“The Songs Lennon And McCartney Gave Away” matters on BeatlesFan.Club because it does more than gather curiosities. It shows how John Lennon and Paul McCartney functioned not only as the Beatles’ songwriters, but also as suppliers of material to artists around them. In one place, the album lets you hear how their writing spread into the careers of Cilla Black, Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas, Peter and Gordon, the Fourmost, Tommy Quickly, and others.
That is why this page deserves more than a padded track list. The album is useful, but it is not as straightforward as the title suggests. It mixes true Lennon-McCartney giveaways with a later John-only song, includes Paul-only compositions, and leaves out some notable Beatles-era McCartney gifts to other artists. So the real story is not just what is on the LP, but what the compilation reveals and what it quietly misses.
Songs Lennon And McCartney Gave Away: Key Facts
- Title: The Songs Lennon And McCartney Gave Away
- Release Date: 18 April 1979
- Recorded: 1963-1973
- Label: EMI
- Catalogue Number: NUT 18
- Format: LP
- Length: 46:42
- Producers: Various
- UK Chart: Did not chart
Why This Compilation Is More Interesting Than It First Looks
At first glance, this looks like a simple various-artists album built around songs the Beatles did not keep for themselves. That description is partly right, but only partly. The deeper value of the compilation is that it maps the Lennon-McCartney songwriting network around the Beatles’ rise. Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas, Peter and Gordon, Cilla Black, the Fourmost, Tommy Quickly, and the Strangers all benefited from songs that John and Paul either wrote specifically for them or chose not to issue as Beatles recordings.
That concentration is the point. This was not a random trawl through unrelated cover versions. Much of the album sits inside the broader Brian Epstein and early-Beatles orbit, which makes it a revealing companion piece to the main Beatles story rather than just a leftovers package.
What The Title Gets Wrong
The title is memorable, but not completely accurate. Most of the songs do belong to the Lennon-McCartney giveaway story, yet the opener, “I’m The Greatest”, is a 1973 John Lennon composition for Ringo Starr, not a Lennon-McCartney song from the Beatles years.
“Penina” and “Catcall” are Paul McCartney compositions rather than Lennon-McCartney co-writes, and “Woman” appeared under the Bernard Webb credit because McCartney wanted to see whether one of his songs could succeed without the Lennon-McCartney name attached to it.
So the compilation is best understood as a strong, enjoyable, but slightly untidy survey of songs that Lennon and McCartney, together or separately, placed with other artists. That makes it more complicated than the sleeve title implies, but also more interesting.
A Useful But Incomplete Survey
This is also not the full story. The album leaves out three significant Beatles-era McCartney giveaways: “Thingumybob“, recorded by the Black Dyke Mills Band; “Goodbye“, recorded by Mary Hopkin; and “Come And Get It“, recorded by Badfinger. That omission matters because it shows the LP is a selective portrait rather than a final word. For the wider picture beyond this one compilation, see Notable Giveaways.
There is another useful piece of context here. This 1979 release was not the first attempt to package this material. It followed an earlier, less comprehensive compilation idea from the beginning of the decade, which helps explain why the 1979 album sometimes feels like a cleaned-up concept rather than a freshly invented one.
The Songs Lennon And McCartney Gave Away Track Listing
Side One
- “I’m The Greatest” – Ringo Starr
- “One And One Is Two” – The Strangers with Mike Shannon
- “From A Window” – Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas
- “Nobody I Know” – Peter and Gordon
- “Like Dreamers Do” – The Applejacks
- “I’ll Keep You Satisfied” – Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas
- “Love Of The Loved” – Cilla Black
- “Woman” – Peter and Gordon
- “Tip Of My Tongue” – Tommy Quickly
- “I’m In Love” – The Fourmost
Side Two
- “Hello Little Girl” – The Fourmost
- “That Means A Lot” – P.J. Proby
- “It’s For You” – Cilla Black
- “Penina” – Carlos Mendes
- “Step Inside Love” – Cilla Black
- “A World Without Love” – Peter and Gordon
- “Bad To Me” – Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas
- “I Don’t Want To See You Again” – Peter and Gordon
- “I’ll Be On My Way” – Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas
- “Catcall” – The Chris Barber Band
Important Note: Almost every track fits the Lennon-McCartney giveaway concept, but not perfectly. “I’m The Greatest” is a Lennon composition from 1973. “Penina” and “Catcall” are McCartney compositions. “Woman” was credited to Bernard Webb, which was one of Paul’s pseudonyms.
