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The Beatles
alternate cover for: ISBN 0393315711/ISBN13 9780393315714
In this behind-the-scenes look at the most famous musical group in history, Hunter Davies gives the complete story of the Beatles. As the only authorized biographer, Davies had full access to the Fab Four as well as their help and encouragement. He spent eighteen months with them when they were at the peak of their musical genius and at the pinnacle of their popularity, and he remained friends with each of the members as they went their separate ways. This updated edition addresses recent changes in the lives of the Beatles: Paul's marriage, George's death, and their new books and records.
In this behind-the-scenes look at the most famous musical group in history, Hunter Davies gives the complete story of the Beatles. As the only authorized biographer, Davies had full access to the Fab Four as well as their help and encouragement. He spent eighteen months with them when they were at the peak of their musical genius and at the pinnacle of their popularity, and he remained friends with each of the members as they went their separate ways. This updated edition addresses recent changes in the lives of the Beatles: Paul's marriage, George's death, and their new books and records.
Hardcover
First published August 17, 1968
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About the author
Hunter Davies
132 books70 followersEdward Hunter Davies OBE is an author, journalist and broadcaster, and a former editor for the Sunday Times of London. He is the author of numerous books, including The Glory Game and the only authorised biography of the Beatles. He was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, to Scottish parents. For four years his family lived in Dumfries until Davies was aged 11.
His family moved to Carlisle in northern England when Davies was 11 and he attended the Creighton School in the city. Davies lived in Carlisle until he moved to study at university. During this time his father, who was a former Royal Air Force pay clerk, developed multiple sclerosis and had to retire on medical grounds from a civil service career.
Davies joined the sixth form at Carlisle Grammar School and was awarded a place at University College, Durham to read for an honours degree in History, but after his first year he switched to a general arts course. He gained his first writing experience as a student, contributing to the university newspaper, Palatinate, where one of his fellow student journalists was the future fashion writer Colin McDowell. After completing his degree course he stayed on at Durham for another year to gain a teaching diploma and avoid National Service.
He lives in London.
His family moved to Carlisle in northern England when Davies was 11 and he attended the Creighton School in the city. Davies lived in Carlisle until he moved to study at university. During this time his father, who was a former Royal Air Force pay clerk, developed multiple sclerosis and had to retire on medical grounds from a civil service career.
Davies joined the sixth form at Carlisle Grammar School and was awarded a place at University College, Durham to read for an honours degree in History, but after his first year he switched to a general arts course. He gained his first writing experience as a student, contributing to the university newspaper, Palatinate, where one of his fellow student journalists was the future fashion writer Colin McDowell. After completing his degree course he stayed on at Durham for another year to gain a teaching diploma and avoid National Service.
He lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 245 reviews
February 10, 2023
This is the only authorised biography of The Beatles, written by journalist Hunter Davies, who accompanied them for a few years.
It's in-depth, well written and witty.
It's not the perfect biography though, but it's readable, rich in detail and full of photographs I've never seen before.
If you're a fan of The Beatles, this is a must-have.
It's in-depth, well written and witty.
It's not the perfect biography though, but it's readable, rich in detail and full of photographs I've never seen before.
If you're a fan of The Beatles, this is a must-have.
June 22, 2024
John Lennon famously once described this authorised biography, first published in 1968, as a whitewash (except he used rather stronger language), and his view has been echoed by many others down the decades. The general consensus seems to be that it’s a sanitised portrait of the Beatles. It was amusing to read, in Davies’ introduction to the 1985 edition, that when he delivered the manuscript Lennon was at the front of the queue of those primed with buckets of whitewash (he claimed that Aunt Mimi was upset). In retrospect the book actually seems more remarkable for its candour than the odd white lie Davies was made to tell: the Beatles no longer take drugs, he informs us with a straight face, following a detailed account of their drug-taking. He wasn’t allowed to say that Brian Epstein was gay but found ways of making it perfectly clear anyway. The full story of the Beatles is here even if you have to read between the lines occasionally.
Davies was certainly granted a now unimaginable degree of access to the then most famous group in the world. He just seems to have breezed into Brian Epstein’s office, after meeting Paul a couple of times, and next thing he was virtually a fifth Beatle. He spent a lot of time with them and this gives the book some unique insights. There is a fly on the wall account of Lennon and McCartney writing A Little Help From My Friends, and the Beatles recording It’s Getting Better and Magical Mystery Tour. He interviewed all the surviving parents, and of course the inimitable Aunt Mimi, in the posh houses bought for them by their sons. He also interviewed Pete Best who, at the time, was slicing bread in a bakery in Liverpool for the princely sum of £18 a week. This is all evocative and poignant stuff.
This wasn’t the first book about the Beatles, but it was the first attempt to chronicle the band’s early history and family backgrounds, and Davies did a huge amount of primary research. The classic tropes of the Beatles saga (the Quarrymen, John meeting Paul at the Woolton fete, Hamburg, the Cavern, Brian Epstein, the sacking of Pete Best) are marshalled into place for the first time. If it now seems a tad over-familiar that’s mainly because its basic structure, and many of the stories, have been repeated in countless subsequent books. This is the foundation stone of Beatles scholarship or, if you prefer, mythmaking. Even Albert Goldman’s iconoclastic biography of Lennon was essentially an attempt to explode a myth first set in train by Davies.
The book ends with profiles of the individual Beatles as they were in 1968: the working-class heroes from Liverpool self-immured in their mansions in the South of England, increasingly isolated from the outside world and each other. They talk about themselves with striking openness, each of them a curious mixture of the naive and the knowing, the exceptional and the ordinary. The seeds of the breakup are evident in hindsight - Lennon and Harrison were clearly bored to death with the Beatles - but Davies is honest enough to admit that he didn’t see this at the time. Early ‘68 is not a bad point to end the story of the greatest group in the history of pop music: the Beatles in their post-Pepper pomp, just before it all fell apart.
By the way, John Lennon eventually apologised to Davies for his outburst. Quite right too. This is a warm and informative Beatles biography: a groundbreaking survey of their early history and frontline reports from history as it happened.
Davies was certainly granted a now unimaginable degree of access to the then most famous group in the world. He just seems to have breezed into Brian Epstein’s office, after meeting Paul a couple of times, and next thing he was virtually a fifth Beatle. He spent a lot of time with them and this gives the book some unique insights. There is a fly on the wall account of Lennon and McCartney writing A Little Help From My Friends, and the Beatles recording It’s Getting Better and Magical Mystery Tour. He interviewed all the surviving parents, and of course the inimitable Aunt Mimi, in the posh houses bought for them by their sons. He also interviewed Pete Best who, at the time, was slicing bread in a bakery in Liverpool for the princely sum of £18 a week. This is all evocative and poignant stuff.
