LENNON & MCCARTNEY

there is steve kilbey and the church

there is jim aka roger mcguinn and the byrds

there is ray davies and the kinks

there is bob dylan

and there is the late great jake thackray

but the greatest influence on my music and songwriting

remains that pair of giants

lennon and mccartney

it would obviously be churlish to diminish mccartney

supreme melodist

virtuoso multi-instrumentalist

outstanding vocalist

frequently inspired lyricist and songwriter

just look at songs like yesterday, penny lane and hey jude

but when i look for key songs in the beatles catalogue

it is not generally mccartney or harrisongs that stand out

it is lennon's

the exceptions that prove the rule

are their first double whammy from 1963

she loves you and i wanna hold your hand

both co-written eyeball to eyeball in hotel rooms while on tour

but from that point on lennon establishes himself as the key writer

that opening chord of a hard day's night

cuts a swathe through popular music

ticket to ride is rock's first proto-heavy metal track

help! combines its writer's vulnerability

with similar climactic energy and drive to a hard day's night

norwegian wood moves into edgier lyrical territory

meshing english folk with indian raga

tomorrow never knows ushers in the strangeness of psychedelia

this incredible recording has never dated

despite - or perhaps because of -

the head-swimming onward march of technology

rain updates ticket to ride's heavy metal style

harnessing the byrds' gleaming treble guitar tone

then smudging it with a druggy smear of backwards vocals

strawberry fields picks up where help! left off

adding depth, subtlety and texture to the angst

and instrumentation almost orchestral in its sweep

a day in the life represents perhaps lennon's (and the group's) peak

a devastatingly sad and moving mood piece

with lennon's voice at its most vulnerable

another contender for greatest ever beatles recording

could be i am the walrus

an astonishing rant against england and petty authority

sneered against an incredible backing track

brilliantly orchestrated by george martin

that scales and descends a relentless escher staircase

the distortion of revolution captures the zeitgeist of the year of my birth

in the same way as the stones' street fighting man

happiness is a warm gun offers three or four songs in one

a kind of history of folk and rock music sewn together

finally there is the political boldness of come together

mccartney weighing in with a superb swampy bassline

as if to prove his worth

as lennon's indispensable partner in crime

where would we be without them?