Why John Lennon and Paul McCartney Disagreed Over ‘In My Life’ From ‘Rubber Soul’
Allison Rapp
Ultimate Classic Rock
Published: September 21, 2026
William Vanderson, Fox Photos, Getty Images
There aren't that many accounts of John Lennon and Paul McCartney not agreeing on who wrote which parts of their songs. In fact, to a certain degree, it didn't matter — that's why the "Lennon-McCartney" songwriting name was established, since oftentimes it was hard to tell where one man's contribution ended and the other's began.
But for however synchronized Lennon and McCartney were, the reality is that two separate brains were at work when it came to their songwriting, and it did ultimately matter to each of them how those contributions were remembered.
"In My Life" from the Beatles' 1965 album Rubber Soul is a clear example of this.
John Lennon's Memory of How 'In My Life' Was Written
One thing Lennon and McCartney did not disagree on was that "In My Life" originated with Lennon.
"'In My Life' started out as a bus journey from my house on 250 [sic] Menlove Avenue to town, mentioning every place I could remember," Lennon recalled to David Sheff in 1980. "And it was ridiculous. This is before even 'Penny Lane' was written and I had Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, Tram Sheds – Tram Sheds are the depot just outside of Penny Lane – and it was the most boring sort of 'What I Did On My Holidays Bus Trip' song and it wasn't working at all. I cannot do this! I cannot do this! But then I laid back and these lyrics started coming to me about the places I remember."
It was then that McCartney came into the picture, as far as Lennon remembered it in a 1970 interview with Rolling Stone: "I think on 'Norwegian Wood' and 'In My Life' Paul helped with the middle eight, to give credit where it's due."
A decade later, Lennon doubled down on this memory when speaking with Sheff:
"Paul helped with the middle eight musically," he confirmed again. "But all lyrics written, signed, sealed and delivered. And it was, I think, my first real major piece of work. Up till then it had all been sort of glib and throwaway. And that was the first time I consciously put my literary part of myself into the lyric. Inspired by Kenneth Allsop, the British journalist, and Bob Dylan."
Paul McCartney's Memory of How 'In My Life' Was Written
McCartney's memory of the song's writing was a bit different.
"As I recall, he didn't have a tune to it, and my recollection, I think, is at variance with John's," he said for Many Years From Now. "I said, 'Well, you haven't got a tune, let me just go and work on it.' And I went down to the half-landing, where John had a Mellotron, and I sat there and put together a tune based in my mind on Smokey Robinson and the Miracles…
"I recall writing the whole melody. And it actually does sound very like me, if you analyse it. I was obviously working to lyrics. The melody's structure is very me. So my recollection is saying to John, 'Just go and have a cup of tea or something. Let me be with this for 10 minutes on my own and I'll do it.'"
Listen to the Beatles' 'In My Life'
McCartney recalled Lennon approving his melody and things progressing from there – more verses, etc.
In the studio, producer George Martin added his own flair by playing a little piano trick.
"There's a bit where John couldn't decide what to do in the middle," Martin recalled in Anthology, "and, while they were having their tea break, I put down a baroque piano solo which John didn't hear until he came back. What I wanted was too intricate for me to do live, so I did it with a half-speed piano, then sped it up, and he liked it."
In short: McCartney's memory saw him with more influence over the song's music, while Lennon's insists it was only the middle eight section that came into play, the rest was all his. There is, of course, no way to know which is right for certain, and it's possible that both men's recollection was not fully correct.
But remarkably, "In My Life" was one of just two instances in which Lennon and McCartney's memory appeared to significantly differ, at least according to McCartney's later memory and other research into Lennon's post-Beatles interviews. Not bad for a partnership that collaborated on a couple hundred songs.
Or as McCartney said: "I find it very gratifying that out of everything we wrote, we only appear to disagree over two songs."
Ringo Starr makes heartbreaking Beatles reunion admission decades after John Lennon, George Harrison’s deaths
By Nicki Gostin
Page Six
Published Sep. 19, 2026
Ringo Starr believes The Beatles would have reunited to make more music had John Lennon and George Harrison not died.
