back in My Arms Again,” “I Hear a Symphony,” “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “The Happening,” “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” “Love Is Here and Now You’re Gone,” and “Stop! In the Name of Love.” While Paul and the other Beatles had issues with The Supremes’ songs; the public seemed to embrace them.
