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Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of Pop Chart History from Slate magazine, about the hits from coast to coast.

I'm Chris Malanfitt, chart analyst, pop critic,

and writer of Slate's Why is the song number one series. On today's show, 55 years ago this summer,

in late June, 1964, the number one song on Billboard's Hot 100 was a

Lennon-McCartney composition. But the song wasn't by the Beatles. It was a song penned by Paul

McCartney and recorded by a previously unknown British duo, one of whom was Paul's would-be brother-in-law.

Please lock me away and don't allow the day here inside.

A little over a decade later, in January 1975, the top song in America was by a superstar

who had an affinity for

large glasses and feather

boas. This superstar

happened to be very good friends

with former Beatle John Lennon.

And the Lennon-McCartney song

that he took to number one

was a song that his new pal John had written eight years earlier.

Six more years after that, in June 1981, the Hot 100's number one song also sported Lennon McCartney's songwriting credits. Only neither man had anything to do with this hit.

It was a disco medley of cover songs by a collection

of Dutch studio musicians

who were trying to sound

like the Beatles.

...