Happiness Did Not Write The White Album

Some thoughts on the Beatles after listening to the mono box all the way through. Pardon me if I state the obvious, but just let me spit it out.

There are really two Beatles: John's Beatles, up through and including Revolver (although Rubber Soul and Revolver are really transitional albums as John gets more and more out of it on drugs), and Paul's Beatles from Sgt. Pepper's to The End (literally).

Paul and, to only a slightly lesser extent, George Martin were always the motor of the Beatles. But John, even as he slipped into a heroin daze during the White Album, was still capable of moments of genius. It's essential to note, however, that it was Paul who, more often than not, elevated John's simple (but brilliant, don't misunderstand me) songwriting with his arrangements and instrumental prowess. It's also important to note that Paul got better and better at his craft over the course of the Beatles; John didn't.

If you don't believe me, look at their solo careers. John's solo material is always very straight-forward guitar-based stuff, very similar arrangements throughout, and, to be honest, pretty bland as he moved through the '70s. While I like his contributions to the Double Fantasy record, I don't think anyone would say that it was particularly challenging. The critical establishment would have beaten McCartney to death if he had come out with "Beautiful Boy." In short, there was no Paul around to say, Hey, let me throw on this guitar solo or let's do the drums this way or how about running some backwards tape loops through the mix.

Not that Paul's solo material was blemish-free. No one is going to put "Morse Moose and the Grey Goose" on their Top 10 list (no one who's not institutionalized, that is), and we all can cite others. But then as the French essayist Henry de Montherlant famously said, "Happiness writes white." (In the interest of full disclosure, I knew the quote but had to Google the source of it.) Other than Linda, though, he always played with top musicians and had something interesting to say arrangement-wise. He didn't force his wife to center-stage either. (Bet no one rushed out to pick up Yoko's new CD.) We Macca fans also know that his lyrics are much better than the music press used to give him credit for.

But lest this come off as my usual slavish pro-McCartney harangue, let me ask you this: Can you imagine how powerful the Beatles would have been if John had been as with it and as competitive with Paul in 1968 and '69 as he was in, say, 1964? Maybe it's pointless to try to improve on the original. Still one can't help but wonder. ...