[HenryTheHorse]

> Too much Lennon is whiny, and too much McCartney is syrupy and cheesy.

That's an overly simplistic - and I'd say wrong - characterization.

On the early albums leading up to Rubber Soul, Lennon handles a larger share of lead vocal duties. He sings ballads ("I'll be back", "Anna"), rockers ("A hard day's night", "Twist and shout") and mid-tempo songs that fall somewhere between rockers and ballads (like "you can't do that").

When he does start sharing vocal duties with Paul on Rubber Soul, there's not a single "whiny" Lennon song. There's "Norwegian Wood" and "In my life" (not to mention fillers like "Run for your life") which are written, sung and arranged in anything but a "whiny" style.

[tabtab]

Don't get me wrong, many of Lennon's tunes are fantastic. I'm kind of exaggerating the differences to illustrate a point. Although "Norwegian Wood" is indeed not "whiny", if you listen to it together with only other Lennon tunes, it's altogether too weighty. Mixing weightiness with levity of "sun-shiny" tunes (mostly Paul) makes for better entertainment in my opinion. The two's differences make a perfect yin-yang balance, which is part of their formula for success. Too much yin and too much yang sour things. (Also, I'm kind of ignoring their early years when they did mostly cover tunes.)