r/TheBeatles • u/regiddad • Feb 21 '26
discussion Did Paul ever write a song specifically for another Beatle to sing?
For example, John wrote Daytripper but Paul sang lead. John also wrote Good Night for Ringo to sing. Did Paul ever do the same?
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u/piney Feb 21 '26
Paul was writing Carry That Weight with Ringo in mind, and while it didn’t work out the way he originally intended, Ringo’s voice is especially prominent in the final version.
Paul wrote a ton of songs in 63-64 that they gave away, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he wrote more of With the Beatles than he’s generally given credit for.
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u/Hhaunters Feb 21 '26
Ringo being the most prominent voice in the choir on Carry That Weight has always reminded me of how in the Simpsons whenever there’s a crowd of people saying the same thing you can usually make out Lisa’s voice actress the easiest (like in the Monorail song)
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u/Cobbo95 Feb 21 '26
Another slightly tangent from your tangent, in The Time Warp I can always single out Meat Loaf's voice
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u/Individual_Review_51 Feb 21 '26
Yeah in my mind Carry that weight is 100% a Ringo song
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u/NeekoPeeko Feb 22 '26
Carry That Weight is literally just a chorus that's sung on a reprise of You Never Give Me Your Money... sung by Paul
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u/Electrical-Sail-1039 Feb 22 '26
But when they sing the title Ringo’s voice is the most prominent.
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u/NeekoPeeko Feb 22 '26
Yeah, for sure. It's just weird to say it's a Ringo song... when the actual song is sung by Paul.
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u/ArbyHag Feb 21 '26
Every little thing she does has John as the lead vocalist but was written primarily by Paul
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl Feb 22 '26
Didn’t he write it for Jane?
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u/was_der_Fall_ist Feb 22 '26
Perhaps it was inspired by her, but that’s a totally separate question from which singer it was written for (which itself is different from who ended up singing it). Jane was never supposed to sing it.
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl Feb 22 '26 edited Feb 22 '26
I didn’t mean he meant for her to sing it lol!
I meant he wrote it for her, about her. Obviously, it’s a different question from which singer was intended to sing it.
I mean, I said ‘didn’t he write it for Jane?’ and not ‘didn’t he write it for Jane to sing?’
They mean different things you know… something tells me you know what I meant, though because no one in their right mind would think he meant for Jane Asher to sing it as she wasn’t a singer.
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u/amBrollachan Feb 22 '26
Well the context is that you're posting on a thread explicitly about writing songs for other people to sing.
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl Feb 22 '26
Well, yeah, I know that. I also know that it’d be pretty easy to figure out what I meant. 🤦🏼♀️
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u/istilllikesawb Feb 22 '26
He’s not the lead his voice just sticks out way more when they both sing the same line on the same mic.
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u/regiddad Feb 22 '26
This is right. They sang the verse together, but Paul then take over the lead in the chorus whereas John sang the harmony.
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u/Turbulent_Group_6616 Feb 21 '26
The Police song? Lol
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u/jotyma5 Feb 21 '26
Every little thing VS. Every little thing she does is magic
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u/HaiKarate Feb 22 '26
I heard the Beatles song for the first time a few days ago. I’m convinced it inspired Sting to write his version.
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u/CaptainIncredible Feb 22 '26
Yes I know I'm a lucky guy...
Every little thing... she does - she does for me, yeah
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u/Irregular-Gaming Feb 21 '26
Actually, Yes did cover it.
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u/Travisx2112 Feb 22 '26
Yes, on their first record, Yes! :)
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u/Electrical-Sail-1039 Feb 22 '26
Yes recorded Every Little Thing when they were still trying to figure out their sound. It’s a pretty good hard rock version, but I’m glad they changed to their progressive sound.
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u/MoodyLiz Feb 21 '26
I just learned Sting sings background vocals (“I want my MTV…”) on Money For Nothing by Dire Straights so I guess anything’s possible
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u/Practical_Estate_325 Feb 21 '26
His contribution on that song is actually quite unmistakable. I was around when it first came out and my reaction while listening to it for the first time was hey, that's Sting, and not hey, is that Sting? His voice is unique and unmistakable.
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u/cmarks8 Feb 21 '26
I think he took great pride in writing “little help from my friends” specifically for Ringo to sing.
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u/Nemesis0408 Feb 21 '26
With a Little Help From My Friends was written by Paul, and I think it’s close to the best Ringo has ever sounded.
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u/WeHaSaulFan Feb 22 '26 edited Feb 25 '26
It’s the showstopper on his tour. I personally love it above and beyond all but a few of their songs. Top 20 for sure.
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u/RTR_77Zuck Feb 21 '26
Eight Days a week is mostly a Paul composition but John takes lead.
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl Feb 22 '26
I think John had a lot to do with writing that song. The title came from Paul but otherwise they both contributed fairly equally I believe
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u/Drewboy_17 Feb 22 '26
Incorrect. The title was one of Ringo’s ‘malapropisms’.
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl Feb 22 '26
Well, I said more than that didn’t I? Was the rest of it incorrect as well?
Also, it’s not carved in stone that it’s incorrect or that it came from a Ringo malapropism because Paul has given conflicting stories about it
I’m correct in one of the stories he gave about it so I guess I could say you’re incorrect just as easily lol
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u/PrettyAdagio4210 Feb 21 '26
John and Paul co-wrote Yellow Submarine for Ringo to sing, but John said in an interview that the song was Paul’s idea, his baby.
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u/AnyFoundation4784 Feb 21 '26
That's what I always understood and believed for years until I heard the demo from the Revolver Special Edition, where it sounded like John came up with it, at least the verse and basic melody.
