Although "Tell Me What You See" is credited to the
Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership, both
John Lennon and
Paul McCartney identified it as being primarily written by McCartney. McCartney said in the 1997 biography
Many Years from Now: "I seem to remember it as mine. I would claim it as a 60–40 but it might have been totally me." Asked about the song in 1980, Lennon simply said, "That's Paul." McCartney recalled little of its writing, later describing it as a
filler track: "Not one of the better songs but they did a job, they were very handy for albums or
B-sides. You need those kind of sides." "Tell Me What You See" has been described as a
folk rock song, foreshadowing the direction of
the Beatles' next album,
Rubber Soul. It is in the key of
G major and is in
common time. The song's second verse draws from a religious motto hung in Lennon's childhood home with his aunt
Mimi Smith. Lennon himself would parody the lines in the story "Silly Norman" from his 1965 book
A Spaniard in the Works: Author
Kenneth Womack also suggests that the line "trying to get to you" was in reference to
Elvis Presley's 1956 song "
Tryin' to Get to You", which had also inspired McCartney's early composition "
In Spite of All the Danger". == Recording ==