This wasn’t the first book about the Beatles, but it was the first attempt to chronicle the band’s early history and family backgrounds, and Davies did a huge amount of primary research. The classic tropes of the Beatles saga (the Quarrymen, John meeting Paul at the Woolton fete, Hamburg, the Cavern, Brian Epstein, the sacking of Pete Best) are marshalled into place for the first time. If it now seems a tad over-familiar that’s mainly because its basic structure, and many of the stories, have been repeated in countless subsequent books. This is the foundation stone of Beatles scholarship or, if you prefer, mythmaking. Even Albert Goldman’s iconoclastic biography of Lennon was essentially an attempt to explode a myth first set in train by Davies.
The book ends with profiles of the individual Beatles as they were in 1968: the working-class heroes from Liverpool self-immured in their mansions in the South of England, increasingly isolated from the outside world and each other. They talk about themselves with striking openness, each of them a curious mixture of the naive and the knowing, the exceptional and the ordinary. The seeds of the breakup are evident in hindsight - Lennon and Harrison were clearly bored to death with the Beatles - but Davies is honest enough to admit that he didn’t see this at the time. Early ‘68 is not a bad point to end the story of the greatest group in the history of pop music: the Beatles in their post-Pepper pomp, just before it all fell apart.
By the way, John Lennon eventually apologised to Davies for his outburst. Quite right too. This is a warm and informative Beatles biography: a groundbreaking survey of their early history and frontline reports from history as it happened.
July 24, 2017
Note: This review is an excerpt from a longer review/personal reflection published on my blog, Sounds Delightful.
The Beatles, originally published in 1968, is the only ever authorized biography of the band. My edition was published in 1996, and there appear to have been one or two newer editions since then. The book itself is a bit like a ramshackle old house that someone has built too many additions onto. There’s the core text; an introduction and postscript, both from 1985; and a second 1996 introduction. I’d also argue that the personal experiences of any serious fan have a way of sneaking in as well. Reading from cover to cover, you’re jumping around the timeline in an almost postmodern way.
The Beatles is still a great read, despite being frozen in 1968. Davies wrote the book after spending over a year observing and interviewing the band, as well as talking with their families and friends. He has a easy, unpretentious style, and it’s clear that his respect for the Beatles, as musicians and people, is genuine. And despite the obvious whitewashing of potentially scandalous material, there are moments of candor that do seem to cut nearer to the truth.
On the whole, Davies doesn’t really try to draw a lot of conclusions about the Beatles. He observes and plainly writes down what he sees. What comes into focus is a a group of four people who, together, were able to create art that was full of beauty and humor. On their own, they are more like normal humans — four talented, lucky humans who nonetheless have their problems and hangups. Davies leaves us at a point in 1968 where the band’s future is an unknown. He resists the temptation to predict their future, and surely no one could have anyway. What The Beatles really does is capture the band at a pivotal moment, poised between past glories and a few more charmed years.
The Beatles, originally published in 1968, is the only ever authorized biography of the band. My edition was published in 1996, and there appear to have been one or two newer editions since then. The book itself is a bit like a ramshackle old house that someone has built too many additions onto. There’s the core text; an introduction and postscript, both from 1985; and a second 1996 introduction. I’d also argue that the personal experiences of any serious fan have a way of sneaking in as well. Reading from cover to cover, you’re jumping around the timeline in an almost postmodern way.
The Beatles is still a great read, despite being frozen in 1968. Davies wrote the book after spending over a year observing and interviewing the band, as well as talking with their families and friends. He has a easy, unpretentious style, and it’s clear that his respect for the Beatles, as musicians and people, is genuine. And despite the obvious whitewashing of potentially scandalous material, there are moments of candor that do seem to cut nearer to the truth.
On the whole, Davies doesn’t really try to draw a lot of conclusions about the Beatles. He observes and plainly writes down what he sees. What comes into focus is a a group of four people who, together, were able to create art that was full of beauty and humor. On their own, they are more like normal humans — four talented, lucky humans who nonetheless have their problems and hangups. Davies leaves us at a point in 1968 where the band’s future is an unknown. He resists the temptation to predict their future, and surely no one could have anyway. What The Beatles really does is capture the band at a pivotal moment, poised between past glories and a few more charmed years.
May 5, 2012
The classic first biography of the Beatles. I read the updated, updated (again) version. The original book ended with the band still together. That's where this version ends too, but it contains an afterward with reflections on how quickly the band went from tight friendship to nasty bickering, but not many other details. Davies points out that this period of the band's life has been well-documented other places. It would have been great, though, if Davies had originally followed the band through to the bitter end. Since he was on the inside with the band, recording the events as they happened, this book is like getting a window right into their world. I can see why it's been so popular for so long. Personally, I really enjoyed reading it. It was fascinating seeing the context in which the Beatles became a band, how they went from a group of kids playing music to great performers, and of course the rise of Beatlemania and its effects on the band, their families, and the rest of the world.
This was truly a fun read and sent me off on a bit of a Beatles kick. Next steps if I get the time (not likely):
- Listen to their albums in chronological order. Just have to get my hands on them, they're definitely not on Spotify.
- Watch the various Beatles movies--well, maybe not all of them.
- Check out 1 or 2 of the best documentaries.
And yes, I am posting this review 4 months after I read the book. Better late than never.
This was truly a fun read and sent me off on a bit of a Beatles kick. Next steps if I get the time (not likely):
- Listen to their albums in chronological order. Just have to get my hands on them, they're definitely not on Spotify.
- Watch the various Beatles movies--well, maybe not all of them.
- Check out 1 or 2 of the best documentaries.
And yes, I am posting this review 4 months after I read the book. Better late than never.
December 4, 2012
I've read dozens of Beatles-related books and this was by far the best one. It wasn't a Lennon based book, (as most Beatles biographies seem to be) and it covered all of the lads equally.
November 29, 2011
Ridiculously enjoyable read. Major kudos for Ringo stories!! From childhood! Most Beatles books like to gloss over Starr as if he wasn't there... but according to Davies: Ritchie existed! *excitement*
John's chapter also makes me wanna reach thru time and kick him in the balls!
John's chapter also makes me wanna reach thru time and kick him in the balls!
January 27, 2014
Checked out from the library over and over again and read in the very early 1970s. As an authorized bio it was naturally had a definite picture to paint but a great book with lots of lovely photos and great anecdotes. I wish I owned this book.
September 23, 2020
Me atrapó enseguida. Una biografía muy completa, aunque sea la reedición que se publicó en 1968. La lectura hace que te sientas cercano a ellos, las vivencias y recuerdos como si uno pudiera haber estado allí. La narrativa de Davies es amena, como si estuvieras charlando con él, sin explicar todo, pero sin dejarte dudas, un buen balance. Mención honorífica a las fotos que son geniales. Muy recomendado.
April 2, 2008
I've read A LOT of Beatles books and this has by far been my favorite. There are stories in this book that are not in any other Beatle book I've read.
June 3, 2025
The first official, in depth biography of the Fab Four. Written at the height of their creativity, as they were ironically splintering apart.
Davies was given exclusive access to the band and their closest confidants.