“I do think we possibly would have got together sometime from, you know, John leaving us to now, if we were all still around, you know,” the drummer told Page Six in a recent exclusive interview. “And George, you know, I miss George.”
Lennon died in 1980 at age 40, when he was shot by a crazed fan outside his apartment in New York City. Harrison died of cancer in 2001, when he was 58.
Ringo Starr, seen here in June, spoke to Page Six about what he’s doing now and, of course, The Beatles.
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Starr said he believes The Beatles would have reunited to record new music had John Lennnon and George Harrison not died.
Bettmann Archive
Starr shared that the thing he misses most about being a Beatle is “the friendship, the togetherness, the support of each other. I’m an only child. I had three brothers. And you know, brothers up rows and you know little get-togethers, and then little get-aparts. And for me, it was great. And musically it was dynamite, which it still is out there. You know, the chance to play that. Right. And you know, it’s all happened in eight years.”
Starr is still in close contact with the last surviving Beatle, Paul McCartney.
They speak, “a couple of times a month…If he’s in England, we go to visit England, mainly to visit family, (if) we know, we’ll have dinner or we’ll go around and hang, so yeah, a couple of times a month.”
Starr said he misses the camaraderie of being in the band, photographed here in 1963.
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He and Paul McCartney, photographed in 2024, are still good pals.
Dave Benett/Getty Images for Stella McCartney
The “Photograph” singer added that he’s on McCartney’s last record and McCartneys been on a lot of his. He’d come over with his bass and play over the years — “we’re still pals,” he said.
Not that The Beatles are really ever out of the public imagination, but this year there has been even more interest with the news that Sam Mendes is working on four biographical films based on each member, with Harris Dickinson playing Lennon, Paul Mescal playing Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn playing Harrison and Barry Keoghan playing Starr. All four films will be released simultaneously in 2028.
“I think it’s amazing, actually,” Starr enthused. “The difficulty was he’s putting this story with that story. And Paul and I have to both let go of that. It’s not a documentary… It’s a story of four stories. You know, one on each of us, but, you know, of course we will get in together sometimes. So, we just said, ‘Okay, it’s a movie.'”
Starr thinks it’s “amazing” that there will be four Beatles movies with Barry Keoghan playing the drummer.
Lloyd Wakefield/Sony
Meanwhile, Starr has a new album out called “Long Long Road.”
UMR
Earlier this year, Starr released “Long Long Road,” his 22nd solo album and his second co-written and produced by T Bone Burnett, featuring collaborations with Sheryl Crow and St. Vincent.
In an earlier statement, Starr shared that the title came about because “I’ve been thinking about the road I’ve taken, starting in Liverpool, being in several bands, then with The Beatles – all those stops on your walk of life, it’s so far out.”
Starr is also touring with His All Starr Band and will play Forest Hills Stadium on Oct. 1, his first time back there since The Beatles played two historic sold-out shows in 1964, marking the group’s first-ever stadium shows.
He is also on tour with his All Starr band. They played The Greek Theatre in June.
Getty Images
Starr, seen here in July, credits his youthful appearance at 86 to broccoli and blueberries.
Getty Images for ABA
He’s philosophical when asked why he keeps touring at 86.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m just fit enough to do it. Sometimes mentally I say, ‘Oh, that’s enough.’ And then a week later I say, ‘No, it’s not.'”
And when asked how he manages to look two decades younger than he is, Starr is succinct.
“That’s all the blueberries and broccoli,” he exclaimed.
Paul and The Shrimp! (Jean Shrimpton, iconic model of the 60s) shot by Richard Avedon for Harpers Bazaar in 65
www.mentalfloss.com
The Beatles Songs Paul McCartney Would Use to Introduce the Band to Aliens
If aliens asked what made the Beatles so special, these are the songs Paul McCartney would play first.
By Chris Wheatley
Mental Floss
Sep 15, 2026
Beatles Alien | Getty Images
What Beatles song would Paul McCartney play to aliens as their introduction to the Fab Four?
