Paul McCartney or John Lennon... Which Beatle was the better songwriter?

[tjdoppler]

I have always thought Paul was a much better songwriter, but when I shared this opinion with other musicians I have been met with much resistance. 

I think McCartney seems to have more control over his instrument and is technically a better musician than John, however, John was always the cool one of the two and tended to write more groundbreaking or progressive songs.  Paul also wrote music that was sweeter and more structurally complex in nature with more chords and sections, while John's songs usually were darker, simpler in structure, and might have more improvisation.

Opinions? Questions? Can anyone confirm this or deny this analysis?



TJ of Doppler
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"I know when I started I would have been happy to sound like the Beatles or Joe Tex or whoever. You want to sound like most bands, you want to sound like their records and that's how you learn your chops."
 
- Jon Anderson of Yes

[nicklz]

I don't know if I could choose between them. Most all the music I'd seen was lyrics by Lennon or it wasn't specific who was responsible for what. I know that after the Beatles break-up some of McCartney's lyrics were pretty cool, but I don't know if he was responsible for them solely if there were other writers involved then. I think it all comes down to individual taste in a song. They are both equally good.

At the Rock Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland when I went several years ago, the upper display was Beatles music in the flesh on the hotel letterheads or whatever paper happened to be around they wrote on. As an amateur writer, it was one of the most inspirational things I'd ever seen.

[Engel]

I am pretty fond of the music that George wrote even though his lyrics were simple but all their songs are good.

[hippæ]

Neither of them. They werent "better" than one another, they both had their own distinct styles which made them unique. When it comes to listening preference however, i would go with lennon. McCartney was the poppy whimsical guy, which is great in its own right, but im a fan of the music thats "out there". Harrison however, thats an entirely different level of awesome...

[nicklz]

Yeah, but for the really off the wall stuff like "Octopus' Garden" you can't beat Ringo. And he had the voice to do those type songs, too.

[Dr.Strangelove]

Lennon,but i like georges stuff an awful lot.