This was the authoritative text until many years later, after they had gone their separate ways.
But this book is from the perspective of the group still working at being the greatest rock band of all time.
Davies was given exclusive access to the band and their closest confidants.
This was the authoritative text until many years later, after they had gone their separate ways.
But this book is from the perspective of the group still working at being the greatest rock band of all time.
June 27, 2016
Reading this as an adult was a very different experience from when I first encountered it as a preteen Beatles fan. Mine is the original 1968 edition so still "authorized" and therefore whitewashed, which is especially (egregiously) noticeable in the passages that discuss Brian Epstein's sexuality. Davies is a skilled writer, though, and while he rushes madly through the Beatlemania years and is a little too fixated on the band members' fortunes and lifestyles, where he shines uniquely is in being able to speak directly to the Beatles' parents and to use present tense when talking about them as well as the band's own existence. (He also is one of the few people to properly interview all of the "first wives" plus Jane Asher.) While the sections focusing on the early years are strong if not terribly in-depth, it's interesting to see the legend printed, so to speak... and the really good stuff is in the final chapters, which capture the band's outlook on their status and future as they envisioned it just before Apple became a functioning fiasco (Epstein died while the book was being prepared, so they are just feeling things out as their own management) and just prior to the India sojourn, even before Yoko Ono was publicly in the picture. There are two big benefits to this: first, you get a telling if class-conscious portrait of life as they lived it during the height of their fame in the post-touring years without a hint of retroactive dilution. The individual interviews are remarkable; Paul (still with Jane Asher) pragmatic and polite despite his obvious arrogance, John clearly terrified, depressed and aimless, and morally conflicted about his fame; George displaying a near-cultlike fervor over his new religious beliefs; and Ringo, a young domestic saying lots of things he probably regrets like mad these days (especially about women's subservience to men, oh dear). There's seriously no primary source quite like this that I'm aware of. Secondly, these profiles speak strongly like no other writing about the band to just how freaking impossibly young they were when all this happened to them. When Davies was writing, John and Ringo were about 27, Paul 25, George 24 (and already snobbily grousing about how "over" the Beatle thing he was!); it's all but impossible to fathom. Davies also got to watch while "With a Little Help from My Friends" was being written, and while "Getting Better" and "Magical Mystery Tour" were recorded (though he significantly skirts past talking about John Lennon's notorious LSD-induced breakdown during the sessions for the former). While this book has clearly been superseded in later years by stronger, less biased sources (Lewisohn chiefly), this is still one of the crucial Beatles volumes because it's right in the midst of the fire, before the fire even began to wane.
May 26, 2021
What Beatles fan doesn’t like reading about The Beatles? As a huge fan, I enjoyed this biography greatly.
My star rating probably seems very harsh, but I’m applying my 2021 feelings and perspective to this review.
There are two important things about this very well written book.
Firstly it’s published in 1968 and the additional material attempts to update and explain the original text, but falls a long way short of a detailed work.
Secondly it’s an “authorised” biography and constrained by the agreement of The Beatles, and significant people of the time. This gives the book a very conditional and sanitised perspective.
Given the time of writing and constraints the book is good. The problem with the text is what “I” brought to the reading not the author.
If you were like me and wanted something with more analysis and insight, then look elsewhere. If you want to indulge your 1968 fan obsession, you’ll love this book.
Hunter Davis writes very well and provides much detail of the lives, influences and musical background of The Beatles. There is a lot in this book and the accompanying updates are a good addition and absolutely necessary.
I enjoyed what I read. I have a thirst for more that the Authorised Biography could provide.
My star rating probably seems very harsh, but I’m applying my 2021 feelings and perspective to this review.
There are two important things about this very well written book.
Firstly it’s published in 1968 and the additional material attempts to update and explain the original text, but falls a long way short of a detailed work.
Secondly it’s an “authorised” biography and constrained by the agreement of The Beatles, and significant people of the time. This gives the book a very conditional and sanitised perspective.
Given the time of writing and constraints the book is good. The problem with the text is what “I” brought to the reading not the author.
If you were like me and wanted something with more analysis and insight, then look elsewhere. If you want to indulge your 1968 fan obsession, you’ll love this book.
Hunter Davis writes very well and provides much detail of the lives, influences and musical background of The Beatles. There is a lot in this book and the accompanying updates are a good addition and absolutely necessary.
I enjoyed what I read. I have a thirst for more that the Authorised Biography could provide.
April 8, 2014
I have no idea how I managed to own a first edition of this first majour bio of The Beatles (yes, the "t" should be capped). Published in 1968, when the group was still together and still producing hits, it was one of the first books to focus on rock stars. There are more than 30 pages of photos, many of which were taken just for the book itself, as this is the only authorized biography which was approved by all group members.
Too young to be familiar with the Fab Four, I nevertheless learned about them when a music teacher told me Paul McCartney had been in a previous group named like insects. Shook my world.
Book Season = Summer (eazy breezy)
Too young to be familiar with the Fab Four, I nevertheless learned about them when a music teacher told me Paul McCartney had been in a previous group named like insects. Shook my world.
Book Season = Summer (eazy breezy)
December 25, 2019
A very interesting Beatles bio - it is one of the only authorised bios so has firsthand quotes by the beatles thenselves and their families, it also means that it is quite watered down in terms of the proper sordid details of their stardom, quarrels and so forth.
This book is best at recounting their very early days from about 1959-1962 (almost half of the book is spent here) and the rest feels rushed.
A good starting point for beatles lore but it probably needs to be complimented by more material getting into gritty in depth analysis of their lives and music from the post touring era.
This book is best at recounting their very early days from about 1959-1962 (almost half of the book is spent here) and the rest feels rushed.
A good starting point for beatles lore but it probably needs to be complimented by more material getting into gritty in depth analysis of their lives and music from the post touring era.
March 5, 2023
This was my favorite Beatle book yet. It's the only authorized biography, the only one condoned by the four of them. It was written at such a perfect time in their history. Hunter Davies would have had no idea that as he was writing this book, the rifts and divisions were just beginning and the band was on their way to a crashing, devastating, imploding breakup. As such, his writing is not muddied by these bad feelings or by the hindsight and bias stirred by John's death (ahem: Philip Norman.) Because in 1968, everything looked hunky dory, with all four members of the Beatles looking forward to new and exciting plans. This is the year they are at the absolute height of their creativity, having just released Sgt. Pepper, a magnum opus, just about to leave for India and write all the songs for the White Album, another magnum opus. When they look back on the madness of the touring years--a mere two to three years earlier--their memories are so inconsistent and inaccurate that Hunter Davies only wrote about three pages on the whole thing. (They very obviously did not want to dwell on those years.) John, Paul, George, and Ringo haven't yet aired any of their stirring resentments, which if you look carefully and use a fine-toothed comb, you can find the seeds for in the pages of this book.
