During his time with The Beatles throughout the 1960s, he wrote plenty of songs that simply didn’t get utilised in their discography, and the same can be said of his personal discography later on. McCartney was a pop music maestro like the world had never seen before and, alongside his partner-in-crime John Lennon, was able to flick songs out at will. This resulted in some of his songs finding homes elsewhere with other artists who could put their own spin on things. (Faroutmagazine)
Paul McCartney Reveals 'There Are ‘Dozens'of lost Beatles songs' due the absence of portable recording devices during the band’s heyday meant that songs he co-wrote with John Lennon were frequently forgotten the morning after.
“John and I didn’t have them when we first started writing, we would write a song and just have to remember it,” McCartney says. “And there was always the risk that we’d just forget it. If the next morning you couldn’t remember, it was gone. There must have been dozens lost this way.”
Things have changed quite a bit. You’ve got recording devices now which change the songwriting process. For instance, John and I didn’t have them when we first started writing, we would write a song and just have to remember it. And there was always the risk that we’d just forget it. If the next morning you couldn’t remember it – it was gone. There must have been dozens lost this way.” (VMZ)
By the end of their partnership, the two were rarely writing songs together anymore, and the division caused some conflict when it came to choose songs for album inclusion.
During the particularly tense Get Back sessions, McCartney introduced one of his new songs, ‘Teddy Boy’. “Another song started in India, and completed in Scotland and London, gradually,” was how McCartney described the track in 1970. “This one was recorded for the Get Back film, but later not used.”
The rehearsal tapes show a couple of different renditions of ‘Teddy Boy’ rehearsed during the sessions. The song never got past rehearsals.
It didn’t take long for McCartney to resurrect ‘Teddy Boy’ which was released on his debut solo album McCartney.
“We’ve now put together a version, an edit of one of the takes of us trying it, which sounds interesting,” McCartney would say about the Anthology 3 version. “You can hear on it that the band wasn’t very interested in it. I don’t know why. Maybe I hadn’t finished it enough or something. Maybe it was just tension coming in. The bit I’d like to keep actually was John sort of making fun of it. He starts towards the end of it, going, ‘Grab your partners, do-si-do,’ so we’ve kept that on. And while it was, in some way, indicative of friction, it was good-humoured friction.” (McCartney, Antology)
The songs Paul McCartney gave away (list below)
Cilla Black – ‘It’s For You’
Peter & Gordon – ‘A World Without Love’
Peter & Gordon – ‘Woman’
The Rolling Stones – ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’
Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas – ‘I’ll Be On My Way’
Gerry and the Pacemakers – ‘Hello Little Girl’
Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas – ‘Bad To Me’
Tommy Quickly – ‘Tip Of My Tongue’
Cilla black – ‘Love of the Loved’
Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas – I’m in Love’
Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas – ‘I’ll Keep You Satisfied’
The Fourmost – ‘I’m In Love’
The Applejacks – ‘Like Dreamers Do’
Peter and Gordon – ‘Nobody I Know’
Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas – ‘From A Window’
P.J. Proby – ‘That Means A Lot’
Cilla Black – ‘Step Inside Love’
Mary Hopkin – ‘Goodbye’
Badfinger – ‘Come And Get It’
Peggy Lee – ‘Lets Love’
Rod Stewart – ‘Mine For Me’
Everly Brothers – ‘On The Wings Of A Nightingale’
Diana Krall – ‘If I Take You Home Tonight’
Charlotte Gainsbourg – ‘Songbird In A Cage’
