THE SONGS THE BEATLES GAVE AWAY
Lennon-McCartney and Harrison didn’t just keep The Beatles in songs. Often, they wrote songs for their fellow musicians. Here are the songs released in the UK that The Beatles gave away.
Fellow Liverpool bands and NEMS stablemates were the first beneficiaries.
Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas
‘I’ll Be On My Way’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: April 1963
Highest chart position: 2
‘I’ll Be On My Way’ was the B-side to ‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’, another Lennon-McCartney song, though The Beatles did their own version on Please Please Me.
‘Bad To Me’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: June 1963
Highest chart position: 1
Again, the B-side was another Lennon-McCartney song, ‘I Call Your Name’, though The Beatles did their own version, found on the Long Tall Sally EP and later the Past Masters One compilation.
‘I’ll Keep You Satisfied’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: November 1963
Highest chart position: 4
‘From A Window’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: July 1964
Highest chart position: 10
Tommy Quickly
‘Tip Of My Tongue’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: August 1963
Didn’t chart
The Fourmost
‘Hello Little Girl’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: August 1963
Highest chart position: 9
‘I’m In Love’
Release date: November 1963
Highest chart position: 17
Cilla Black
‘Love Of The Loved’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: September 1963
Highest chart position: 35
‘It’s For You’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: July 1964
Highest chart position: 7
‘Step Inside Love’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: March 1968
Highest chart position: 8
Beyond Merseybeat, Peter and Gordon – starring Jane Asher’s brother, Peter – took on the most Lennon-McCartney originals.
Peter and Gordon
‘A World Without Love’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: February 1964
Highest chart position: 1
‘Nobody I Know’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: May 1964
Highest chart position: 10
‘I Don’t Want To See You Again’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: September 1964
Didn’t chart
‘Woman’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: February 1966
Highest chart position: 28
‘Woman’ was written by Paul using the pseudonym ‘Bernard Webb’ as an experiment to see how well a song he had written would do without his name attached. It also reached number fourteen in the US and number one in Canada.
And there’s more . . .
‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: November 1963
Highest chart position: 12
The song was given to the Stones before The Beatles did their own version on With The Beatles.
The Strangers with Mike Shannon
‘One And One Is Two’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: May 1964
Didn’t chart
The Applejacks
‘Like Dreamers Do’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: June 1964
Highest chart position: 20
P. J. Proby
‘That Means A Lot’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: March 1965
Highest chart position: 30
The Chris Barber Band
‘Catcall’ (originally called ‘Catswalk’) (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: July 1967
Didn’t chart
The Black Dyke Mills Band
‘Thingumybob’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: August 1968
Didn’t chart
‘Sour Milk Sea’ (Harrison)
Release date: August 1968
Didn’t chart
Mary Hopkin
‘Goodbye’ (Lennon-McCartney)
Release date: March 1969
Highest chart position: 2
Badfinger
‘Come And Get It’ (McCartney)
Release date: December 1969
Highest chart position: 4