Let's start with John, who so many Beatle authors get completely wrong. It was cool to be able to read his testimony coming from a much more stable place than Lennon Remembers for example. Straight from the horse's mouth in 1968: "Paul was telling me the other day that he and I used to have rows about who was the leader. I can't remember them. It had stopped mattering by then [Hamburg.]" On meeting Paul, John drops rather unnecessarily, "Not like falling in love or anything. Just us." Well no one was suggesting that John... The picture on the cover is also so sweet. Those two! They loved each other so much!! There is still a little downplaying of his own hits, but it reads more as John wanting to come off humble rather than manically trashing his partner and life's work like in 1971. "They're good songs, but nothing brilliant...Maybe if someone was attacking them, saying they were rotten, then maybe I'd work up some reaction to them." This is also around the time when Pete Shotton, per his own book, had to go to his house and pump him up, replaying him all of his old hits line by line to reassure him that he did have talent, LSD having completely trashed his ego and sense of self. So that plays into it as well. (This is what I mean by the seeds. Having read so many other books it was kind of fun to play detective like this and read between the lines about what they were really feeling. Hunter Davies points out that they all, and especially John, changed their minds so often and were so fickle that their stances were really just a snapshot in time.)
I had read this excerpt before, but it still struck me when Hunter Davies is talking about John's family life and Cyn remarks that John needs the other Beatles more than they need him. 100% true, as evidenced by John's newest whim to buy a Greek island and move there with the Beatles and their families, and his aversion to taking any vacations without them. Cyn suggests taking a vacation with just her and Julian and John says, "What? Not even with our Beatle buddies?... But it's nice to have your mates around." Now tell me that sounds like a man who is "bored" with the Beatles??? No, he desperately needed them and felt hugely hurt and abandoned at the end, not "bored" by their massive, creative output, nor their love and friendship. Bullshit.
You can also see John's constant search for meaning. At this point, John has just discovered the Maharishi and still considers LSD a mind-opening drug and not realized its ego-shattering effects. Nor has he discovered heroin or political activism. "I was suddenly struck by great visions when I first took acid. But you've got to be looking for it before you can possibly find it. Perhaps I was looking without realizing it. Perhaps I would have found it anyway. It would have just taken longer." Honey, you were looking, and you will continue to look for the rest of your life. (And LSD and the Maharishi ain't it, I'm sorry to tell you.)
Unlike Beatle biographers of the past few decades, Hunter Davies had access to their families. Those Liverpudlians, they were such salt-of-the-earth people! George's mother was their biggest champion. She went to the cavern regularly to listen to them. After they got famous, she and George's father judged beauty contests and made public appearances on behalf of the Beatles. The Harrisons and Jim McCartney in particular were so hilarious and naively generous to the fans. They'd let them into their houses! All of the parents were perfectly happy to live in modest middle-class homes bought for them by their famous sons, but really did not live very lavishly. A modest middle-class life must have felt lavish though to Ringo's parents from the Dingle, or to Jim McCartney in a council flat. The family interviews brought the whole thing into perspective. These are just four twenty-something local boys made good. Humble beginnings. I loved this quote from Ringo's stepfather on what he thought of their music: "I think I prefer their earlier music best... You've got to listen to their tunes properly now, more than once." (What a perfect way to describe the songs on Rubber Soul and Revolver compared with their earlier albums.) They are artists, not just stars. That shift was still new and surprising at the time. The Beatles were known for being the biggest thing in the world, Beatlemania probably being what most people thought of first. Now I think the back half of their output is what is remembered most, the really innovative, groundbreaking stuff that proves their genius.
My favorite chapters were after the history-of-the-band-up-till-now part, where Hunter Davies writes a short chapter on each Beatle, present day and looking forward. We are right before the lowest mental state of John's life--in India and right after--and you can see him teetering on the edge of the abyss, staring off in silence for hours, ignoring Cynthia and Julian, completely lost in his thoughts. Hunter Davies describes John as the hardest to talk to, to get anything out of. In the forward, he writes "Looking back, he was waiting for Yoko to come along and spark him into life again." It's my pet peeve when people attribute all of this power to Yoko before she even came into the picture. He wasn't "waiting for her," he happened to meet her at the lowest point in his life when he needed someone to take him outside of himself. His chapter made me a little sad, thinking of everything that was yet to come. And of course, very sad for Julian. John talks a bit about some half-baked ideas for Julian's education (no private schools or boarding schools, but public schools would be hard on him being a popstar's son, educate him in Greece I guess?) but it is clear, he has very little interaction with the kid and feels totally at sea being a father. Julian is just kind of there. Of Cyn and John's marriage, Hunter Davies writes, "They are very happy," which is pretty shortsighted. (About six months after the publication of this book in fact, the shit will really hit the fan.) I would like to think that for Cyn's sake--and you know what John's too--they still had some love for each other, even though they had already moved so far away from each other. They were family, and certainly had affection for each other, if not real spicy, romantic love. When Cyn makes that remark about John needing the Beatles more than they need him, he just chuckles and says, "I suppose you're right." Amazingly, and brutally honestly, Cyn admits they wouldn't have gotten married if not for Julian. She said so in her memoir from 2005 too, but how gutsy to say that in 1968!
Echoing the impression of countless other journalists and second-circle Beatle acquaintances, Hunter Davies says that Paul was, "the easiest to get to know for an outsider, but in the end he is the hardest to get to know. There is a feeling that he is holding things back." He describes Paul as an excellent talker, wildly curious, and the absolute king of Swinging London. He mentions that Paul is the only one living in London and that he and George are the two who cultivate relationships with lots of people outside of the Beatles inner circle (seed alert! John is jealous!) For Paul that means avant-garde artists, Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, and countless, countless, countless girlfriends in addition to Jane Asher. He points out how Paul is the driving force of the Beatles at this time. It's obvious he had to be, not only because of his natural creativity (and uppers-induced productivity--my analysis, not Hunter's), but also because of John's lethargy described in detail a chapter before. He goes into the different phases of the band so far, and Paul's allergy to repeating themselves.
George and Pattie's relationship at this time was at its peak. It was kind of nice to read about, if you can silence the reminder of what is to come for them. No seeds of breaking up planted here though, just a rather nice depiction of married life in the fashionable sixties elite. Hunter Davies describes their day to day filled meditation and vegetarian food, and their cool house with the psychedelic paintings on the outside walls. He remarks that George and Pattie have the most equal partnership. I guess compared with John and Cyn and Ringo and Maureen, where the expectation is that the women have babies and stay home doting on their eccentric husbands, then Pattie and George seem pretty advanced? And with Paul and Jane, Jane works but she is frequently away and they maybe don't seem like as much of a unit as Pattie and George do. Pattie works (although he neglected to mention that George hated that and wished she wouldn't) and they have all of these shared interests and passions. In fact, Pattie kind of led the way on that, learning about the Maharishi first and introducing George to meditation. Interestingly, George is then the one who leads the Beatles on all these trends (meditation, Indian instruments, fashion--he was by far the most cutting edge Beatle, style-wise.) It's so sweet, whenever one of them learns about something they all have to try it.
