Talk:Love Me Do

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[edit] Songwriting Timeframe

The edits of this article contain different songwriting timeframes. The current edit (28 October 2006) states:

• "Love Me Do" is an early Lennon-McCartney song, principally written by Paul McCartney in 1958.

whereas an earlier edit stated "1961-2".

According to Lennon's quotation listed at [1]:

• "Paul wrote the main structure of this when he was sixteen, or even earlier. I think I had something to do with the middle."

Unless there is a precise year from another citation, "late 1950s" may be the most appropriate.

Zakko 19:43, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Hi Zakko. I was referencing Paul's "Many Years From Now" page 37. Paul was born 1942, so age sixteen would place it '58. If however you think it's safer to say late 50's then ok. I would dispute ' 61/' 62 however. --Patthedog 20:38, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Hi Patthedog,

Thank you for the reference. I agree with you that "1961-2" doesn't seem to be correct because Many Years From Now and Lennon's quotation (shown above) states that the song was mainly written when McCartney was 16 "or even earlier" (to quote Lennon). That what would set the timeframe for McCartney's main structure of "Love Me Do" at between 18 June 1956 and 17 June 1959 because he wrote his first song ("I Lost My Little Girl") when he was 14, and his 17th birthday was 18 June 1959 (he would be classed as being 16 years of age up to 17 June 1959). (Lennon thought that he had "something to do with the middle", and it's possible that some parts of the song were written between 1959 and 6 June 1962, when The Beatles recorded the song at their Parlophone audition.)

I think it's fair to say, on the basis of the references, that McCartney probably wrote the main structure before his 17th birthday, so either "late 1950s" would be appropriate, or maybe "1958-9" if we accept that it was mainly written when has was 16. I'll put "1958-9" in the article, and include the Many Years From Now and Lennon interview references. I hope that's OK with you.

Zakko. It’s probably fair to say that McCartney had the basis of this song already in his head when they apparently, according to McCartney, composed it together “eyeball to eyeball”. Certainly Lennon remembered it differently though, playing down his role. The middle eight “Someone to love” bit always sticks out as being added somehow, possibly Lennon? Anyway, I agree with you so that’s fine with me. --Patthedog 12:40, 29 October 2006 (UTC)