The Beatles worked tirelessly throughout their career, crafting hundreds of compositions in less than a decade. While they were often successful in their pursuit of musical greatness, even the Fab Four couldn’t achieve a 100 per cent hit rate. John Lennon, in particular, was especially critical of multiple creations when he looked back on his earlier career.
It’s natural to grow unhappy with a song once it has been released into the world. The role of an artist is to capture a precise moment in time and transition an idea into a piece of music. Once it has reached the stage of completion, it’s out of their control, and the public’s reaction to the track is for them to decide. However, it’s less frequent for an artist to turn their own back on a song that has come from their pen, but Lennon was the responsible creator of several tracks he later wished to erase from the history books.
While Lennon’s career in music changed the world and defined an entire decade, not everything the band made together was a source of pride. Their development from teeny-boppers to psychedelic experimenters was a journey that altered the trajectory of contemporary rock and made Lennon a god among men.
In the eyes of millions, the Fab Four could do no wrong and walked on water. However, the self-critical nature that inflicts us all even extended to Lennon, who later turned his back on several and boldly claimed that every single track they made could be improved. Their hit rate remains higher than any other band to ever live, but Lennon was a perfectionist who constantly sought ways to improve his craft. “I feel I could make every fucking one of them better,” he once remarked during his infamously brutal and scathing interview with David Sheff in 1980.
In the same conversation, Lennon spoke candidly, expressing regrets about his career. The singer-songwriter held nothing back, addressing everything openly, including the numerous songs he had come to disdain—both from The Beatles and his solo catalogue. Admittedly, most of the tracks that Lennon lamented were from a position of personal growth. In 1980, he was a married father who didn’t recognise the young kid with the world at his feet who had written or played a part in the song’s creation.
In a remarkably intense seven-year period, The Beatles recorded over 300 songs, and naturally, some have aged better than others. Despite their musical genius, the Fab Four were human, and not every track they produced was a masterpiece. Lennon was particularly vocal in ridiculing many of Paul McCartney’s songs, dismissing some as “granny shit“. However, Lennon was even more critical of his own work. Among the tracks that irked him the most was the 1965 track ‘It’s Only Love’ from Help!, which he later expressed deep dissatisfaction with.
While Beatles songs are cherished worldwide, even the rarities, few would count ‘It’s Only Love’ among their favourites. It epitomises a throwaway track, included on the album largely due to time constraints and the need for filler material. The likelihood of ‘It’s Only Love’ making it onto a Beatles record after 1965 is slim, and Lennon reportedly disliked it from the moment he wrote it.
“It’s the most embarrassing song I ever wrote. Everything rhymed. Disgusting lyrics. Even then I was so ashamed of the lyrics, I could hardly sing them. That was one song I really wished I’d never written,” Lennon revealed in an interview with British journalist Ray Connelly.
Furthermore, in a separate interview, he expressed his anger at ‘It’s Only Love’, telling Hit Parader: “That’s the one song I really hate of mine. Terrible lyric.”
Lyrically, ‘It’s Only Love’ is lacking in imagination, as Lennon sings, “It’s only love, and that is all, Why should I feel the way I do? It’s only love, and that is all, But it’s so hard loving you.”
As the years went on, his opinion on the track didn’t soften. In 1980, when he spoke to David Sheff, he stated: “‘It’s Only Love’ is mine. I always thought it was a lousy song. The lyrics were abysmal. I always hated that song.”
On the other hand, McCartney has a much more balanced and reflective attitude towards the track. Although it’s not one of his favourites, he doesn’t stay awake at night regretting a misguided song from 1965, as he told Barry Miles: “Sometimes we didn’t fight it if the lyric came out rather bland on some of those filler songs like ‘It’s Only Love’. If a lyric was really bad we’d edit it, but we weren’t that fussy about it, because it’s only a rock ‘n’ roll song. I mean, this is not literature”.
Unlike Lennon, McCartney takes a more measured view, recognising that rock ‘n’ roll isn’t a matter of life or death. Still, there’s no denying that ‘It’s Only Love’ is a bland and unremarkable track, which is why it hasn’t made its way onto any Beatles compilations. However, at the end of the day, it’s just a filler song and doesn’t truly represent who The Beatles were as a band.
