The Paul McCartney song that John Lennon said was one of his favorites

The Beatles are the most successful band of all time with an estimated amount of more than 600 million records sold worldwide. Their influence is unreachable and have caused a revolution in the music business not only during the 10 years they were together but in the following decades. One of the secrets of their success was obviously the incredible songwriting partnership that Paul McCartney and John Lennon had. Since they were the ones who wrote most of the lyrics for the tracks.

Towards the end of the band there was a lot of animosity between the bandmates sometimes, including when writing the songs for the albums. After Lennon quit the band and they announced they would no longer be together, they stayed apart from each other for years before reconciling again. But after they were again mates like in the old days, McCartney and Lennon stopped saying bad things about each other in the press and were more positive when talking about each other with other people.

Not long before his tragic death at the age of 40 in 1980, Lennon talked with Playboy about The Beatles discography and mentioned a less-known track that is one of his favorites ones that were written by Paul.

The Paul McCartney song that John Lennon said was one of his favorites

The Beatles released their debut album “Please Please Me” in 1963, which had covers and also original material. The evolution of their songwriting was progressive and on every new album released it was clear that they were constantly trying to experiment and making a kind of music it hasn’t been done before.

That’s why many of their albums can’t be compared with each other. Since they were always going to a new direction everytime they were in the studio. For many fans and music experts, they started to get “more serious” on the 1966 album “Revolver”, where they added even more psychedelia to a few tracks.

It is from that record, the track that Lennon said was one of his favorites written by Paul. He mentioned the album’s third song from the second side, which is called “For No One”. “One of my favorites of his. A nice piece of work,” Lennon said.

He had already praised that song when he talked with Hit Parader magazine in 1972. He said: Paul. Another of his I really liked”.

McCartney wrote that song when he was on a ‘skiing holiday’ in Switzerland

Although many times the band composed songs together, they also worked on new songs on their own. Even if they would be supposed to be resting and not working. It was the case of “For No One” that McCartney wrote when he was on a “skiing holiday” with his then girlfriend Jane Asher.

He recalled that in an interview for the book “The Beatles Anthology” released in 2000. “I can remember more about writing Revolver than recording it. I was in Switzerland on my first skiing holiday.”

“I’d done a bit of skiing in ‘Help!’ and quite liked it. So I went back and ended up in a little bathroom in a Swiss chalet writing ‘For No One.’ I remember the descending bass-line trick that it’s based on.”

“I remember the character in the song. The girl putting on her make-up. That’s often when I write stuff, on holiday. I’m just sort of relaxed and there’s maybe not much to do,” Paul McCartney said.

McCartney hasn’t performed the song live a lot on his constant tours. But it was present on his setlists more often in 2004 and 2005. The last time he played the song live was at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. That show happened in November 30, 2005.