Paul wrote ‘A World Without Love’ when he was 16.
When he moved into Jane Asher’s family home in 1963, he shared a room with Jane’s brother, Peter Asher. Peter asked Paul if he could use the song after he and Gordon Waller signed a recording contract as Peter and Gordon.
Paul was happy to give it away, having already offered it to Billy J Kramer.
Peter and Gordon released the song as their first single in February 1964 and it was included on their debut album in the UK and US.
The track was a huge hit.
In the United Kingdom, the song reached No. 1 on both the Record Retailer chart and the New Musical Express chart. In the United States, it topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cash Box Top 100.
The song also reached No. 1 in Ireland, No. 1 in New Zealand, No. 2 in Australia, and No. 8 in Norway.
“The funny first line always used to please John. ‘Please lock me away –’ ‘Yes, okay.’ End of song,” said Paul.
“He had quite a lot of material already, said John.
“He was already more of a songwriter than me when we met. So I think that was also resurrected from the past.”
The song was never released by the Beatles, and the only known recording of the song by any member of the Beatles is the original demo of the song performed by Paul. That demo is now in the possession of Peter Asher.
Peter lives in Venice, California and still performs live shows with Jeremy Clyde of Chad & Jeremy fame. He often plays Paul’s demo clip at his shows.
Paul’s demo of the song is on YouTube.
