News The songs John Lennon and Paul McCartney first bonded over
In 1957, John Lennon met a 15-year-old Paul McCartney at St Peter’s Church Hall fete in Woolton, Liverpool. Somewhere among the gothic headstones in the churchyard lurked the engraved name Eleanor Rigby, a name these two musicians would make world-famous nine years later. Early on, Lennon and McCartney realised a special bond through a mutual passion for rhythm and blues.
“I was at Woolton Village Fete. John lived in Woolton. And his friend, Ivan, was my best friend at school,” McCartney once recalled. “And one day, he said, ‘You know, I’ve got a mate I think you’d like.’ So, we went to the fete. They were playing. And later, we just chatted. And I knew a couple of songs that I could do, and I knew all the lyrics, which was very impressive ’cause John was doing stuff we didn’t know all the lyrics. He was making them up, which I found was very impressive. So, I thought he was pretty cool for that.”
After finding chemistry as friends and musicians, McCartney joined Lennon’s band, The Quarrymen, initially as a rhythm guitarist. However, as George Harrison would realise a couple of years later, Lennon liked to audition his prospective recruits.
“One thing led to another – typical teenage boys posturing and the like – and ended up showing off a little by playing Eddie Cochran’s ‘Twenty Flight Rock’ on the guitar,” McCartney remembered in The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present. “I think l also played Gene Vincent’s ‘Be-Bop-a-Lula’ and a few Little Richard songs too.”
Having passed Lennon’s test, McCartney became an integral part of The Quarrymen and was soon invited to one-on-one jams. In Barry Miles’ 1997 biography Many Years From Now, McCartney was quoted explaining how he used to spend hours on end in Lennon’s bedroom, at his aunt Mimi Smith’s house, listening to old-school rock ‘n’ roll records from the likes of Little Richard, Fats Domino, and Eddie Cochran.
The pair played and sang along to the tracks, eventually finding the confidence to write a handful of songs themselves. “It’s a lovely thought to think of a friend’s bedroom then,” McCartney pondered. “A young boy’s bedroom is such a comfortable place like my son’s bedroom is now; he’s got all his stuff that he needs: a candle, guitar, a book.”
He conceded, however, that playing in Lennon’s small bedroom had its pitfalls. “Physically, it was always a bad idea for us to sit side by side on the bed in his bedroom,” McCartney recalled. “The necks of our guitars were always banging.”
Through the late 1950s, up until Lennon landed on The Beatles as a Buddy Holly and the Crickets-inspired name change, The Quarrymen bolstered several original skiffle tracks onstage with assorted covers. In 1958, Buddy Holly’s ‘That’ll Be the Day’ became the first song the band ever recorded.
Below, we have created a playlist featuring many of the songs John Lennon and Paul McCartney bonded over during their early sets and sessions with The Quarrymen.
The songs John Lennon and Paul McCartney bonded over:
Gene Vincent – ‘Be-Bop-a-Lula’
Buddy Holly – ‘That’ll Be the Day’
Lead Belly (Various) – ‘Rock Island Line’
Lonnie Donegan – ‘Pick a Bale of Cotton’
Lonnie Donegan – ‘I’m Alabamy Bound’
Lonnie Donegan – ‘Cumberland Gap’
Fats Domino – ‘Ain’t That a Shame’
Elvis Presley – ‘That’s All Right’
Elvis Presley – ‘Mean Woman Blues’
Elvis Presley – ‘All Shook Up’
Elvis Presley – ‘Baby Let’s Play House’
Shirley and Lee – ‘Let the Good Times Roll’
Lonnie Donegan – ‘Worried Man Blues’
The Everly Brothers – ‘Bye Bye Love’
Lonnie Donegan – ‘Puttin’ On the Style’
Eddie Cochran – ‘Twenty Flight Rock’
Little Richard – ‘Long Tall Sally’
Little Richard – ‘Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey’
