The Beatles Bible - Topic: Who is The Leader?

MrBig on Who is The Leader?

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 03:00:03 +0100

George Martin

HammerDealer on Who is The Leader?

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 01:54:23 +0100

No one, simply as that. But, really I always think as Paul as the leader. He seemed to care more about getting in the studio, and you're right about him singing the most 'popular' songs.

toryst on Who is The Leader?

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:23:52 +0100

Joe said:

US people, particularly those who were around in 1964:

I was watching the first Ed Sullivan Show appeareance and something struck me. The Beatles kicked off their set with All My Loving, which is quite an interesting choice in itself. After that they played Till There Was You, and it's clear the spotlight was firmly on Paul. She Loves You was the third song, and again the director seems to have thought Paul was the lead singer and George and John were on backups.

In the second bit they sang I Saw Her Standing There - a Paul song - ...

Brother_Mustard on Who is The Leader?

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 21:10:59 +0100

Ringo Was secretly pulling all the strings behind the scenes.

Haha, seriously though, I agree with pretty much everything that's been said here. And GnikNus, I agree with you about how George and Ringo probably gravitated towards John because they were able to be more... spontaneous, I guess is the word I'm looking for. Not everything had to be perfectly structured. I get the feeling Paul was kind of a recording Nazi (Nothing against his work, though, I still love it!). I didn't really notice it until I played B:RB, and noticed which songs had better drum ...

GniknuS on Who is The Leader?

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:35:57 +0100

I think John was the obvious choice as leader, just because of who he was as a person. Paul was a perfectionist and left very little, if any, room for improvising on his songs. John was much more experimental in his recordings, thus making it easier for George and Ringo to gravitate towards him because maybe they felt their input was more needed or appreciated. I think John receded his title as leader in about 1967 or so, but by then George and Ringo were much more independent individuals, so no leader was really needed. Paul tried and was successful ...

Joe on Who is The Leader?

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:19:29 +0100

US people, particularly those who were around in 1964:

I was watching the first Ed Sullivan Show appeareance and something struck me. The Beatles kicked off their set with All My Loving, which is quite an interesting choice in itself. After that they played Till There Was You, and it's clear the spotlight was firmly on Paul. She Loves You was the third song, and again the director seems to have thought Paul was the lead singer and George and John were on backups.

In the second bit they sang I Saw Her Standing There - a Paul song - and closed ...

Marcelo on Who is The Leader?

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:03:57 +0000

I think you are forgetting that "Sgt. Pepper" was a project carried by Paul. I think that both John and Paul were the leaders, with a preeminence of John until "Revolver", and the last albums by Paul.

And for something completely different (as Monty Pyton said), Paul is a better musician and composer, very cerebral, if you let me say. His melodies and harmonies are perfect, no doubt.

But John was more intuititional, and his songs can express deep emotions not only by words, but with music too. He was a genius, no doubt too.

The best of The Beatles is the combination ...

PaulRamon on Who is The Leader?

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:18:34 +0000

Paul is a bassist. George and John are much better guitarists

Paul was as good if not a better a guitarist as John and George when The Beatles started and probably throughout their career too. He only took on the bass because no one else wanted the job. He proved his worth on the guitar many times over the years.

Having said that, i think John was the leader until he no longer wanted the job then Paul took over.

Elsewhere Man on Who is The Leader?

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:36:10 +0000

Exactly, which is why Paul naturally fell into the role as leader.

iCaramba on Who is The Leader?

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:59:13 +0000

Well, by Let It Be, John was firmly under the grip of a pretty bad drug addiction. (And, some would say, a Yoko addiction.)

Elsewhere Man on Who is The Leader?

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:14:45 +0000

Joe said: Probably from the death of Brian Epstein, though, it was Paul who became the group's leading force, even if he wasn't explicitly acknowledged as such. One of John's complaints about the Let It Be film was that it cast the rest of The Beatles as Paul's backing band, which he felt shouldn't have been the case.

John might have felt differently about Let It Be if he had had better material and shown more of an interest in turning the Get Back sessions into a proper live concert to be recorded as an album, which was the plan ...

iCaramba on Who is The Leader?

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:13:28 +0000

I have to agree with everything Henry the Horse said. Very well put.

But I'd like to add that I think it was actually the John/Paul synergy that led the band. Maybe John was dominant at first and then Paul in the later years, but neither one of them could have done it without the other.

Day Tripped on Who is The Leader?

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 07:03:10 +0000

From when The Beatles first started to Brian Epstein's death, John Lennon was the leader.

Even Paul himself said so. But When Brian Epstein, their manager, died of a drug overdose, the band wanted to quit. Paul wouldn't let them and told them to keep making music and he slowly started becoming the leader. John was a little mad during Let It Be saying he was just Paul's backup or something. so I suppose John then Paul. They were pretty much the leaders of the group. Even when John was the leader, Paul was sort of too.

Joe on Who is The Leader?

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:49:02 +0000

Have a look at this, from 1962: http://www.beatlesbible.com/19.....interview/

"Q: "How do you do? What's your job?"
George: "Uh, lead guitar and sort of singing."
Q: "By playing lead guitar, does that mean that you're sort of leader of the group or are you...?"
George: "No, no. Just... well you see, the other guitar is the rhythm. Ching, ching, ching, you see."
Paul: "He's solo guitar, you see. John is, in fact, the leader of the group."

I think that was certainly the case right up until the mid-60s. John, in one of his angry post-Beatles interviews, pointed out ...

Henry the Horse on Who is The Leader?

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 03:43:01 +0000

In the early years, John dominated things as Paul never did in the later years. He was the main songwriter for their first six albums, including A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, which is practically a John Lennon solo album. John wrote 10 of its 13 songs as well as parts of two others. Only "Things We Said Today" is a 100% Paul song. Paul never dominated any Beatle album as John did with AHDN.

"Yesterday" may feature only Paul, but so what? "Julia" features only John, and George's Indian-influenced songs feature only George.

Yes, Paul did dominate in the later years, and he ...