Skip to main content

The John Lennon and Paul McCartney songwriting partnership churned out hits for The Beatles. How good were they? One of their unreleased songs hit No. 1 when another band recorded it. So it’s no surprise two Lennon-McCartney songs spent 29 weeks on the chart for another group.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon sitting together in late 1963.
(l-r) Paul McCartney and John Lennon | Val Wilmer/Redferns

The Fourmost spent 29 weeks on the chart with a pair of John Lennon and Paul McCartney songs

Even before they became synonymous with chart-topping hit songs, Paul and John weren’t shy about giving away songs they wrote to other artists. They let The Rolling Stones take on “I Wanna Be Your Man” before The Beatles recorded it. John and Paul gave up on the song “That Means a Lot,” handed it to American singer P.J. Proby, and he turned it into a modest success.

The Fourmost did much more than achieve middling success with the two Lennon-McCartney songs they recorded. Paul and John gave away two of The Fourmost’s most successful tunes. 

“Hello Little Girl,” a breezy slice of Beatles-esque pop that saw drummer Dave Lovelady copy Ringo Starr with some fancy (for the time) fills, hit the charts in England in September and peaked at No. 9 in late October. The Fab Four’s rendition of the song saw the light of day on 1995’s Anthology 1. There’s little difference between the two renditions other than one was a top-10 hit for the Fourmost, and the other sat in the vault for more than 30 years.

“I’m in Love” wasn’t as successful, but it entered the charts on New Year’s Day 1964, and peaked at No. 17. The tune sounds like an early-era Beatles song, but it’s one they seemingly never attempted.

Since Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein also handled The Fourmost’s affairs, the fellow Merseyside band had access to songs written by John and Paul. Taking two of their songs proved to be a recipe for success. 

“Hello Little Girl” spent 17 weeks on the charts, and “I’m in Love” had a 12-week run, per the Official Charts Company. The combined 29 weeks nearly matched The Fourmost’s four other most successful singles, which combined to spend 35 weeks on the charts. 

John and Paul proved a musician wrong when he covered one of their songs after calling them idiots

Related

Ringo Starr Refused to Record a John Lennon Song That Turned Into a Top-10 Hit

John and Paul wrote hits for other artists as well as The Beatles in their early days as songwriters. They proved their skill at the craft many times over the years. Still, Kenny Lynch, a musician who toured with them early in the Fab Four’s career, called them idiots when they labored over “From Me to You.’

The budding songwriters proved Lynch wrong in the end. He set a record among musicians when he covered the John and Paul song “Misery” despite his unfavorable opinion of the duo. His 1963 version of the song never reached the charts. “Misery” ended up on Please Please Me, but The Beatles never released it as a single, though they recorded it for a BBC performance just before that debut album came out. The record was the first of eight straight studio albums to hit No. 1 in England, per the Official Charts Company.

Interestingly, Paul worked with Lynch a decade later. The actor/musician appeared on the cover of the Wings album Band on the Run. Lynch’s attempt to find success with “Misery” failed, but two John Lennon and Paul McCartney songs gave The Fourmost 29 weeks of chart success in 1963 and 1964.

For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s YouTube channel.

Best in Music