David Guerrero: Six lessons from one of the greatest creative teams of all time

When we talk about creativity ‘adding value’ we could benchmark ourselves against the value added by two guitars, a bass and a drum kit bought on hire purchase in Liverpool for less than £100 ($130) in the late 1950s and the estimated value to the local economy of that town of £82 million pounds ($106 million) annually of Beatles-related tourism in 2021. The creativity was provided by four guys who, it is true, also had people investing in their education, health and housing, but who through the sheer force of writing and composition created work that people actively needed to listen, dance and scream to in their millions. Lesson 1: Support policies that benefit people: especially in education, health, and housing.

They at first wanted to write their own songs because they would get paid for money as composers than simply as musicians. They also came perilously close to their songs never being heard at all. If Brian Epstein hadn’t come along when he did they might have ended up in the hands of a typical commercial talent manager who would have got them to do other people’s songs. Or not been able to maximize their talent at all. But he did. And he nurtured, packaged and protected them over the next five years, getting them the right kind of exposure in the UK, Europe and then crucially in the United States. Lesson 2: Even the best creative people won’t get anywhere without the right suit.

From the start Lennon and McCartney saw themselves as a songwriting duo like Rogers and Hammerstein (who? – well from the big Broadway and Hollywood musicals like South Pacific etc.) So it was that whoever was the driving force behind the song they would write the credits the same way. There is a lot of accepted wisdom among Beatles specialists and obsessives about who wrote what: Penny Lane (McCartney) and Strawberry Fields (Lennon) being a prime example of the difference between them. McCartney more melodic, inclusive, sing-along, Lennon more introspective, unique, take-it-or-leave-it. Their roles had changed over the years. Paul starting as the more junior partner invited to join the band by John to being the more active, managing partner of the group by the time the Let it Be album shown in the Get Back sessions, with John taking the part of the more acquiescent senior partner nodding approval at the proposals Paul is bringing along. Lesson 3. Partner up with someone who is similar enough to understand you but different enough to challenge you.

The song Hey Jude is an example. Paul wrote it for John’s young son Julian in the wake of the divorce between John and his first wife Cynthia. He took it along, fully-formed to play to John and Yoko, asking if he should change a line about “the movement you need is on your shoulder” and John said “No, that’s my favourite line.” Years earlier, when they were working on another song, John had a more substantial comment. On “I saw her Standing there” when Paul had written “She was just 17, not a beauty queen” John changed it to “She was just 17, you know what I mean.” Although as Paul no recounts, when Jerry Seinfeld was on stage once he said to Paul “No Paul. I don’t know. What do you mean?” Lesson 4. It’s good to take advice. But in the end it’s your responsibility.

Another account of their creative process is given in Hunter Davies’s 1960s biography of the band – the first of its kind – here is how they go when they are working on a song. They come into the studio with some half-formed idea. Play around and see if anything happens. Then they have a break. Mess around a bit more. Try again. And eventually put something down on paper. They ask Ringo to come in. But when he comes in they aren’t ready. Then before he leaves again they finally come up with something and get it down. And so we come to the real-time experience of songwriting that we all witnessed in Peter Jackson’s Get Back. With the bringing of half-formed or even fully-formed ideas into the group and the rest of the group tries to improve on them. It happened with the song Get Back. But it didn’t happen on some of the best-loved songs from George. On the plus side he was the first solo Beatle to get to number one with the song “My Sweet Lord.” Lesson 5. If you believe in something, don’t let anyone put you off.

In the end we all share the credit for the song. No matter who did more of the work. Part of the work is to give the seal of approval from the group. And in a true partnership there will be times when one person does more than another. But the whole can be made better by taking the best of each person and seeing what the collective allows. So, when a talented new collaborator comes in – as Billy Preston does in Get Back – the effect is electrifying. The rest up their game, he adds something unique without being overbearing and John is left thinking he wants to ask him to join the band. What a bit of alternative musical history that might have been. Lesson 6. Bring something to every meeting. Invite others to do the same. And when someone brings something try it out. – and see how they make it all better.

David Guerrero (pictured below) is Creative Chairman of BBDO Guerrero Philippines. His documentary on When the Beatles Didn’t Meet Imelda is on BBC Sounds.