Paul Gets No Credit from Yoko

Paul McCartney is looking to get back where he thinks he belongs.

In an attempt to get more credit for penning many of the Beatles' classic tunes, the rock icon is realigning that famous songwriting partnership otherwise known as "Lennon-McCartney"

When McCartney released his live collection Back in the U.S. last month, 19 of the Beatle tracks appearing on the album were credited to "Paul McCartney and John Lennon" instead of the usual Lennon-McCartney stamp the two songwriters had used since 1963.

But Yoko Ono isn't exactly about to just let it be, according to the Los Angeles Times, and is reportedly having her lawyer look into possible legal recourse.

McCartney's publicist, Paul Freundlich, however, insists that there was no ill will behind the name change.

"This wasn't done with any malice or what have you," explains the rep. "He's not taking John's name off the credit, he just doesn't think his name should be first."

Freundlich said the 60-year-old mop-topper only wanted to establish for the record that he was the one most responsible for writing certain ditties, like 1965's "Yesterday," which he penned and recorded with the backing of a string quartet and without the participation of his fellow bandmates.

"Merely switching a credit on a song doesn't seem to misrepresent who wrote the song in any way shape or form," says Freundlich. "It's pretty much public knowledge, I would say, as to which songs were authored mainly by Paul and which songs mainly by John...All he's done is switch the names. It's not meant to be divisive."

Sir Paul's camp also insisted that while the 40-year-old deal between the two songwriters had to include both names on whatever Beatles song they wrote, no matter the amount of collaboration, it didn't necessarily mean they couldn't swap the order.

In fact, McCartney has reversed the billing before, on his 1976 Wings live album, Wings over America.

Still, when it comes to official Beatles releases on their Apple label, any credit switcheroo must be signed off by both McCartney and Ono, the heir to Lennon's estate. And they have never come together on the issue.

McCartney, who's never been tight with Ono, publicly expressed his displeasure when she refused his request to rearrange the credit for "Yesterday" for the release of Anthology 2 in 1996. The feud resulted in the compilation's release being delayed so the packaging could be fixed. He even left Yoko off the guest list to the New York memorial service for his late wife, Linda.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Ono's lawyer says he's "looking into" what legal avenues are available to force Paul to change the credit order on Back in the U.S.

"This was done against her wishes," Ono's attorney, Peter Shukat, is quoted in Times. "It's ridiculous, absurd and petty. Paul is hurting his own legacy with this. He and John made an agreement 40 years ago that they would share credit in this way. To change it now, well, John's not here to argue."

On Monday, Shukat refused to comment on the Times report. Ono is traveling in Japan and could not be reached.

However, she did tell Rolling Stone recently that she had some issues with McCartney's name game.

"If those songs are credited to 'McCartney-Lennon' and the rest of the 200 or so are credited to 'Lennon-McCartney,' people may think Paul wrote those songs and John wrote the rest," she said. "When the suggestion was first made by Paul, I said, 'This is like opening a Pandora's box, Paul. Don't do it.' I still stand by that statement."

So much for giving peace a chance.