Where The Beatles Themselves Intersect With This Album
One of the best things about this compilation is that several tracks do not stop with the outside artists. They also connect directly to surviving Beatles recordings. Official Beatles performances exist for “Like Dreamers Do”, “Hello Little Girl”, “That Means A Lot”, “I’ll Be On My Way”, and “Step Inside Love”.
That makes the album more than a detached tribute to songs they passed elsewhere. In several cases, you can compare what another artist released with what the Beatles themselves later recorded for the Decca audition, the BBC, Anthology, or related archive projects.
That comparison is where the page gets its edge. Some of these songs really were outside material from the start. Others sat much closer to the Beatles’ own recorded history. The album is therefore useful not just as a compilation, but as a guide to the borderland between Beatles songs, Beatles demos, Beatles broadcasts, and songs they deliberately let others carry.
The Artist Pattern Matters
The track list is revealing in another way too. Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas appears four times, Peter and Gordon four times, Cilla Black three times, and the Fourmost twice. That is not accidental. It shows how strongly Lennon and McCartney’s outside writing fed the careers of performers close to the Beatles’ own world during the first wave of Beatlemania.
That is one of the album’s most valuable hidden themes. It is not only a compilation of songs; it is a map of who benefited most from Lennon-McCartney material when the Beatles themselves were dominating the charts. In that sense, it documents a wider pop empire around the group, not just a handful of cast-off tunes.
Songs Lennon And McCartney Gave Away: Cover Art And Album Identity
The sleeve is better thought out than many budget-era compilations. Rather than using a plain text design, it visually folds Lennon and McCartney’s solo and Beatles identities into the package. McCartney’s profile draws on the Revolver artwork, while Lennon’s image echoes his Imagine era. That gives the sleeve a late-1970s retrospective look, even though most of the music comes from the early and mid-1960s.
That mismatch actually suits the album. It is a backward-looking release made after the Beatles had already become history, and the cover presents Lennon and McCartney not as two young writers supplying songs to friends, but as established figures whose early giveaways had become worthy of anthology treatment.
Image Review: The sleeve is more thoughtful than a basic budget compilation cover. The large side-profile illustrations create an immediate Lennon-McCartney identity, while the crowd of performers below shifts the focus to the artists who actually recorded the songs. That makes the design fit the album well: it presents Lennon and McCartney as the source, but reminds you that this record is really about their writing travelling outward into other careers.
Fair Dealing Disclaimer: Album cover shown at reduced size for identification, commentary, and historical discussion. Copyright remains with the rights holder.
Why This Album Matters
The Songs Lennon And McCartney Gave Away matters because it captures a side of Beatles history that normal studio-album narratives leave out. Lennon and McCartney were not only writing for themselves. They were also shaping the repertoire of artists around them, sometimes generously, sometimes strategically, and sometimes because a song simply did not fit the Beatles’ own direction.
That is why the album remains worth hearing and worth writing about. It is not complete. It is not perfectly tidy. Its title simplifies a messier reality. But it still offers an excellent way into the world of Lennon-McCartney songs that travelled outward from the Beatles rather than staying in-house.
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Sources And References
- The Paul McCartney Project – Album background and omissions.
- The Beatles – Official Beatles versions and BBC links.
- JPGR – UK release details and chart note.
- Discogs – Track credits and timings.
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