Young John Lennon and Paul McCartney ‘Complemented Each Other,’ According to Lennon’s Ex-Wife
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison made music when they were still students. John Lennon’s ex-wife, Cynthia, even mentioned the relationship between the songwriting duo of Lennon and McCartney. They had different personalities, but they also had a ‘close partnership.’
John Lennon’s first wife, Cynthia Lennon, met Paul McCartney when he was a teenager
Before becoming an award-winning artist, Lennon dated his college classmate, Cynthia, even inviting her to rehearsals with his band. In her 2005 memoir, John, the celebrity detailed her experience meeting a teenage McCartney, who wrote, practiced, and performed songs with Lennon.
“By the time I got to know Paul, he and John had formed a close partnership,” Cynthia Lennon wrote. “They had agreed that any songs they wrote, together or separately, would be by Lennon and McCartney. It was as though even then they had a strong sense that their success depended on the connection between them.”
Cynthia Lennon said that John Lennon and Paul McCartney complimented each other
Regarding their personalities, Cynthia Lennon noted differences between Lennon and his bandmate. That worked out in their favor when it came to recording music.
“Paul’s organized, conscientious way of going about things —- he wrote down all the lyrics in a notebook he carried with him —- was in sharp contrast to John’s ‘anything goes’ style,” Cynthia Lennon added. “Paul turned up for appointments on time, looking well turned out; he was a perfectionist and you always knew he’d washed behind his ears.”
“John arrived late, looking as though he’d just fallen out of bed,” she continued. “But they complemented each other. Paul needed John’s anarchic, lateral thinking. When they wrote songs together, Paul’s gentler melodies blended beautifully with John’s more rousing, challenging tunes and lyrics.”
John Lennon was also older than his Quarrymen bandmate — Harrison was only 16 years old when he met Cynthia Lennon.
After their time in the Quarrymen with George Harrison, Lennon and McCartney formed the Beatles with Ringo Starr as an added drummer. As a songwriting duo, the two created several hits for the Beatles. That includes “Hey Jude,” “Twist and Shout,” and “Let It Be.”
Who wrote music for the Beatles?
Lennon and McCartney are the masterminds behind most Beatles originals, as noted on Spotify’s credits. As time passed, other band members were given creative freedom to write for the group.
That includes Ringo Starr’s “Octopus’s Garden” and Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun.” Not every idea was accepted by Lennon and McCartney, as Harrison walked out on one rehearsal after a bad reaction to “I Me Mine,” as seen in The Beatles: Get Back.
After the Beatles officially disbanded, Lennon and McCartney released music as solo artists. Lennon even collaborated with his wife, Yoko Ono, on “Give Peace a Chance,” and “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).”
