Forgotten Facets: 5 Underrated John Lennon Compositions in The Beatles

John Lennon's songwriting with The Beatles has been analyzed often. The same landmark songs, “Help!,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and “Come Together,” are typically the focus. These songs are unquestionably canon, yet they obscure many of John Lennon's overlooked gems that reveal more about his artistry. While Paul McCartney has often been celebrated as the melodist and craftsman of the band, Lennon's songs demonstrate a different (and equally important) kind of genius that incorporates emotionally raw, compositionally experimental, and acerbically sardonic lyrics that test the boundaries of what a pop song could be.

Continue reading to explore five underrated Beatles' songs that Lennon wrote: “If I Fell,” “And Your Bird Can Sing,” “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill,” “Sun King,” and “Dig a Pony.” Together, they depict a restless songwriter who rarely stood still and who left behind more than the iconic hits suggest.

Choosing just one song from the landmark album A Hard Day's Night might seem counterintuitive, but “If I Fell” is a pivotal work in the Beatles' early development. Sandwiched between the exuberant title track and Paul McCartney's famously buoyant showcases is one of Lennon's most personal and arresting early ballads. “If I Fell” begins with a theatrical prelude before settling into a delicate two-part harmony with McCartney.

The song's honesty sets it apart. Lennon admits to hesitation — “If I give my heart to you, I must be sure from the very start” — and frames love as a risk. In 1964, this was unusually nuanced territory for a pop single. More importantly, the musical composition is surprisingly complex: it shifts keys, plays with minor-to-major contrasts, and stretches beyond standard rock progressions. McCartney's high harmony intertwines with Lennon's lead to create an intimacy that is rare in their early catalog.

Later, Lennon characteristically downplayed the compositional importance of the song, but many scholars point to it as a precursor to his later confessional style. Before “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” or “In My Life,” he appeared to test how personal vulnerability could fit inside the machinery of Beatlemania.

By the time The Beatles released Revolver, Lennon was fluctuating between the surreal and the sardonic. “And Your Bird Can Sing,” which he dismissed as “another of my throwaways,” has since been recognized as a cornerstone of The Beatles' guitar craft and as an outlier for pop-rock of the late '70s and early '80s.

The chiming dual-guitar riff — meticulously developed by George Harrison and McCartney — propels the track, effectively inventing the power pop genre along the way. Its playful surface veils its sharp lyrics, which are a sly rebuke to materialism and posturing, as Lennon pokes fun at someone who “can't see me.” Scholars have speculated about targets, ranging from Mick Jagger to Frank Sinatra, but the exact aim matters less than the tone.

Recording sessions reveal how seriously the band took this so-called “throwaway,” recording 14 different takes of the song. An early take that was lighter and janglier shows their interest in The Byrds' sound, while the final version is a tighter and more robust one. Lennon may not have valued it, but “And Your Bird Can Sing” laid the groundwork for countless guitar-driven bands that followed.

The Beatles, also known as the White Album, was Lennon's playground for irony, parody, and provocation. A prime example is “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill,” which was written after an American visitor at the Maharishi's ashram in India paused meditation to go tiger hunting. Lennon transformed the story into a sing-song satire.

Musically, it's a patchwork of flamenco guitar using a Mellotron setting, campfire-style choruses, and nursery-rhyme-style couplets. The absurdity is deliberate, mocking colonial bravado and Western entitlement and wrapping it in a tune catchy enough for children to chant. Yoko Ono's unexpected vocal cameo heightens the sense of humorous intrusion.

At the time, critics dismissed “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill” as lightweight, particularly compared to his other stellar work on the album. However, the song anticipates Lennon's later use of satire as protest in his solo work. Songs such as “Working Class Hero” or “Give Peace a Chance” may have carried sharper political messages, but “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill” reveals that he already had the instinct to use mockery as a form of cultural critique in place.

On Abbey Road, Lennon moved away from commentary to more atmospheric musical statements. Songs such as the more serious “Because” and those that surround it in the medley on the second side of the album often overshadow “Sun King,” yet as a standalone piece, it's one of Lennon's most radical departures.

He drew inspiration from Fleetwood Mac's instrumental “Albatross,” adopting its slow, drifting tempo. What emerges is an aural environment, nearly cinematic in its scene-setting. The three-part harmonies — Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison stacked into a choral blend — float over gentle guitar and organ textures. The lyrics are half Spanish, half Italian, and partly gibberish, resisting meaning altogether.

An indulgent and irreverent piece, “Sun King” can be considered proto-ambient pop. It anticipates dream-pop aesthetics decades early, trading cohesive lyrical narrative for mood and ambience. Lennon's strength in the piece is restraint. He removes urgency to allow tone and harmony to carry the tune. For a songwriter often defined by his lyrical bluntness, “Sun King” reveals how attuned he was to texture and sound design.

The Let It Be sessions were famously bitter, but Lennon still introduced flashes of inspiration. “Dig a Pony” exemplifies the messy brilliance of the period.

On paper, the lyrics verge on nonsense — “You can syndicate any boat you row” — but Lennon's performance makes them sound like gospel. He belts out words with conviction, supported by a riff-heavy arrangement that acknowledges the newly-burgeoning hard rock genre.

Like many of his Beatles compositions, Lennon dismissed the track as rubbish. However, the song captures the band's ragged, unpredictable chemistry at a time when it's cohesion was crumbling. It may have no particular meaning, but it is nevertheless a fascinating composition and a great example of Lennon's ability to conjure something from nothing.

Together, these five tracks showcase a more versatile and inventive Lennon than his reputation suggests. While Lennon often dismissed songs that didn't carry personal or political weight, these songs show how Lennon was comfortable moving between tenderness, mockery, and abstraction, sometimes within the same album. Revisit these songs to gain a deeper understanding of Lennon's artistry and genius outside of his iconic hits, and share your discoveries. The hits may define his legacy, but the hidden corners of The Beatles' catalog showcase his complexity and process.