"Getting Better" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney based on an original idea by McCartney. Barry Miles, Many Years From Now, p. 312-313 It was recorded by The Beatles for the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The song's music suggests optimism yet the lyrics, strongly influenced by Lennon, alludes to more sinister themes. In this sense, it exaggerates the contrasting personas of the two most active songwriters in the group. In response to McCartney's line, "It's getting better all the time," Lennon replies, "It can't get no worse!" Barry Miles, Many Years From Now, p. 314 Lennon also claimed the lyric that begins, "I used to be cruel to my woman..." David Sheff, All We Are Saying, p. 182
According to Hunter Davies, the initial idea for the song's title came from a phrase often spoken by Jimmy Nicol, the group's stand-in drummer for the Australian leg of a 1964 tour.
