In discographies as extensive as that of the Beatles, there will always be songs of all kinds: hits, those that paved the way for what was to come, experimentations, absurd themes, others that even the artists themselves regret having written and those that they make them proud.
During his Beatles years, John Lennon never had any qualms talking about his former band as well as the tracks he created and recorded with Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.
The Liverpool native dominated much of the early writing for the group, but it was on the album With The Beatles, the second of the Fab Four, that Macca released “one of his first great hits,” according to Lennon. “All My Loving”, one of the most loved and respected by Lennon.
In addition to referring to the song as a “regret,” later, in his 1980 interview with Playboy (via Far Out), he said:
“‘All My Loving’ is Paul, I regret to say. Because it’s a damn fine piece of work. But I play a pretty mean guitar in back.”
The track was also a departure for Macca: “Yeah, I wrote that one. It was the first song I ever wrote where I had the words before the music. I wrote the words on a bus on tour, then we got the tune when I arrived there. The first time I’ve ever worked upside down.”
“All My Loving” generated a great deal of buzz around the Beatles and gained considerable exposure in the United States, Canada and, of course, the United Kingdom. Additionally, it marked a change of atmosphere for the group as they noted McCartney’s imminent rise as a writer.