Steve Schwartz reports to the list:

>Kevin Sutton replies to Janos Gereben:
>
>>>I agree wholeheartedly.  I would go as far as to say that, in my opinion,
>>>he is the greatest songwriter of all time.
>>
>>NO WAY!  McCartney is a somewhat respectable tunesmith, but he would be
>>nowhere without the lyric writing talents of the late John Lennon.  Compare
>>the Beatles stuff to post-Lennon McCartney stuff.  Not even close!
>
>Hell, I'd say that of John Lennon as well.  The point is that, like Gilbert
>and Sullivan, each needed the other to produce their best stuff.

I think this is incredibly reasonable.  I really like this posting, in
fact.  It isn't a "Classical music Fan Vs. Pop/rock Icon" type of post.
I also completely agree that the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team was
mutually supportive for the most part in that each derived a little from
the other's style and worked towards the next level.  I think the little
side bet L&M had going about who would get the next A side on a single
was a wager that produced some of the greatest popular music of our time.
Thanks for the nice posting Mr.  Schwarz.  Also, to all list members, I
wanted to clarify that I use the title Sir or Mr.  or Mrs.  to show
ultimate respect and not as a sign of irritation.  Once I've corresponded
off list with some people for a while I feel better about using their first
name but then I'm not really that consistent in that regard.  Just wanted
to dispel any miscommunication about my use of name titles.

Wes Crone