McCartney Called Two Beatles Songs Fillers

Paul McCartney has been unusually candid about some of The Beatles' early work, singling out two tracks he later regarded as album fillers: "Hold Me Tight" and "What You're Doing." He noted that not every song reached the same standard, even as the band produced many enduring classics.

When the group recorded With the Beatles, they were already known for short, single-minded songs such as "All My Loving" and "Please Mr. Postman." McCartney reflected in his biography Many Years from Now that the band was always trying to write singles and that "'Hold Me Tight' was a failed attempt at a single which then became an acceptable album filler." Beatles for Sale, recorded quickly amid a heavy touring schedule, produced another track McCartney called filler.

He described "What You're Doing" as "a bit of filler," adding, "I think it was a little more mine than John's... You sometimes start a song and hope the best will arrive by the time you get to the chorus, but sometimes that's all you get, and I suspect this was one of them.

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