How The Beatles Turned an Obstacle into Massive Success

Paul McCartney explained how the Lennon-McCartney songwriting team began.

“The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.”

-Ryan Holiday

In a 2012 interview, Paul McCartney explained how the Lennon-McCartney songwriting team began.

When the Beatles first became a band, they would play gigs where other bands would play before them.

All these groups played the popular rock and roll songs of the day. These bands would play the exact songs the Beatles had in their set.

Since they wanted to avoid repeating a tune in front of the crowd, that often left them with only a few songs they could play.

So the Beatles began looking at the B sides of records for obscure songs they could play instead of the hits.

Using these lesser-known songs would be risky.

They still needed to determine how the crowd would react. Choosing the right song and learning how to play it also took time and effort.

But the lesser-known songs worked well. This success opened them up to the idea of writing original tunes. John and Paul started writing simple songs together. These simple but catchy tunes were popular with the local crowd and set them apart from the other bands.

This was encouraging. John and Paul began to put all their effort into songwriting. Over the years, they improved their craft, writing more sophisticated songs.

The amazing Lennon-McCarty songwriting team formed out of necessity.

The obstacle became the way.

Pushing through adversity and finding a way to make things work creates opportunities. It can lead to success far beyond anything you can imagine.