The Lennon vs McCartney debate | Page 6 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Well this is why I don’t think these arguments work because one side always thinks that the other is trying to take something away from it. I’m not saying Paul wasn’t experimental, but it was usually on John’s songs, and remember Paul didn’t even want to include Wild Honey Pie on the White Album .
Here’s my point, it’s one thing to be experimental, which clearly Paul was/is, but to have the nerve to put something out there that never really was done before on YOUR OWN track is another. It’s easy to think ‘oh how great that song is’ now, but think about it back then when there were no songs like that.
So that’s what I think, no song you could bring up of Paul’s could possibly compare to a Walrus in terms of putting yourself out there as a musician.
Mith brought up a great point about Paul bring the commercial one of the Beatles and I view that as an absolutely crucial role that Paul played, he never let the Beatles stray too far from their fans. I’ve never thought about it, but maybe Paul was inhibited as a musician by playing that role, I mean think about George going all Eastern and John getting all freaky with Yoko, it was really up to Paul to keep the Beatles sort of in the loop. That’s why I love the White Album , there’s such a “oh f**k it” type attitude from all of them.
Btw Sun King , I thought you were calling me uninformed, which I certainly am not, so I think we just had a breakdown of…communication. Always the same.

He was the most commercial like John was the most experimental. I’m not saying that in a bad way, but come on Hello, Goodbye ?
Paul’s really experimental stuff came after the breakup when he was free of being a Beatle. To me, the biggest reason they broke up is because they were all sort of cast in these Beatle roles, and when John and George tried to break free of those roles, it was really up to Paul to carry the weight of the Beatles because they were expected to be or sound a certain way. John wanted to completely break away from that by bringing in Yoko, but it would have been too much.
So again I’ll say, as I did much much earlier in this thread, that Paul was the most valuable Beatle, or MVB. But I am still a John sort of guy, he just has the voice.

Hmm, it depends on your definition of innovation. I would still say it was John who brought in the songs that sparked almost every album, particularly those middle albums with Norwegian Wood , Tomorrow Never Knows and Strawberry Fields. Certainly those songs wouldn’t have turned out the way they did without the others wonderful contributions, but still they had to originate somewhere.
But you’re right, Paul knew when to reign it in whereas John certainly pushed it too far with Yoko, even though I like most of their freaky stuff.
I’m also not suggesting that experimentation automatically makes you the “better” musician or whatever, I guess I just like seeing musicians sort of naked (not Two Virgins style) but I mean without all the overdubs. That’s why I like Anthology 3 so much, it’s like seeing Paul McCartney with his pants down and he’s quite good.