ABSTRACT
John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s songwriting partnership changed the landscape of popular music during the second half of the twentieth century. Their lyrical and sonic experimentations redefined the role of a pop song and the album in popular culture. How did their collaboration work? How did their musical and personal differences impact their songwriting? Why did their partnership fall apart? This chapter addresses these questions within the pedagogical challenges of teaching a special honours course for first-year students covering just two-and-a-half days. The Honors at Iowa Program at the University of Iowa places a special emphasis on experimental learning and self-discovery. To begin building a community among honours students and faculty, primetime workshops are offered to incoming first-year students. In 2014 and 2015 I taught a workshop on ‘Lennon–McCartney and the Art of Songwriting’. In this chapter I focus on the categories I created to frame individual workshop sessions as well as the social and political events that influenced their writing, and how they responded to musical challenges from their peers. Finally, I explore the difficulties of crafting a three-minute student presentation for the Primetime Symposium.