This question stemmed from a fan Q&A session held to celebrate Paul McCartney's bestselling book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present. Amongst other fascinating queries, luckily selected fans had the chance to ask to the former Beatle; this is the most telling. It also proved a difficult one to answer.
THE SONG PAUL MCCARTNEY WOULD PLAY FOR ALIENS
McCartney mused: "It’s always very hard to narrow down favourite songs, so what I do is just make a guess. What comes to my head for The Beatles would be "Yesterday" – I’d say that was an important moment. But then again, my inner voice says, 'What about 'Hey Jude?' What about 'Let It Be…?’ So, it is a very difficult question to answer. But I’ll plump for 'Yesterday'."
"Yesterday" is a song that famously came to Paul in a dream. He woke up with the melody in his head, and improvised placeholder lyrics to help fix the tune in his mind. McCartney had been living with then-girlfriend Jane Asher at the time, in Wimpole Street, London, in 1964. Until it was properly fleshed out, the song's initial, make-do title was actually 'scrambled eggs', with the opening lines: "Scrambled eggs, Oh my baby how I love your legs, Not as much as I love scrambled eggs."
Paul was so taken with the tune that, for a month or so, he became convinced that it must be a pre-existing work. After asking around, he knew it was an original. It has since gone on to become one of the most popular compositions of all time, with Guinness World Records noting that, by 2006, more than 1,600 versions had been recorded.
The other two contenders picked out by McCartney are also worthy considerations.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
"Hey Jude" was released in 1968 and became a top-selling single around the world. McCartney penned the song for John Lennon's young son, Julian, after Lennon had left his wife, Cynthia, for Yoko Ono. Writing in The Lyrics, McCartney recalled: "I was thinking about how tough it would be for Jules, as I called him, to have his dad leave him, to have his parents go through a divorce. It started out as a song of encouragement."
Paul's other potential pick, "Let It Be," appeared on the band's final album, of the same name. A beautiful ballad with a rousing chorus, it was written as an ode to Paul's mother, Mary. As a single, the song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon with arms around each other in a Hamburg Bar (1961) Credit: The Stuart Sutcliffe Estate.(Image: Courtesy of Pauline Sutcliffe/Su)
www.theglassonionbeatlesjournal.com
Drawings by Beatles John Lennon and Stu Sutcliffe Up for Auction
The Glass Onion Beatles Journal
on September 12, 2026
Via Track Auctions:
A page from a writing pad containing drawings by John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe. They were created by John and Stuart in Astrid Kirchherr’s apartment in Hamburg, Germany in 1961.
The drawings are over two sides. On one side John Lennon has drawn two characters at the bottom of the sheet which resemble those he drew in his 1964 book ‘In His Own Write’, Stuart Sutcliffe has drawn a self-portrait and a portrait of Astrid Kirchherr above John’s. On the reverse side of the page John has drawn two facial doodles, one to the left and one in the centre. Stuart Sutcliffe has drawn a facial doodle on the right side of the paper.
Provenance: given to the previous owner by Astrid Kirchherr.
The sheet measures 21.75cm x 16.7cm (8.6 inches x 6.6 inches). The condition is very good minus.
More info in tracks.co.uk
www.tracks.co.uk
B53926 – John Lennon And Stuart Sutcliffe 1961 Hamburg Drawings (Germany)
£7,500.00
A page from a writing pad containing drawings by John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe. They were created by John and Stuart in Astrid Kirchherr’s apartment in Hamburg, Germany in 1961.
The drawings are over two sides. On one side John Lennon has drawn two characters at the bottom of the sheet which resemble those he drew in his 1964 book ‘In His Own Write’, Stuart Sutcliffe has drawn a self-portrait and a portrait of Astrid Kirchherr above John’s. On the reverse side of the page John has drawn two facial doodles, one to the left and one in the centre. Stuart Sutcliffe has drawn a facial doodle on the right side of the paper.
Provenance: given to the previous owner by Astrid Kirchherr.
The sheet measures 21.75cm x 16.7cm (8.6 inches x 6.6 inches). The condition is very good minus.
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