Discover The Beatle That Wrote Most Of The Band’s Songs

Who Wrote What

From 1963 to their breakup in 1970, The Beatles released over a dozen studio albums. For most of their career as a group, the songwriting duties were dominated by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It was towards the end of the ’60s when George Harrison finally stepped out of the shadow of the Lennon-McCartney partnership and came into his own as a songwriter.

And so the question remains, who actually wrote most of The Beatles songs? We use “actually” because while it may have been written by Lennon entirely or McCartney, it’s credited under Lennon-McCartney. And of course, there are revelations in later interviews where either of them claimed they had little or huge contribution to a particular track.

Yes, it’s confusing and the only ones who truly know who wrote what are the band members. So we’re revisiting their LPs and simply list down the songwriting credits. Let’s get started.

“Please Please Me” (1963)

John Lennon (4) – “Please Please Me”, “Ask Me Why”, “There’s a Place”, and “Do You Want to Know a Secret”
Paul McCartney (3) – “Love Me Do”, “P.S. I Love You”, and “I Saw Her Standing There”
Lennon and McCartney (1) – “Misery” where McCartney commented, “I don’t think either one of us dominated on that one, it was just a hacking job.”

“With The Beatles” (1963)

John Lennon (3) – “It Won’t Be Long”, “All I’ve Got to Do”, and “Not a Second Time”
Paul McCartney (2) – “All My Loving” and “Hold Me Tight”
George Harrison (1) – “Don’t Bother Me” which is the first song Harrison wrote.
Lennon and McCartney (2) – “I Wanna Be Your Man” and “Little Child”

“A Hard Day’s Night’ (1964)

John Lennon (10) – “A Hard Day’s Night”, “I Should Have Known Better”, “Tell Me Why”, “If I Fell”, “Any Time at All”, “You Can’t Do That”, “I’m Happy Just to Dance With You”, “I’ll Cry Instead”, “I’ll Be Back”, and “When I Get Home”
Paul McCartney (3) – “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “And I Love Her”, and “Things We Said Today”

“Beatles for Sale” (1964)

John Lennon (3) – “I’m a Loser”, “No Reply”, and “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party”
Paul McCartney (4) – “Eight Days a Week”, “I’ll Follow the Sun”, “Every Little Thing”, and “What You’re Doing”
Lennon and McCartney (1) – “Baby’s in Black”

“Help!” (1965)

John Lennon (5) – “Help!”, “Ticket to Ride”, “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”,; “You’re Going to Lose That Girl”, and “It’s Only Love”
Paul McCartney (5) – “Yesterday”, “I’ve Just Seen a Face”, “The Night Before”, “Another Girl”, and “Tell Me What You See”
George Harrison (2) – “I Need You” and “You Like Me Too Much”

“Rubber Soul” (1965)

John Lennon (4) – “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”, “Nowhere Man”, “Girl”,and “Run for Your Life”
Paul McCartney (4) – “Drive My Car”, “I’m Looking Through You”, “Michelle”, and “You Won’t See Me”
George Harrison (2) – “If I Needed Someone” and “Think for Yourself”
Lennon and McCartney (3) – “In My Life,” “Wait,” and “The Word”
Lennon, McCartney, and Ringo Starr (1) – “What Goes On”

“Revolver” (1966)

John Lennon (5) – “Tomorrow Never Knows”, “And Your Bird Can Sing”, “I’m Only Sleeping”, “She Said She Said”, and “Doctor Robert”
Paul McCartney (5) – “Good Day Sunshine”, “For No One”, “Got to Get You Into My Life”, “Here, There and Everywhere”, and “Yellow Submarine”
George Harrison (3) – “Taxman”, “Love You To”, and “I Want to Tell You”
Lennon and McCartney (1) – “Eleanor Rigby”

“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (1967)

John Lennon (3) – “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, “Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite”, and “Good Morning Good Morning”
Paul McCartney (8) – “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, “When I’m 64”, “With a Little Help From My Friends”, “Fixing a Hole”, “Getting Better”, “Lovely Rita”, “She’s Leaving Home”, and Sgt. Pepper’s (Reprise)”
George Harrison (1) – “Within You Without You”
Lennon and McCartney (1) – “A Day in the Life”

“Magical Mystery Tour” (1967)

John Lennon (1): “I Am the Walrus”
Paul McCartney (3) – “Magical Mystery Tour”, “The Fool on the Hill”, and “Your Mother Should Know”
George Harrison (1) – “Blue Jay Way”
Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr (1) – “Flying”

“The Beatles” (1968)

John Lennon (13) – “Revolution 1”, “Dear Prudence”, “Glass Onion”, “Julia”, “Cry Baby Cry”, “Yer Blues”, “Happiness is a Warm Gun”, “I’m So Tired”, “Sexy Sadie”, “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey”, “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill”, “Revolution 9”, and “Good Night”
Paul McCartney (12) – “Blackbird”, “Back in the U.S.S.R.”, “I Will”, “Martha My Dear”, “Mother Nature’s Son”, “Birthday”, “Honey Pie”, “Helter Skelter”, “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?”, “Rocky Raccoon”, “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, and “Wild Honey Pie”
George Harrison (4) – “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Savoy Truffle”, “Long Long Long”, and “Piggies”
Ringo Starr (1) – “Don’t Pass Me By”

“Yellow Submarine” (1969)

John Lennon (1) – “All You Need is Love”
Paul McCartney (1) – “All Together Now”
George Harrison (2) – “It’s All Too Much” and “Only a Northern Song”
Lennon and McCartney (1) – “Hey Bulldog”

“Abbey Road” (1969)

John Lennon (6) – “Come Together”, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, “Sun King”, “Mean Mr. Mustard”, “Polythene Pam”, and “Because”
Paul McCartney (8) – “You Never Give Me Your Money”, “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window”, “Oh! Darling”, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, “Golden Slumbers”, “Carry That Weight”, “The End”, and “Her Majesty”
George Harrison (2) – “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun”
Harrison and Starr (1) – “Octopus’ Garden”

“Let It Be” (1970)

John Lennon (4) – “Dig a Pony”, “One After 909”, “Across the Universe”, and “Dig It”
Paul McCartney (4) – “Get Back”, “Let It Be”, “Two of Us”, and “The Long and Winding Road”
George Harrison (2) – “I Me Mine” and “For You Blue”
Lennon and McCartney (1) – “I’ve Got a Feeling”

Other Releases

John Lennon (13) – “This Boy”, “I Call Your Name”, “Yes It Is”, “I Feel Fine”, “Day Tripper”, “Rain”, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Revolution”, “Don’t Let Me Down”, “The Ballad of John and Yoko”, “You Know My Name (Look up the Number)”, “Real Love”
Paul McCartney (7) – “She’s a Woman”, “I’m Down”, “Paperback Writer”, “Penny Lane”, “Hello, Goodbye”, “Lady Madonna”, and “Hey Jude”
Lennon and McCartney (7) – “She Loves You,” “From Me to You,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Thank You Girl,” “I’ll Get You,” “We Can Work It Out,” and “Baby, You’re a Rich Man”
George Harrison (2) – “The Inner Light” and “Old Brown Shoe”
Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr (1) – “Free as a Bird”

In conclusion, John Lennon wrote most of The Beatles songs but Paul McCartney isn’t too far behind. And as for George Harrison, he had several songs which didn’t make the cut in their albums which is why he had a treasure trove of musical gems when he went solo.