Top 10 Songs You Didn't Know Were Written by John Lennon

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VOICE OVER: David Foster WRITTEN BY: Ashley Bowman

Welcome to WatchMojoUK, and today we're counting down our picks for the 10 famous tracks that the late, great, Beatles star contributed to.

What is your favourite musical work by John Lennon? Let us know in those comments below!

#10: “It's for You”

Cilla Black

 

Whether you know her from her singing career or from hosting Blind Date, there’s no denying Cilla had an amazing career. She did it all, even getting a chance to work with two Beatles; Paul McCartney and John Lennon. And although “Love of the Loved” is credited as Lennon-McCartney, it was only in this track “It’s for you” that Lennon worked his writing chops. McCartney had turned up to Abbey Road Studios when Cilla was recording her track “Anyone Who Had a Heart” and insisted he and Lennon wrote something for her, using her breakout hit as inspiration.

#9: “Fame”

David Bowie

This may be a little obvious to some of you, but we needed to include this for our younger viewers! Indeed, John Lennon lent his writing talents to David Bowie who he considered a great friend for this track in 1975. Their collaboration in this song was to highlight their distaste for all the burdens that fame and fortune bring. And what a result it was, as many rank this as their all time favorite Bowie track. Lennon also provided guitar and backing vocals - It’s honestly just a shame these two late musical icons never got a chance to collaborate again.

#8: “Bad to Me”

 Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas

Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas owe a lot of their success to the Beatles alumni. After all they’re responsible for not 1, but at least 5 different songs released by the group. Most notably perhaps, is this song “Bad to Me” which managed to hit number one in the UK charts back in 1963. Allegedly, John wrote the song for Billy when he was on vacation in Spain. He would later amend this statement saying that he and Paul wrote it in a van, but this seems to be the norm with a lot of John’s songwriting.

#7: “I’m in Love”

The Fourmost

In 2013, a demo by the Beatles for this song was released but for years prior it was known as one of The Fourmost’s hits. All signs point to Lennon being the lead writer for the track, as he stated in a 1971 interview that he originally wrote it for Fourmost. Though later in a 1980 playboy magazine interview he’d sound less convinced by saying “That sounds like me. I don’t remember a hell of a thing about it”. Writing so many hits that you forget some of them really is a testament to the creative talents of Lennon! Lennon and McCartney also wrote “Hello Little Girl” for the Fourmost but that’s much more common knowledge.

#6: “That Means a Lot”

P.J. Proby

Many Beatles fans will be familiar with the 1965 film “Help” starring the Fab Four as they deal with all sorts of wackiness from evil cults to maniacal scientists. This song, “That Means a Lot” was actually originally written for that movie by John and Paul. In their words, they weren’t satisfied with the results, believing that they themselves just couldn’t sing it. Instead, they opted to pass the song along and it eventually landed in the hands of this American singer. Years later, Lennon would seemingly change his story saying it the song was mostly Paul’s, but it's quite clear to any fan that John’s fingerprints are all over it.

#5: “God Save Oz”

Bill Elliot

If you’re not familiar with this song then you’ll be forgiven. After all it didn’t really find huge success in the UK or the US. Perhaps that’s because not many people knew of Lennon’s involvement! When the magazine ‘oz’ was facing obscenity charges for their controversial schoolkids issue, many protested this decision. In defense of the magazine, Lennon and (allegedly) Yoko Ono wrote this song. Lennon didn’t want it to be the followup to ‘Power To The People’, so instead he passed it onto Bill Elliot. A demo recorded by Lennon is now in circulation and is, unsurprisingly, much more popular than this original release.

#4: “Mucho Mungo”

Harry Nilsson

Also known as being a medley with “Mt. Elga”, this track by Harry Nilsson made waves back in 1974.  It was actually written by both Lennon and Phil Spector - the famous musician turned killer. Though, as John recounted, when he approached Harry Nilsson with the tune, Nilsson pointed out the parts he didn’t like - all of which were written by Phil Spector. What was left is this very memorable song which we later got to hear the original Lennon demo version of many years later.

#3: “Move Over Ms. L”

Keith Moon

A more obscure track from Lennon’s songwriting career, this one is more commonly known to some fans as being performed by The Who’s drummer Keith Moon. What’s interesting about this release is that it wasn’t soon after he had given it to Moon that he decided to release his version. In the same year, in fact, as a B-Side for his Stand By Me cover.

Many music fans and historians agree that Lennon’s version is far superior, with some speculating that it may not have been complete when he passed it to Moon.

#2: “I Wanna Be Your Man”

The Rolling Stones 

The debate between who is better; the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, has caused chaos over the years. However, things couldn’t have been more civil for the two band’s relationship as back in the day, John and Paul actually wrote a song that would later be given to The Stones. While many credit Paul as being the primary songwriter, the story goes that it was actually John who finalized the track. Mick Jagger has expressed how pleased he was with the song, and really why wouldn’t he be?

#1: “I’m the Greatest”

Ringo Starr

It should come as little surprise that Lennon lent a hand to his former Beatles bandmate Ringo after the group split. As you may have guessed, the title of the track is derived from Muhammed Ali’s famous quote. John decided that saying the line “I’m the Greatest” himself would come across as big-headed but believed no one would bat an eye if it was Ringo saying it! As such, he passed the song along to his good friend. Perhaps most interesting of all is that George Harrison also contributed to the song, making it the only time these three members worked together after the breakup. 

What is your favourite musical work by John Lennon? Let us know in those comments below!