Is “A World Without Love” a roots/folk tune? I don’t know, but if some duo got up at a folk festival and sang it, no one would blink. Sixty years later it sounds pretty folkie to me, certainly folk-rock, or maybe just pop.
There is some adorable folklore out there about the song, credited to Paul McCartney and John Lennon, having to do with the fact that the song was deemed either too lightweight for The Beatles to record or so silly, especially the first line (“Please lock me away”), that it induced giggles from a certain members of the Fab Four (hint: the smart one) whenever they took a run at it.
One thing to note is that McCartney wrote it when he was just 16 years old – not an awful effort for such a pup. It appears, too, that though the Lennon-McCartney stamp is it, it was written by McCartney along. It does seems odd that a band that shot to stardom with poetic nuggets like “she loves you yeah, yeah, yeah,” would find this one so lightweight and hilarious.
As for where the song ended up, the story goes that in 1963 Paul had a girlfriend by the name of Jane Asher. Jane had a brother by the name of Peter Asher who happened to be a musician. Peter asked Paul if he could use the song after Peter and Gordon Waller signed a record contract as Peter and Gordon. Whatever one thinks of it, it must have been pretty sweet to be in a position to ask McCartney for one of his throw-always.
“A World Without Love” was in fact released as Peter and Gordon’s first single in February 1964. It was then released on their debut album in both the UK and the U.S. It proceeded to reach No.1 in the U.K. and reached the top of both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cashbox Top 100 in the U.S., as well as charting in countries around the world.
I would guess The Beatles were too busy being the most successful rock and roll band in history to regret one lost opportunity, but it is worth noting that “A World Without Love” has been listed as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
I am well past trying to figure out whether every song I loved as a kid and still love is really that good or just hard-wired to my personal pleasure zone. Don’t care. This one is a classic.