Lastly in the George chapter: George's baby brother role in the band. He really couldn't get away from it. Astrid and Cyn looked upon him as a little kid too. When he gets deported from Hamburg, Astrid drives him to the airport with a little snack and he tears up a bit as he hugs her goodbye. He had a sense of humor about it though. For Christmas, Astrid gives John a book by the Marquis de Sade. George picks up his present and says, "What's mine then, comics?" In 1968, he hasn't yet gained the confidence to really stand behind his songs. He says, "The words are always a bit of a hangup for me. I'm not very poetic. My lyrics are poor, really. But I don't take any of it seriously. It's just a joke." Hmm, sounds a bit like John insisting he wasn't in love with Paul... It's all just so interesting because in a year, he'd look back on this time and probably feel resentful of the stances he took. Here's a very George perspective on the future: "We'll make perhaps one or two films a year ourselves...It'll just be the same sort of scene, trying to do something new each time, then we die and go on to a new life where we try again, to get better all the time. That's life, that's death. But as for this life, we haven't done anything yet." Post-breakup, George can be so grumpy and contrarian. He hated the touring years the most out of the four of them. But he is notably eager to see what's next for them as a band now that they are focusing more on recording. Ha! I knew it George, you loved the Beatles, don't deny it!
On to Ringo. Ringo is usually described in accepted Beatle canon as being the "lucky one." This book is no exception, and in fact probably set the template for years to come. Although Ringo really didn't help himself in that area. He's the one who provides the soundbites! He points to John and Paul as the composers, he could be creative, but he's really not. Ringo continually says how lucky he was to be brought along, while John, Paul and George all seemed to think it an inevitability that they would make it big (although they never knew how big.) Come on, Ringo! You're the Greatest, as per your 1973 single! Repeatedly though, Hunter Davies remarks on how open and friendly Ringo is, and the others think of him as the heart and soul of the group too. He definitely seemed like the easiest one to be around. George was probably quite standoffish and difficult to open up, John obviously was on another planet, and Paul I get the feeling was a bit over-excited and took up a lot of the air in the room.
There is also a very sweet portrait of Ringo's family life. Despite how comically traditional and selfless it all was, I couldn't help being moved by how much Maureen loved and adored Ringo (again, silencing the reminder of what is to come for them. Just stay in 1968 with me.) She says, "I think he often underestimates himself. He does forget what good ideas he has had, because he thinks he's not creative. He says it's the others who have the good ideas. But he is good as many things...he's great at all things. He's a lovely dancer." She apparently faithfully waited up until 4 in the morning sometimes for him to come back from recording so they could have a meal together. Aw. It's kind of cool thinking of Maureen seeing the Beatles all the way through from the Cavern to the concert on the roof. She was there for it all.
In the forward, Hunter Davies mentions that he took out the explicit references to Brian Epstein's sexuality, as his grieving mother was in complete denial and insisted it wasn't true. He includes veiled references like, "His love life always appears to have ended unhappily. He did have violent affairs with people, but they rarely lasted long," or a quote from Apple employee Peter Brown, "He never really came to terms with himself sexually. He thought there was something wrong about it all. But he decided that was how he was and he never tried to go against his nature." Brian Epstein is such a sad character. Ambitious social climber, he hitches all his hopes on the Beatles and they become his entire world and purpose. It's after they are done touring and have less use for him that he sinks into a depression. Hunter Davies rules out suicide, citing the coroner's report that the traces of drugs in his system were not all at once but a series of large doses over time. I've heard other people surmise that it would have happened one way or the other and that the Beatles gave him a few more years. Incredibly sad, any way you slice it.
This forward, written in 1985, was excellent and important in setting the stage a little bit, and explaining some of what was left out. Hard drugs and sexual escapades were minimized, but what was left was still quite shocking for the 60s. Hunter says, "Any reader over the age of fifteen, even in 1968, must have been well aware of what really happened, but no one spelled it out in those days." Interesting take. About prellies and uppers in Hamburg, he writes that they only took them for performances and certainly didn't abuse them. There was a hilarious aside in the forward explaining the few edits he was asked to make to the book, focusing on John's childhood in order to pacify Mimi. Mimi apparently sent back her copy of the proof with every paragraph on John's childhood marked up with red pen: "Rubbish!" "Never!" She made him end that chapter with the very clunky line, "They say that John was as happy as the day was long." Hunter gripes about John bitching in the 70s about how white-washed this account was, although it was John who had asked him to keep it out for Mimi!
The afterword was equally fascinating. 1985 is still relatively close to the 60s. The surviving Beatles are in their 40s, which must have sounded hugely old at the time and makes them seem wildly young now. The Paul addendum parts were especially interesting. In the 80s he is at the nadir of his career, having just released the hideously panned Give My Regards to Broad Street and not yet climbed back up in his solo career. It must have felt like a Where are They Now or a VH1's Behind the Music, instead of PAUL MCCARTNEY who has earned his place as an elder statesmen in rock history. Ringo's life seemed pretty nice in the 80s (he skipped over the alcoholism and rehab stays) but pretty decidedly has-been. I learned some sad stuff about his kids. I guess it's true that when he went to LA in the 70s to drink the decade away, he left his kids in England. I'm sure there is some crazy resentment and dysfunction, but Ringo rather flippantly describes being "close again" with Zak and Jason, even after throwing one of them out of the house (!!) for being a surly teen! Despite this, Ringo's interviews in 1985 were incredibly charming. When asked if he had a passion to devote his energies to like George (gardening) and Paul (music), he says, "What do you mean? That's my passion there. Barbara. I'm in love, man. It's amazing. Better than a garden. you don't have to water her every day." He is perfectly happy to stay out of the limelight. So much so that Hunter Davies compares that with Paul's constant working and kind of turns up his nose at what he deems to be chasing after the glitz and prestige. Ouch. He includes several quotes of Paul's that echo the Q Interview in 1986, where he is still very stung by the public's perception of him and by John's barbs (and Yoko's!) Paul has come a long way on that stuff, specifically in the way he talks about it publicly. Right after John's murder it probably all came back up and he resented that while John was being martyred, he was painted as the bastard of the group (Ahem: more Philip Norman.) But unlike Philip Norman, Hunter Davies makes it clear that his thesis with this whole project is to celebrate the Beatles and remember them as being the best of the best. Which they are.
I could have read this book for 100 more pages. I just loved it. Low bias, excellent interviews, and a new way of looking at the band's story, it being truncated, which shows how the band members really felt. A real primary source. 10 stars.
