One of the most obvious songwriting teams to write about is the partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who wrote the bulk of the original material for The Beatles. They agreed early in their partnership to attribute all the songs they wrote to both of them, even though typically one or the other would write the majority of the song, if not the entire song. They wrote not only for The Beatles, but for other groups and singers, particularly for acts managed by Brian Epstein.
The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away is a 1979 compilation album of songs that were written by them for other acts, including Peter and Gordon, Cilla Black, and P. J. Proby. All of the songs on the album (save one, Peter and Gordon’s “I Don’t Want To See You Again,” evidently a song that was removed after the playlist was built) are in this playlist. I’ve taken five songs from the album and built a mini-playlist, which, if you can’t play here, you’ll find here.
- Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, “Bad To Me”
- Peter & Gordon, “A World Without Love”
- Cilla Black, “It’s For You”
- P. J. Proby, “That Means A Lot”
- The Applejacks, “Like Dreamers Do”
John Lennon and Paul McCartney, your Five For Friday, September 9, 2022.
The Sound of One Hand Typing 
Funny I never thought they would lend their songs out. These are great.
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I think sometimes they’d write a song, decide it wasn’t a Beatles song, and give it away, usually to an artist they knew. They got Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to start writing their own songs for the Stones, though most of theirs were for the band.
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I just really found PJ Proby recently…I love her voice. I’ll check this song out.
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P. J.’s a he š Sounds kind of like a she, though…
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You know who I was thinking of? P.P. Arnoldā¦ a black British singer in the sixties! Sorry about that
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Happens to the best of us. P. P. Arnold is a great singer and a lovely woman.
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She is the one I started to find out more about…I guess it was the intials…like Big Star is to you PJ Proby is to me…I heard of him but never really listened but I will check this out.
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He’s actually kind of a mystery to me as well. Well, there’s three acts to check out…
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I love “World Without Love.”
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I’m surprised The Beatles never recorded that one. Paul was dating Peter’s sister when he wrote that.
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As the eternal Beatles fan, I thank you!
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No problem! They were songwriting geniuses.
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