Paul drew on his own experiences to write itDan Haygarth Liverpool Daily Post Editor and Regeneration Reporter
19:27, 18 Aug 2025
Paul McCartney completes a crossword puzzle with Patti Boyd (right) and another extra on a train from Marylebone Station during the filming of ‘A Hard Day’s Night'(Image: Mark and Colleen Hayward/Redferns)
John Lennon and Paul McCartney didn’t always see eye-to-eye despite being The Beatles’ primary songwriters. John wasn’t afraid to criticise Paul’s work, taking aim at ‘Let it Be’, much of the 1967 album ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ and parts of the closing medley on ‘Abbey Road’.
Paul said that John only complimented him for his work once – the 1966 ballad ‘Here, There and Everywhere’, which featured on the album ‘Revolver’. In a 2018 interview, Paul was asked if John would compliment him, to which he answered: “Once – in the whole time.
“I think it’s ‘Revolver’, it was ‘Here, There and Everywhere’, (it) was one of my songs on it but John sort of just (said) when it finishes, ‘that’s a really good song that, I love that song’.”
Paul said his response to that was: “‘Yes he likes it’. You know, I’ve remembered it to this day. It’s pathetic really.”
It seems Paul was kinder to John, however. Asked if he would praise his bandmate’s writing, he said: “Yeah, I would tell him his stuff was great. You’d normally have to be a little bit drunk, it helped.”
There was another song of Paul’s on ‘Revolver’ that John spoke fondly of, however, even if he didn’t tell Paul about it. John called ‘For No One’ one of his favourites by Paul and “a nice piece of work.”
‘For No One’ describes the end of a relationship and Paul has explained that he drew on his own experiences to write it.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr rehearse their appearance on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964(Image: Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
In the book ‘The Lyrics’, Paul said: “It’s a song about rejection. The breakup, or marking the end of a relationship that didn’t work, has always been quite a rich area to explore in a song.
“Having been through it a few times – as I suppose a lot of people have – it was an emotion I could relate to, and it seemed like a good idea to put into a song because probably a lot of other people could relate to it too.
“In the song, I’m talking about two people who’ve broken up, but obviously, as with any writer, it all comes from your own experience, and inevitably you’re talking about yourself.”
The song was recorded at EMI in London across a number of sessions in May 1966. From the band, only Paul and Ringo Starr featured on the song, with the former on vocals, bass, piano, clavichord and Ringo on percussion.
Paul was said to have written the rack on holiday with then-girlfriend Jane Asher in Switzerland. “I suspect it was about another argument”, he said about it.
In ‘The Lyrics’, Paul added: “It’s a horrible moment when you’ve broken up with someone, and you look at them – this person you used to be in love with, or thought you were in love with – and none of that old feeling is there.
“It’s like it just switched off too, and it’s not great to be on the receiving end of that.
“At that time, you think any love affair could or should or would or will last forever, unless it’s a really quick ‘wham, bam, than you ma’am’ one-night stand.
“But when you’re going out with someone, when it’s your girlfriend and you’ve been with her for a reasonable amount of time, it’s very different.
“Jane Asher and I were together for around five years, so at the back of my mind I expected to marry her, but as the time got closer, I think I also realised it wasn’t right.”