Researchers from Harvard and Dalhousie University based their study on several Beatles songs
A new academic study reveals that Sir Paul McCartney Beatles ' "In My Life" and that the track was actually written by John Lennon .
The song is part of the album Rubber Soul (1965) and was initially credited to Lennon, but a decade after its release, McCartney stated that his bandmate wrote the lyrics while he was responsible for the melody. The late musician, shortly before his death, said that Paul only composed the bridge and some harmonies.
According to the study, there is a one in 50 chance that McCartney was telling the truth about his involvement in the creation of "In My Life." The pair of professors who conducted the research – Mark Glickman, a professor at Harvard, and Jason Brown, a professor at Dalhousie University – say they analyzed the frequency and transition of chords, as well as the notes used in Beatles songs between 1962 and 1966.
“We wondered if we could use data analysis techniques to find out what happens in the music to distinguish whether it was [written] by one or the other (…) The basic idea is to convert a song into a set of different data structures that are accessible to establish the signature of a song using a quantitative approach (…) The probability of 'In My Life' having been written by McCartney is .018. Which basically means it's a Lennon song. McCartney doesn't remember correctly.”
The teachers even compared "Help!", composed by Lennon, with "Michelle", composed by McCartney, saying that Paul's creation is "messy".
