Hundreds of celebrities weigh in on the age old Lennon-McCartney debate
In the early years of this millennium, the A.V. Club asked many of its famous interviewees, ranging from Winona Ryder to “Weird Al” Yankovic, a simple but revealing question: “Is there a God?” The stars’ multitudinous responses to this provocative query were then compiled into two unreasonably entertaining articles. (For the record, Al said yes, while Winona was unsure.) A somewhat similar game is afoot in Scared Goose Productions’ newly-released documentary, “Lennon Or McCartney.” Collected over the course of a decade and including the views of some 550 participants, including well-known musicians, actors, and directors, this half-hour film asks its subjects to state a preference for either John Lennon or Paul McCartney. According to the video’s description on YouTube: “Some stuck to one, some said more, some answered quickly, some thought it through, and some didn’t answer at all.” That serves as a fair description of the viewing experience. The respondents are organized alphabetically (by first name, funnily enough) in the video and generally appear for a few seconds apiece, just long enough to state their answers. Most play fair, though there are a few wiseacres along the way who give answers like “Harrison” or “Hendrix.” Overall, the results fall somewhere between a litmus test and a parlor game. Those who sit through the entire thing will learn that Miss Piggy prefers McCartney, while Lady Gaga identifies herself as “a Lennon girl.”