Let's start with John, who so many Beatle authors get completely wrong. It was cool to be able to read his testimony coming from a much more stable place than Lennon Remembers for example. Straight from the horse's mouth in 1968: "Paul was telling me the other day that he and I used to have rows about who was the leader. I can't remember them. It had stopped mattering by then [Hamburg.]" On meeting Paul, John drops rather unnecessarily, "Not like falling in love or anything. Just us." Well no one was suggesting that John... The picture on the cover is also so sweet. Those two! They loved each other so much!! There is still a little downplaying of his own hits, but it reads more as John wanting to come off humble rather than manically trashing his partner and life's work like in 1971. "They're good songs, but nothing brilliant...Maybe if someone was attacking them, saying they were rotten, then maybe I'd work up some reaction to them." This is also around the time when Pete Shotton, per his own book, had to go to his house and pump him up, replaying him all of his old hits line by line to reassure him that he did have talent, LSD having completely trashed his ego and sense of self. So that plays into it as well. (This is what I mean by the seeds. Having read so many other books it was kind of fun to play detective like this and read between the lines about what they were really feeling. Hunter Davies points out that they all, and especially John, changed their minds so often and were so fickle that their stances were really just a snapshot in time.)
I had read this excerpt before, but it still struck me when Hunter Davies is talking about John's family life and Cyn remarks that John needs the other Beatles more than they need him. 100% true, as evidenced by John's newest whim to buy a Greek island and move there with the Beatles and their families, and his aversion to taking any vacations without them. Cyn suggests taking a vacation with just her and Julian and John says, "What? Not even with our Beatle buddies?... But it's nice to have your mates around." Now tell me that sounds like a man who is "bored" with the Beatles??? No, he desperately needed them and felt hugely hurt and abandoned at the end, not "bored" by their massive, creative output, nor their love and friendship. Bullshit.
You can also see John's constant search for meaning. At this point, John has just discovered the Maharishi and still considers LSD a mind-opening drug and not realized its ego-shattering effects. Nor has he discovered heroin or political activism. "I was suddenly struck by great visions when I first took acid. But you've got to be looking for it before you can possibly find it. Perhaps I was looking without realizing it. Perhaps I would have found it anyway. It would have just taken longer." Honey, you were looking, and you will continue to look for the rest of your life. (And LSD and the Maharishi ain't it, I'm sorry to tell you.)
Unlike Beatle biographers of the past few decades, Hunter Davies had access to their families. Those Liverpudlians, they were such salt-of-the-earth people! George's mother was their biggest champion. She went to the cavern regularly to listen to them. After they got famous, she and George's father judged beauty contests and made public appearances on behalf of the Beatles. The Harrisons and Jim McCartney in particular were so hilarious and naively generous to the fans. They'd let them into their houses! All of the parents were perfectly happy to live in modest middle-class homes bought for them by their famous sons, but really did not live very lavishly. A modest middle-class life must have felt lavish though to Ringo's parents from the Dingle, or to Jim McCartney in a council flat. The family interviews brought the whole thing into perspective. These are just four twenty-something local boys made good. Humble beginnings. I loved this quote from Ringo's stepfather on what he thought of their music: "I think I prefer their earlier music best... You've got to listen to their tunes properly now, more than once." (What a perfect way to describe the songs on Rubber Soul and Revolver compared with their earlier albums.) They are artists, not just stars. That shift was still new and surprising at the time. The Beatles were known for being the biggest thing in the world, Beatlemania probably being what most people thought of first. Now I think the back half of their output is what is remembered most, the really innovative, groundbreaking stuff that proves their genius.
My favorite chapters were after the history-of-the-band-up-till-now part, where Hunter Davies writes a short chapter on each Beatle, present day and looking forward. We are right before the lowest mental state of John's life--in India and right after--and you can see him teetering on the edge of the abyss, staring off in silence for hours, ignoring Cynthia and Julian, completely lost in his thoughts. Hunter Davies describes John as the hardest to talk to, to get anything out of. In the forward, he writes "Looking back, he was waiting for Yoko to come along and spark him into life again." It's my pet peeve when people attribute all of this power to Yoko before she even came into the picture. He wasn't "waiting for her," he happened to meet her at the lowest point in his life when he needed someone to take him outside of himself. His chapter made me a little sad, thinking of everything that was yet to come. And of course, very sad for Julian. John talks a bit about some half-baked ideas for Julian's education (no private schools or boarding schools, but public schools would be hard on him being a popstar's son, educate him in Greece I guess?) but it is clear, he has very little interaction with the kid and feels totally at sea being a father. Julian is just kind of there. Of Cyn and John's marriage, Hunter Davies writes, "They are very happy," which is pretty shortsighted. (About six months after the publication of this book in fact, the shit will really hit the fan.) I would like to think that for Cyn's sake--and you know what John's too--they still had some love for each other, even though they had already moved so far away from each other. They were family, and certainly had affection for each other, if not real spicy, romantic love. When Cyn makes that remark about John needing the Beatles more than they need him, he just chuckles and says, "I suppose you're right." Amazingly, and brutally honestly, Cyn admits they wouldn't have gotten married if not for Julian. She said so in her memoir from 2005 too, but how gutsy to say that in 1968!
Echoing the impression of countless other journalists and second-circle Beatle acquaintances, Hunter Davies says that Paul was, "the easiest to get to know for an outsider, but in the end he is the hardest to get to know. There is a feeling that he is holding things back." He describes Paul as an excellent talker, wildly curious, and the absolute king of Swinging London. He mentions that Paul is the only one living in London and that he and George are the two who cultivate relationships with lots of people outside of the Beatles inner circle (seed alert! John is jealous!) For Paul that means avant-garde artists, Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, and countless, countless, countless girlfriends in addition to Jane Asher. He points out how Paul is the driving force of the Beatles at this time. It's obvious he had to be, not only because of his natural creativity (and uppers-induced productivity--my analysis, not Hunter's), but also because of John's lethargy described in detail a chapter before. He goes into the different phases of the band so far, and Paul's allergy to repeating themselves.
George and Pattie's relationship at this time was at its peak. It was kind of nice to read about, if you can silence the reminder of what is to come for them. No seeds of breaking up planted here though, just a rather nice depiction of married life in the fashionable sixties elite. Hunter Davies describes their day to day filled meditation and vegetarian food, and their cool house with the psychedelic paintings on the outside walls. He remarks that George and Pattie have the most equal partnership. I guess compared with John and Cyn and Ringo and Maureen, where the expectation is that the women have babies and stay home doting on their eccentric husbands, then Pattie and George seem pretty advanced? And with Paul and Jane, Jane works but she is frequently away and they maybe don't seem like as much of a unit as Pattie and George do. Pattie works (although he neglected to mention that George hated that and wished she wouldn't) and they have all of these shared interests and passions. In fact, Pattie kind of led the way on that, learning about the Maharishi first and introducing George to meditation. Interestingly, George is then the one who leads the Beatles on all these trends (meditation, Indian instruments, fashion--he was by far the most cutting edge Beatle, style-wise.) It's so sweet, whenever one of them learns about something they all have to try it.
