Yoko Ono Won’t Fight Over Lennon-McCartney Credits
John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, says she will not fight with Paul McCartney over the changes he made to the songwriting credits on some of the Beatles songs he’s recently re-released. Since 1962, every song John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote for the Beatles was credited as “Lennon-McCartney,” even if the two songwriters worked independently. McCartney surprised fans and raised Ono’s ire when he reversed the order of the names to read “McCartney-Lennon” on some of the Beatles songs he re-recorded on his 2002 live album, Back In The U.S., and this year’s European release, Back In The World.
McCartney insists it wasn’t his intention to discredit Lennon, but rather it was his way to “put the record straight.” In an interview with Reuters last year, McCartney defended his position, saying, “I personally don’t see any harm in John’s songs, such as ‘Strawberry Fields’ and ‘Help,’ being labeled ‘Lennon & McCartney,’ and my songs, such as ‘Let It Be’ and ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ being labeled ‘McCartney & Lennon.'”
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr stated that he believed McCartney should have consulted with Ono before making the switch. “He’s wanted to do it for years,” Starr said. “I’m not going to tell you his reasons–he’ll tell you them. But I think the way he did it was underhanded. I thought he should have done it officially with Yoko. But he didn’t. It was the wrong way to go about it.”
Ono and McCartney have always had a strained relationship at best. After McCartney’s credit switch, many people assumed Ono would take legal action. However, in an interview with Britain’s Daily Record, Ono said, “I find it very strange and petty that he would want to do something like this after so many years. If it’s something he feels he has to do, then I’ll just let him get on with it.”
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