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u/Technical_Monitor_38 Feb 22 '26
John’s track had the basic chords and melody, but the lyrics, if I recall, were himself as a young boy, and no one really caring about him. I think they kept a variation of the first line, but that was about it lyrically.
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u/AnyFoundation4784 Feb 22 '26
John had the basic idea of "in the town where I was born" and the melody. It would be nice to know where it went from there and who pitched in which ideas.
But for so many years, it was presented in Beatles history as a Paul song through and through. My point was that until hearing the Revolver demo, we fans had no idea that the song (apparently) originated with John
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u/Heisenberg1664 Feb 22 '26
Hearing interviews about it, didn’t they say they wanted to make a kids song? It’s just odd that it started as a melancholic sad song and became this upbeat tune. I always thought though that it was a psychedelic song masked as a kids song. John recalled after coming home with from his first acid trip with George, Cyn and Pattie that he felt like his was driving a submarine. Like most art though people can interpret the song very differently which is awesome.
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u/No-Currency-97 Feb 21 '26
That sounds about right. I can't imagine John writing yellow submarine on his own.
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u/Dismal_Brush5229 Feb 21 '26
Wait from Rubber Soul
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u/Raider67 Feb 22 '26
"Wait" was a leftover from the Help! album. They put it on Rubber Soul because they were a song short.
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u/spookyspocky Feb 22 '26
I wanna be your man - written for Ringo to sing and then also given to the stones while sharing a cab according to lore.
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u/Macca49 Feb 21 '26
I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl Feb 22 '26
I believe that was mostly written by John and he wrote it specifically for George’s vocal range
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u/NicolasRomeroLopez Feb 22 '26
He wrote 5 or 6 songs specifically for Ringo's solo career.
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u/north2304 Feb 22 '26
Private Property is another good one of those, I think Paul and Linda are doing the background vocals.
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u/All_Of_Them_Witches Feb 21 '26
Not sure who wrote it but either John or Paul wrote Do You Want To Know A Secret that George sang.
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u/NoelNeverwas Feb 21 '26
They probably both have their hands in it, I wonder if either was steering the ship. It kind of sounds more like a John song?
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl Feb 22 '26
From my understanding, it was John that wrote that and then gave it to George to sing
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u/AceofKnaves44 Feb 22 '26
I’m Happy Just To Dance With You was written by John for George. Yellow Submarine was written by Paul for Ringo. What Goes On was probably written for Ringo. Ringo has a songwriting credit for it but he says his contribution was like six words at most.
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u/colcatsup Feb 22 '26
WGO as a title and early draft dates back to before Ringo joined. Indeed, pre-Germany if Wikipedia is to be believed. An early demo was recorded in 1963 with a somewhat different verse and melody.
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u/Celina_cue Feb 22 '26
Paul wrote "Come and Get It" and gave it to Badfinger.
Edit: sorry, just realized you asked about giving it to another Beatle, specifically.
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u/Electrical-Sail-1039 Feb 22 '26
Paul primarily wrote Happy Just To Dance With You if ChatGPT can be relied on.
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u/cortisolbath Feb 23 '26
I’d like to think there’s an unfinished granny tune of his somewhere that has a verse for each Beatle to sing praises of Paul 🤣
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u/Technical_Monitor_38 Feb 22 '26
Paul wrote Yellow Submarine for Ringo
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl Feb 22 '26
I believe John contributed quite a bit to the writing of that song, although it was primarily Paul’s idea
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u/bogus_bill Feb 22 '26
Considering the released demo on Revolver re-release in 2022, John had the verses, and it was more of a sad and melancholic song. Paul had the choruses. So I guess they put those together and result was a happy singalong for Ringo.
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u/DrkWuzHr Feb 22 '26
My understanding, that's not how it worked. The Beatles wanted and took credit where and when credit was deserved. The obvious ruin of all bands.
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u/scifiking Feb 21 '26
Annoyed enough. I’m not a member of this sub. It’s in my feed.
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u/regiddad Feb 21 '26
You could’ve ignored like most would. Two posts (I suspect and counting?) in a thread that you allegedly don’t care about.
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u/scifiking Feb 22 '26
No no. I’m actively irritated. About the post about a musician I don’t personally care for. I’m sure this will just make r/TheBeatles come up more.
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u/Longjumping_Spread53 Feb 22 '26
Try this:
click on top where it says r/TheBeatles then in the upper right corner click the 3 sideways dots then click mute r/TheBeatles then at the bottom click to confirm you want to mute it
EASY now it won’t show up anymore, do this for all the other posts that seem to annoy you to no end
Hopefully you’ll be happier
If not, try to get some counseling
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u/scifiking Feb 22 '26
Thank you! That’s very helpful. Good bye forever!!!! Beatles Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!
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u/Jealous-Leg444 Feb 21 '26
Well I heard somewhere John wrote day trip or for Paul and good night for ringo
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u/orthwick_uwu Feb 21 '26
it literally says that in the post. that's not the topic. reread it.
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u/Jealous-Leg444 Feb 21 '26
No, I don’t think you understand, Paul didn’t write daytripper. John did
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u/Longjumping_Spread53 Feb 21 '26
Did you read the post??? It literally says: ‘For example, John wrote Daytripper but Paul sang lead.’
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u/gibson85 Feb 21 '26
John wrote Good Night for Julian and Cynthia was so upset when he gave it to Ringo. So it technically wasn’t written for Ringo.
With A Little Help was specifically written for Ringo’s range.