Lastly in the George chapter: George's baby brother role in the band. He really couldn't get away from it. Astrid and Cyn looked upon him as a little kid too. When he gets deported from Hamburg, Astrid drives him to the airport with a little snack and he tears up a bit as he hugs her goodbye. He had a sense of humor about it though. For Christmas, Astrid gives John a book by the Marquis de Sade. George picks up his present and says, "What's mine then, comics?" In 1968, he hasn't yet gained the confidence to really stand behind his songs. He says, "The words are always a bit of a hangup for me. I'm not very poetic. My lyrics are poor, really. But I don't take any of it seriously. It's just a joke." Hmm, sounds a bit like John insisting he wasn't in love with Paul... It's all just so interesting because in a year, he'd look back on this time and probably feel resentful of the stances he took. Here's a very George perspective on the future: "We'll make perhaps one or two films a year ourselves...It'll just be the same sort of scene, trying to do something new each time, then we die and go on to a new life where we try again, to get better all the time. That's life, that's death. But as for this life, we haven't done anything yet." Post-breakup, George can be so grumpy and contrarian. He hated the touring years the most out of the four of them. But he is notably eager to see what's next for them as a band now that they are focusing more on recording. Ha! I knew it George, you loved the Beatles, don't deny it!
On to Ringo. Ringo is usually described in accepted Beatle canon as being the "lucky one." This book is no exception, and in fact probably set the template for years to come. Although Ringo really didn't help himself in that area. He's the one who provides the soundbites! He points to John and Paul as the composers, he could be creative, but he's really not. Ringo continually says how lucky he was to be brought along, while John, Paul and George all seemed to think it an inevitability that they would make it big (although they never knew how big.) Come on, Ringo! You're the Greatest, as per your 1973 single! Repeatedly though, Hunter Davies remarks on how open and friendly Ringo is, and the others think of him as the heart and soul of the group too. He definitely seemed like the easiest one to be around. George was probably quite standoffish and difficult to open up, John obviously was on another planet, and Paul I get the feeling was a bit over-excited and took up a lot of the air in the room.
There is also a very sweet portrait of Ringo's family life. Despite how comically traditional and selfless it all was, I couldn't help being moved by how much Maureen loved and adored Ringo (again, silencing the reminder of what is to come for them. Just stay in 1968 with me.) She says, "I think he often underestimates himself. He does forget what good ideas he has had, because he thinks he's not creative. He says it's the others who have the good ideas. But he is good as many things...he's great at all things. He's a lovely dancer." She apparently faithfully waited up until 4 in the morning sometimes for him to come back from recording so they could have a meal together. Aw. It's kind of cool thinking of Maureen seeing the Beatles all the way through from the Cavern to the concert on the roof. She was there for it all.
In the forward, Hunter Davies mentions that he took out the explicit references to Brian Epstein's sexuality, as his grieving mother was in complete denial and insisted it wasn't true. He includes veiled references like, "His love life always appears to have ended unhappily. He did have violent affairs with people, but they rarely lasted long," or a quote from Apple employee Peter Brown, "He never really came to terms with himself sexually. He thought there was something wrong about it all. But he decided that was how he was and he never tried to go against his nature." Brian Epstein is such a sad character. Ambitious social climber, he hitches all his hopes on the Beatles and they become his entire world and purpose. It's after they are done touring and have less use for him that he sinks into a depression. Hunter Davies rules out suicide, citing the coroner's report that the traces of drugs in his system were not all at once but a series of large doses over time. I've heard other people surmise that it would have happened one way or the other and that the Beatles gave him a few more years. Incredibly sad, any way you slice it.
This forward, written in 1985, was excellent and important in setting the stage a little bit, and explaining some of what was left out. Hard drugs and sexual escapades were minimized, but what was left was still quite shocking for the 60s. Hunter says, "Any reader over the age of fifteen, even in 1968, must have been well aware of what really happened, but no one spelled it out in those days." Interesting take. About prellies and uppers in Hamburg, he writes that they only took them for performances and certainly didn't abuse them. There was a hilarious aside in the forward explaining the few edits he was asked to make to the book, focusing on John's childhood in order to pacify Mimi. Mimi apparently sent back her copy of the proof with every paragraph on John's childhood marked up with red pen: "Rubbish!" "Never!" She made him end that chapter with the very clunky line, "They say that John was as happy as the day was long." Hunter gripes about John bitching in the 70s about how white-washed this account was, although it was John who had asked him to keep it out for Mimi!
The afterword was equally fascinating. 1985 is still relatively close to the 60s. The surviving Beatles are in their 40s, which must have sounded hugely old at the time and makes them seem wildly young now. The Paul addendum parts were especially interesting. In the 80s he is at the nadir of his career, having just released the hideously panned Give My Regards to Broad Street and not yet climbed back up in his solo career. It must have felt like a Where are They Now or a VH1's Behind the Music, instead of PAUL MCCARTNEY who has earned his place as an elder statesmen in rock history. Ringo's life seemed pretty nice in the 80s (he skipped over the alcoholism and rehab stays) but pretty decidedly has-been. I learned some sad stuff about his kids. I guess it's true that when he went to LA in the 70s to drink the decade away, he left his kids in England. I'm sure there is some crazy resentment and dysfunction, but Ringo rather flippantly describes being "close again" with Zak and Jason, even after throwing one of them out of the house (!!) for being a surly teen! Despite this, Ringo's interviews in 1985 were incredibly charming. When asked if he had a passion to devote his energies to like George (gardening) and Paul (music), he says, "What do you mean? That's my passion there. Barbara. I'm in love, man. It's amazing. Better than a garden. you don't have to water her every day." He is perfectly happy to stay out of the limelight. So much so that Hunter Davies compares that with Paul's constant working and kind of turns up his nose at what he deems to be chasing after the glitz and prestige. Ouch. He includes several quotes of Paul's that echo the Q Interview in 1986, where he is still very stung by the public's perception of him and by John's barbs (and Yoko's!) Paul has come a long way on that stuff, specifically in the way he talks about it publicly. Right after John's murder it probably all came back up and he resented that while John was being martyred, he was painted as the bastard of the group (Ahem: more Philip Norman.) But unlike Philip Norman, Hunter Davies makes it clear that his thesis with this whole project is to celebrate the Beatles and remember them as being the best of the best. Which they are.
I could have read this book for 100 more pages. I just loved it. Low bias, excellent interviews, and a new way of looking at the band's story, it being truncated, which shows how the band members really felt. A real primary source. 10 stars.
April 8, 2022
Hunter Davies jest prawdopodobnie biografem, który nie tylko zbliżył się najbardziej do Beatlesów, ich rodzin, przyjaciół, znajomych i szerokiego grona ludzi współpracujących z zespołem, ale po lekturze tej książki mam wrażenie, że nie znam innego pisarza, który wniknął by tak głęboko w środowisko i w prywatność postaci, których żywot i dokonania opisuje.
Z tego osobistego podejścia i związanej z tym autoryzacji jednak wynika ten problem, że nie o wszystkim wolno mu było powiedzieć. A konkretnie - nie o wszystkim mógł powiedzieć wprost, związany umowami formalnymi, czy po prostu z powodu właśnie tych zażyłych relacji, z poczucia lojalności i zobowiązany danym komuś słowem... Jakkolwiek...
