The partnership between John Lennon and Paul McCartney was always defined by opposites. Although the songwriting team writing for the Beatles produced some of the greatest music of the 20th century, there was always a bit of friendly competition between the two songwriters trying to outdo each other. And while the title ‘Woman’ does overlap in their careers, the two songs couldn’t be more different.
On one hand there is McCartney, the man who lives and breathes music and brings an optimistic spirit to everything. Compared to the more cynical side of Lennon, McCartney was always focused on making people happy with his music, and his take on the song ‘Woman’ is no exception.
Written for the folk duo Peter and Gordon, this could have simply been a nice gesture to Peter Asher, whose sister Jane Asher had dated McCartney throughout most of his moptop days. Looking through the lyrics, though, McCartney’s casual optimism is missing from this song. Taking a page out of Lennon’s playbook, McCartney sounds insecure here, wondering if he should put on a facade for his lover and pretend that everything is OK.
This is the kind of unsure attitude that Lennon made a part of his style for years, beginning with tracks like ‘If I Fell’. Considering Lennon was already expanding his horizons by the time this track was released in 1966, McCartney tried to work outside his wheelhouse and try something in the Lennon mould. Granted, it’s far from the first time that the two had nicked musical ideas from one another. Around the time of Revolver, Lennon had written ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ as a deliberate attempt to write something with McCartney’s optimism, so this could have easily been Paul returning the favour.
On the other hand, there’s Lennon, whose strong wit and clever turn of phrase provided the perfect foil to McCartney. Though McCartney’s cautious feeling for his lady might owe something to Lennon, the intellectual Beatle had a much different perspective when he got around to writing ‘Woman’.
After taking a prolonged break from music, Lennon was centred after an experience at sea and started working on his album, Double Fantasy. Though it would be the final album that he would make before his death in 1980, Lennon is brewing with optimism, looking to make the most of his time on the Earth and not having to live in the shadow of Beatlemania.
While he settles into domestic bliss on songs like ‘Beautiful Boy’, ‘Woman’ is one of the purest songs he would ever create. The song is meant as a love letter to Yoko Ono, but the core message speaks to what all insecure lovers go through. Lennon acknowledges that he and Ono have their ups and downs, but he’s more than happy to brave the storm of life with her by his side than to see her walk away.
