Today, it is taken for granted that bands write their own material. Back in the late 1950s, it was practically unheard of - indeed the possibility that guitar groups could also author their own songs is one of the many ways The Beatles themselves altered the pop music industry. This site was created to document and celebrate the development of this process.

The pages here will serve as a guide to The Beatles' very early songwriting efforts. By "early" we mean tracks written by one or more of the group prior to the start of 1963 - which is to say, before the group made their name. The site does not cover the group's recordings and performances of tracks written by others.

We have done our best to present all the songwriting history which is on record. The information gathered and assessed here is of course based on previous work by Beatle-ologists and authors, and we rely on them for accuracy.

Many of the songs under discussion can be found on bootlegs or official releases, and in each case, readers are pointed to the relevant place to hear what survives of each track. Most of them can be listened to one way or another!

We are not here to promote the trade in illicit recordings, but readers should be aware that where bootlegs are mentioned on this site, the majority can be freely heard via YouTube, which we would recommend as a point of reference. This is certainly the case at the time of writing, although things could conceivably change in the fullness of time.

Please use the form below to contact us, if you have anything to add or wish to make any comments on the site.