Yoko Ono and McCartney locked in credit battle

Yoko Ono’s lawyers are looking into legal action to stop Paul McCartney altering her late husband John Lennon’s songwriting credits.

She is angry that McCartney's new live album puts his own name first, instead of the traditional Lennon/McCartney on Beatles compositions.

The order of the names has long been a source of bitterness between Ono and McCartney.

His biggest gripe has been that Lennon had first billing in the writing credits for Yesterday, the most recorded song in the world.

Yet Lennon had no input in the creation of the track – which came to McCartney in a dream – and nor did he even play on it.

Now McCartney has turned it round on his new album Back In The US, on which 19 Beatles songs are credited to Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

A lawyer for Ono is said to be “looking into” ways of blocking the reversal.

Peter Shukat said: “This was done against her wishes. 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.”

But McCartney's spokesman said it was common knowledge that he had been the sole author of tracks such as Hey Jude and The Long And Winding Road.

“This is not a divisive thing. It’s not Lennon or McCartney,” he said.

“Even if Paul did 95% or more on these songs, he’s not asking that John’s name be taken off. He just doesn’t think it should be first.”