John Lennon’s Songwriting Evolution
John Lennon’s traditional high level of commercial songwriting success waned in the second half of the Beatles 8 year career span. I’ll hypothesize later in this article about possible causes, but the facts are the facts. From 1966 through 1970, based on the US Billboard, John was the primary writer on only 2 No1 songs (i.e. “All You Need Is Love”, ”Come Together”) compared to Paul’s 7 No1’s songs. John did crack the the Top 10 three times including “Strawberry Fields Forever” (8), “Nowhere Man” (3) and “The Ballad of John and Yoko” (8).
First, a little related history. John and Paul agreed to share their songwriting credits in 1962 and did so until the band broke up in 1970. Together, according to Far Out Magazine (UK), they penned roughly 165 songs of the 189 total original songs credited to the Beatles. The remaining balance was credited mostly to George Harrison. It is believed that roughly only 65 of the songs credited to Lennon/McCartney were truly created collaboratively face-to-face. The other 100 songs were largely written individually but were shared with the other writer for input and potential changes which occurred frequently. This short video describes the Lennon/McCartney process.
Fun Fact: It wasn’t until early 1963 when the famous Lennon/McCartney writer’s credit finally became standardized. See the inconsistency with the label photo of both their first UK single and album distributed worldwide by EMI’s Parlophone Records. Capitol Records (also owned by EMI) was their North American distributor and chose not to market them.
Hardcore Beatles fans won’t find John’s lack of comparative commercial success a revelation. However, what I discovered after deeper research might surprise serious readers. His average beats per minute (BPM) or tempo slowed demonstrably during this 1966–1970 period.
As I wrote recently, the Beatles were masters of exploring unusual time signatures. So, identifying the most accurate BPM was challenging. To assure correctness, I used 2 websites (i.e. Tunebat, SongBPM) and my own musician’s app MetroTimer.
Here are John’s average BPMs for both his album songs & singles released during these years. They are sequenced by their recording date.
Revolver — US Release December 1966
· “I’m Only Sleeping” — 103
· “She Said She Said” — 105
· “And Your Bird Can Sing” — 133
· “Doctor Roberts” — 160
· “Tomorrow Never Knows” — 116
Average 123
“Strawberry Fields Forever” — 98 BPM — US Single Release February 1967
“You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)” — 60/120 BPM — Recorded between May 1967 — April 1969 — US Single Release March 1970
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Album) — US Release June 1967
· “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” — 69/140 (John’s content — 69)
· “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” — 112
· “Good Morning, Good Morning” — 117
· “A Day In The Life” — 80/160 (John’s content — 80)
Average 94
Magical Mystery Tour (Album) — US Release November 1967
· “I Am The Walrus” — 85
· “Strawberry Fields Forever” was added to this US album much to the displeasure of the Beatles who preferred not to include previously released hit singles on their albums. They viewed this as double charging their fans for the same song.
Average 85
The Beatles (aka. White Album) — Released November 1968
· “Dear Prudence” — 76
· “Glass Onion” — 120
· “Happiness Is Warm Gun” — 70
· “I’m So Tired” — 68
· “Julia” — 68
· “Your Blues” — 76
· “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey” — 110
· “Sexy Sadie” — 75
· “Revolution 1” — 95
· “Cry Baby Cry” — 77
· “Revolution 1” — 97
· “Revolution 9” — 92
Average — 83
Yellow Submarine (Album) — Released January 1969
· “Hey Bulldog” — 102
Let It Be (Album) — Released April 1970 (Recorded January 1969)
· ”Across The Universe” — 77 BPM (It’s his only serious new song)
· ”One After 909” was written in the late ‘50’s.
· “Dig A Pony” — 118
Average — 97.5
“The Ballad of John and Yoko” — 94 BPM — US Single Release June 1969
Abbey Road — Released October 1969
· “Come Together” — 83
· “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” — 72
· “Because” — 81
· “Sun King” — 75
· “Polyethylene Pam” –83
· “Mean Mr. Mustard” — 100
Average — 82
His average BPM slowed from Revolver (123) to Abbey Road (82), a remarkable 33% reduction!
This is clearly a large enough sample size to conclude that it was no coincidence. What changed to cause this tempo decline?
There’s no evidence from any credible source for which I’m aware of to answer this question definitively. I suppose someone might suggest that he aging and mellowing. He was only in his late 20’s, so I don’t buy it. Here’s my theory for your consideration.
It’s no secret that Lennon was the heaviest drug user in the band. His continuous use of LSD in 1967 brought him “close to erasing his identity” according to author Ian MacDonald. By 1968, his perceived mistreatment from The Beatles led him to use heroin. He resented the way his bandmates treated Yoko Ono. They both became hooked.
Lennon’s addiction history is further detailed in an article published by Jason Martinez (The Haven, a detox organization) in 2024.
“Lennon’s heroin use notably affected his music and career. During his struggle with addiction, his creative output was influenced, with his songs reflecting the pain and struggles he faced. Despite the challenges, Lennon continued to work on projects, including the White Album, where his experiences subtly influenced his lyrics. His struggle with addiction partly shaped the breakup of The Beatles and his strained relationships with group members.”
He was undeniably the Beatle’s maestro of psychedelia and very much a pioneer of this genre. The Beatles adoption of it gave it credibility. John may have rightly [or wrongly] believed that LSD and heroin fueled his creativity and led him to discover these song ideas. With this logic, it gave the drugs a righteous purpose in his life.
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