Paul McCartney on how he avoided Beatles songwriting battles with John Lennon | Music | Entertainment

Together Sir Paul McCartney and the late John Lennon are the most successful songwriting partnership in music history.

It’s hardly surprising, then, that when Macca speaks out on that intimate creative relationship, fans of The Beatles are all ears.

The 81-year-old recently posted a clip on the subject, promoting the paperback edition of his book The Lyrics 1956 to the Present, which has seven new song commentaries.

Asked about conflict during songwriting with Lennon, he said: “There was never that much battling, because if someone said, ‘I like this better’, it was generally a better idea. So you’d give into each other as long as it was a better idea.”

McCartney continued: “There weren’t many disputes because we were writing like this [facing each other] with acoustic guitars. And y’know I’m coming up with a bit of a line and then he’s following it up; just ping-ponging ideas. I look back on it and think, ‘Yeah you were a good collaborator’. At the time, it just felt good and we respected each other.

“So sometimes I’d bring something in and he’d go, ‘Well there you are, that’s it’. And it was nice. I just got the stamp of approval. I think Paperback Writer was a bit like that because I’d pretty much worked it all out like a letter… And I’d do that sometimes with his songs [like] Nowhere Man.”