(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Sat 14 February 2026 17:00, UK
You could count on one hand the number of pop songs that are not, in one way or another, about love or a lack thereof.
Since the dawn of music itself, musicians have used the medium as a kind of emotional release to espouse the depth of their feelings, and Paul McCartney was certainly no different. Virtually every love song Macca ever wrote for The Beatles, though, revolved around his muse, Jane Asher.
Every artist needs their muse, and The Beatles were never short of a few. George Harrison, for instance, struck upon some of his all-time greatest efforts when tapping into his famously tumultuous marriage to Pattie Boyd, while Lennon spent the latter part of the band’s tenure influenced by the experimental tendencies of Yoko Ono, who he would go on to marry. Meanwhile, Ringo was thinking about octopus and their gardens.
There is no doubt, however, that Jane Asher was the muse who inspired the most Beatles tracks. A cultural icon in her own right, playing a crucial role in defining the fashion and look of 1960s London, as well as appearing in a wealth of legendary films, spanning the spectrum from the psychological coming-of-age of Deep End to the sex-fueled romp of Alfie and even the medieval horror of Vincent Price’s Masque of the Red Death.
Before striking upon any of those particular cult classics, though, Asher crossed paths with a 21-year-old Paul McCartney in 1963, at the Royal Albert Hall, and her impact on the band’s output was immediate. Early hits like the rather wholesome ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ were reportedly inspired by Macca’s infatuation with Asher, and as their five-year relationship progressed, the actress cropped up in The Beatles’ discography again and again.
Being a rather romantic type, McCartney’s adoration for his girlfriend shone through, particularly during those early years but, as the couple progressed – dealing with their respective yet ever-expanding fame in the process – there was often a degree of resentment in the songwriter’s Asher-fueled output.
On ‘I’m Looking Through You’, for instance, McCartney was exercising his emotional baggage, according to a passage in Many Years From Now: “Suffice to say that this one was probably related to that romantic episode and I was seeing through her façade. And realising that it wasn’t quite all that it seemed,” he shared.
Then again, the following Beatles record, Revolver, contained one of the most romantic songs in their entire discography, ‘Here, There, and Everywhere’, written for Asher, so her inspiration wasn’t always so rooted in the doomed relationship of the pair.
Eventually, that relationship would come crashing down for the final time in 1968, only a few months after they announced their engagement.
McCartney would, of course, go on to marry another muse and musical collaborator in the form of Linda Eastman, but his time with Jane Asher was utterly essential not just in his personal development, or for the cultural fabric of the sixties, but also in conjuring up some of The Beatles’ greatest efforts, and some of the most enduring love songs ever put to tape.
The Beatles songs written about Jane Asher:‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’‘And I Love Her’‘Things We Said Today’‘What You’re Doing’‘We Can Work It Out’‘The Night Before’‘Another Girl’‘I’m Down’‘I’m Looking Through You’‘You Won’t See Me’‘Here, There and Everywhere’‘For No One’
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