"Lennon/McCartney" is one of music's greatest songwriting credits, a catchall that covered most of the Beatles' tracks and was employed even when John Lennon and Paul McCartney didn't collaborate on a certain song. However, although arranged alphabetically, the ensuing decades have favored Lennon's placement in the songwriting credit, suggesting that Lennon had more to do with crafting the Beatles songs than McCartney. In a revealing new interview with Esquire, McCartney opens up about his frustrations regarding "Lennon/McCartney" as well as a nixed "McCartney/Lennon" credit.

"We had a meeting with [Beatles manager] Brian Epstein. I arrived late. John and Brian had been talking. 'We were thinking we ought to call the songs, Lennon and McCartney.' I said, 'That's OK, but what about McCartney and Lennon? If I write it, what about that? It sounds good, too,'" McCartney said (via The Telegraph). "They said, 'OK, what we'll do is we'll alternate it: Lennon and McCartney, McCartney and Lennon.' Well, that didn't happen. And I didn't mind." McCartney eventually viewed "Lennon/McCartney" as "a good logo," like Rodgers and Hammerstein. "Hammerstein and Rodgers doesn't work," he quipped.

However, in some instances, McCartney regretted that the alternating songwriting credit didn't occur, especially on "Yesterday," a Help! song "which John actually had nothing to do with, none of the other Beatles had anything to do with – I wrote it on my own, sang it on my own, they're not on the record, nobody is even involved with it, and they didn't mind that and I didn't mind, nobody minded, but that's very much mine," McCartney said. "The original artwork had 'Yesterday' by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and a photo of John above it. And I went, 'Argh, Come on, lads.' Anyway they wouldn't do it," he added regarding the "McCartney/Lennon" credit.