Sir Paul McCartney first found fame as the bassist and co-lead vocalist for the Beatles. Moreover, he has established his songwriting prowess largely as a part of the Lennon - McCartney. Together with fellow Beatle John Lennon, they both did music and lyrics, contrary to the usual partnership of a composer and a lyricist.
However, aside from being behind most of The Fab Four's successful hits, Macca himself also wrote songs for others aside from The Beatles. Here are four songs, mostly written by Paul McCartney himself, for other artists: This hit single from Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas is attributed to the Lennon-McCartney songwriting team. However, according to the Todd Compton book "Who Wrote the Beatle Songs? A History of Lennon-McCartney," Paul has written most of the track. It was reportedly recorded on October 14, 1963, at the Abbey Road Studios, with John Lennon himself present during the session. Upon its release, it peaked at No. 4 in the UK charts and stayed for 13 weeks. It contended with The Beatles' "She Loves You," another hit from the duo. Paul McCartney wrote this track for the 1969 film "The Magic Christian," with the British band Badfinger performing it. "Come and Get It" marked the first single for the Welsh-English rock band under the name Badfinger. The Pete Ham-led group was formerly known as The Iveys. Actually, McCartney first recorded a demo of the track as he arrived early for a Beatles recording session for "Abbey Road." The difference between Macca and the Badfinger version is that the commercially released version was slightly slower. It peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also entered the Top 5 in other countries such as the UK, Ireland, and Canada. In the 1960s, the Lennon-McCartney duo has previously written three singles for the pop duo Peter and Gordon. "A World Without Love," "Nobody I Know," and "I Don't Want to See You Again" were all successful singles for the pop duo. In 1966, Paul wanted to test out if he can craft another hit for Peter and Gordon without the famous songwriter byline attached to it. In the book "The Unreleased Beatles," writer Richie Unterberger included an anecdote where Paul commented at a press conference that the pop duo doesn't just get hits because of their songwriting tandem. In fact, McCartney wrote this song under the pseudonym Bernard Webb. While it only peaked at No. 28 in the UK singles chart, it topped the Canadian Top Singles and peaked at No. 14 in the Hot 100. RELATED: Meet Britain's Got Talent's Grandma Drummer Who Toured With The Beatles While fans might debate over which is better: The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, the fact is that these two rock legends have worked together. In 1963, the Lennon-McCartney duo wrote "I Wanna Be Your Man" for the Rolling Stones. It would also be released by The Fab Four later, with their own version of the song. As the Stones second single on November 1963, it immediately became successful. It peaked at No. 12 on the British singles chart. In a 2016 interview with the Rolling Stone (the magazine, not the band), Paul McCartney recalled that his band was friends with Mick Jagger's group. Macca thought that the song would be good for them.
circa 1960: Paul McCartney on stage at the Cavern nightclub in Liverpool during the early days of British beat group The Beatles.
"I'll Keep You Satisfied" (1963)
"Come and Get It" (1969)
"Woman" (1966)
"I Wanna Be Your Man" (1963)
