First to Hear

Paul McCartney, Cynthia, and John in India, 1968

Photographed by George Harrison

Being married to a musician, especially turned out legendary, has some perks. Can you imagine witnessing John and Paul writing a future classic that would be heard on the radio for over 50 years? Very few handful of people can raise their hands. There was no pattern to write- John and Paul wrote when inspiration struck… and if paper of whatever kind (John wrote A Hard Day's Night on the back of Julian's birthday card) available. They could be anywhere: plane, home, backstage, in studio, doesn't matter. Cynthia witnessed the songwriting partnership of Lennon & McCartney early on until she and John broke up. Especially after they married and were soon living with Aunt Mimi; Mimi had previously banned John from playing guitar in her house and he could only play on the porch. He would call Cynthia over to listen. When they moved into their mansion in Weybridge, John converted one of the attic rooms into a home recording studio. There he would call down to Cynthia to come up and have a listen. If she didn't come as soon as he wanted, John would impatiently call for her again. There had been a number of times when Cynthia would hang out with John in his music room to keep him company and listen to his craft; if John was stuck, she would try to help. While sleeping, Cynthia got used to John getting up at a certain time to jot down a lyric. According to Ray Coleman's biography Lennon, Cynthia felt 1965 was John's finest year of songwriting. In Hunter Davies's The Beatles book, he observed the songwriting team at work: in March of 1967, John and Paul got together at Paul's house to work on With a Little Help From My Friends around 2 PM in the afternoon. Three hours later, at 5 PM, Cynthia and friend Terry Doran arrived. Cynthia kept busy by reading a book she found in Paul's workroom. John and Paul kept working, trying to work out lyrics; Cynthia suggested a line ('I just feel fine') but John said no: the word JUST should never be used as it's meaningless and a fill in. At some point, Paul and John got goofy while Cynthia (and Terry) kept on reading. Around 7 PM, John and Paul needed to go to EMI studio (Abbey Road Studio) to continue to work on Ringo's song. 

"It was par for the course for John to write, draw, whatever, when the muse took him. So, yes, in the middle of the night, in the bath, plane, car, he was a vociferous writer and yes, I was there as a captive audience, because it was a joy to behold."

Cynthia, 1999

"We would normally play it to Cynthia or whoever was around" 

Paul McCartney

"I turned up at John's house for a writing session and saw the opportunity to add a descant [melody in the second verse]. We finished it quite quickly; we went downstairs and sang it to John's wife at the time, Cynthia, and a journalist he was friendly with called Maureen Cleave. We were very pleased with ourselves."

Paul McCartney, about the song Help!, 2015

Cynthia listening to John playing a guitar while on vacation in Tahiti, May of 1964

After John's death, there's been a bit of, I wouldn't say controversy but a definite noticeable theory, on whether or not John wrote songs for Cynthia. John didn't really outright say that so-and-so was written for Cynthia… to come to think about it, it was really rare that at press conferences and interviews, the muse of music wasn't really touched on as it is now. John didn't really get in depth with his songs until the late 1960s while with Yoko. Of course, I do strongly believe that there are songs inspired by Cynthia. You just have to really listen to the lyrics. Here's the list of songs that I believe were written for Cynthia (lyrics and more in-depth look into the songs, check the Labels for Songs, located ➡ on the blog):

Do You Want to Know a Secret? 1962

Ask Me Why 1962

Please Please Me 1962

I'm in Love 1963 The Fourmost (originally written by John)

It Won't Be Long 1963

I Call Your Name 1963

All I’ve Got to Do 1963

A Hard Day’s Night 1964

I Should Have Known Better 1964

You Can’t Do That 1964

I’ll Be Back 1964

Anytime At All 1964

If I Fell 1964

When I Get Home 1964

I Feel Fine 1964

Help! 1965

Girl 1965

In My Life 1965

It's Only Love 1965

Run For Your Life 1965

Wait 1965

Good Morning Good Morning 1967

Across the Universe 1968

Yer Blues 1968

One After 909 1969 (originally written in the early 1960s)

Jealous Guy 1971 John Lennon (originally written in 1968)

"I'm sure I was part of John's writing. In those days, none of them would say, 'I'm writing this for so-and-so', because it would be too embarrassing. But he actually wrote poetry to me quite a lot. The only song I thought might be something to do with me was Girl, but of course John isn't here to say any more. But whatever they were writing at the time was about their lives anyway."

Cynthia, 1995

"It was too sloppy when you were young to dedicate anything to anybody. Macho Northern men didn't do that in those days. I can only muse about our time together and feel from the music."

Cynthia, 1999

For some strange reason, in his later years, John associated both Girl and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to Yoko; John didn't know Yoko when he wrote Girl and barely had any interest in her other than an annoyance during Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. In her John book, Cynthia wrote that John told her that she was an inspiration of his music. Over the years in various interviews and Beatles conventions, Cynthia revealed some songs that she suspected to be to her, like In My Life and Girl. I definitely believe that the 'homesick' songs (I'll Be Back, When I Get Home, Wait) were definitely for Cynthia as were the 'jealousy' songs (You Can't Do That, Run For Your Life). It's too bad that John isn't alive to confirm although I also don't think John would reveal much. Cynthia barely wrote anything about the songs her famous ex-husband wrote in her first book, A Twist of Lennon, while she did opened up more in her second book, John. In the hardcover John version, Cynthia mistakenly thought All My Loving was for her but the truth is it's mainly Paul's song and written for Jane Asher. The mistake was edited out in the paperback version so Cynthia must have realized the error.