Jakkolwiek błędnym jest założenie, że autor bezwzględnie unika trudnych i niewygodnych tematów czy omija kompletnie wstydliwe lub kompromitujące epizody. Nie każda z opisywanych tu postaci postawiła przed nim konkretne warunki, część zobowiązań przestała mieć z upływem czasem istotne znaczenie - na przykład w obliczu śmierci pewnych postaci. Zwłaszcza dodatkowe materiały, dodane do wznowień z roku 1985 i później w 2009 - zrąb, czyli pierwsza wersja książki kończy się w momencie, kiedy The Beatles są "na zakręcie" w roku 1968 - naruszają dużo bardziej "wrażliwszą tkankę" w historii zespołu, jego członków i nie tylko.
To naprawdę wnikliwa, niesamowicie bogata w szczegóły i znakomicie, wręcz wybitnie napisana biografia. Dla fanów grupy to po prostu prawdziwa Biblia, ale też rarytas dla wielbicieli książek biograficznych, wśród których publikacja Huntera Daviesa jest prawdziwym majstersztykiem. Polecam!
Z tego osobistego podejścia i związanej z tym autoryzacji jednak wynika ten problem, że nie o wszystkim wolno mu było powiedzieć. A konkretnie - nie o wszystkim mógł powiedzieć wprost, związany umowami formalnymi, czy po prostu z powodu właśnie tych zażyłych relacji, z poczucia lojalności i zobowiązany danym komuś słowem... Jakkolwiek...
Jakkolwiek błędnym jest założenie, że autor bezwzględnie unika trudnych i niewygodnych tematów czy omija kompletnie wstydliwe lub kompromitujące epizody. Nie każda z opisywanych tu postaci postawiła przed nim konkretne warunki, część zobowiązań przestała mieć z upływem czasem istotne znaczenie - na przykład w obliczu śmierci pewnych postaci. Zwłaszcza dodatkowe materiały, dodane do wznowień z roku 1985 i później w 2009 - zrąb, czyli pierwsza wersja książki kończy się w momencie, kiedy The Beatles są "na zakręcie" w roku 1968 - naruszają dużo bardziej "wrażliwszą tkankę" w historii zespołu, jego członków i nie tylko.
To naprawdę wnikliwa, niesamowicie bogata w szczegóły i znakomicie, wręcz wybitnie napisana biografia. Dla fanów grupy to po prostu prawdziwa Biblia, ale też rarytas dla wielbicieli książek biograficznych, wśród których publikacja Huntera Daviesa jest prawdziwym majstersztykiem. Polecam!
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August 21, 2021Ninguém fez um filme desse livro ainda, sendo que já é praticamente um roteiro pronto. Todo mundo aí poderia ser um personagem pitoresco de algum ato, juro, desde os próprios Beatles até os familiares deles. E a maneira como o Hunter Davies interliga todos os acontecimentos é tão fenomenal. Tudo pra mim.
March 29, 2019
Yeah, yeah, yeah... #5 in my rock'n'roll biography marathon. The Beatles are my all-time favorite band and no one ever argues with me when I say they're the best band in the history of popular music. We also visited the Beatles Story in Liverpool last year on our way to Ireland, so I already knew the basics of their band history (and teared up when I looked at John's glasses, the Sergeant Pepper costumes and the "Imagine" piano), but ok, enough nerding out, now for the book:
The low two star rating is attributed to three things:
1. The style was unbelievably bad. At times it felt like a middle school grader had written it and it felt like reading a very humorless protocol of days in the life of the Fab Four, written in main clauses. You could tell that Davies has evolved as a writer by reading the fore- and afterword written in the 2000+ years to defend him a little bit, but still.
2. The misogyny. I was already a bit peeved about all the derogatory, snobby, hoity-toity comments about "hairdressers" and "shopgirls" who apparently weren't allowed to fan out over the Beatles, when the author himself does exactly the same thing most of the time (projection, anyone?). Plus: The Yoko bashing. Of course the author Yoko makes responsible for the breakup, since it's so much easier to blame the intellectual, strong-minded woman than the very complicated people that were John and Paul and their relationship with each other. I don't discard the fact that Yoko is very probably a very complicated person, but so was John and then some. From a feminist point of view Yoko is pretty awesome, actually. Maybe she can be a jerk, I don't know, but it's a very simplistic and easy thing to again blame it all on the woman, n'est-ce pas?
Linda was praised in contrast for giving up her career and centering her life around Paul, so you see where the author is coming from.
3. The whole book felt very flat, despite the direct access Davies had to the Beatles and their families and friends and this being the only authorised biography on the Beatles. Band and family members crossed things out in the draft Hunter Davies gave them and didn't allow certain things to go in (groupies for instance or aunt Mimi not wanting any "bad boy John stories" in the book), which made for a very kid-friendly reading, but is ultimately a very censored view of what really happened.
If I feel like learning more about the Beatles again, I'll definitely pick up the Philip Norman books, they seem to have more substance.
Despite the low rating it was nice to get a glimpse into the characters of all four Beatles and especially the chapter on how they wrote songs was fascinating to me.
But: I got a better impression of George Harrison's character from Eric Idle's autobiography (they were best friends), which might give you an impression of how superficial this book is.
And now excuse me while I go to the kitchen to listen to Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band, the best album by the best band in the world.
The low two star rating is attributed to three things:
1. The style was unbelievably bad. At times it felt like a middle school grader had written it and it felt like reading a very humorless protocol of days in the life of the Fab Four, written in main clauses. You could tell that Davies has evolved as a writer by reading the fore- and afterword written in the 2000+ years to defend him a little bit, but still.
2. The misogyny. I was already a bit peeved about all the derogatory, snobby, hoity-toity comments about "hairdressers" and "shopgirls" who apparently weren't allowed to fan out over the Beatles, when the author himself does exactly the same thing most of the time (projection, anyone?). Plus: The Yoko bashing. Of course the author Yoko makes responsible for the breakup, since it's so much easier to blame the intellectual, strong-minded woman than the very complicated people that were John and Paul and their relationship with each other. I don't discard the fact that Yoko is very probably a very complicated person, but so was John and then some. From a feminist point of view Yoko is pretty awesome, actually. Maybe she can be a jerk, I don't know, but it's a very simplistic and easy thing to again blame it all on the woman, n'est-ce pas?
Linda was praised in contrast for giving up her career and centering her life around Paul, so you see where the author is coming from.
3. The whole book felt very flat, despite the direct access Davies had to the Beatles and their families and friends and this being the only authorised biography on the Beatles. Band and family members crossed things out in the draft Hunter Davies gave them and didn't allow certain things to go in (groupies for instance or aunt Mimi not wanting any "bad boy John stories" in the book), which made for a very kid-friendly reading, but is ultimately a very censored view of what really happened.
If I feel like learning more about the Beatles again, I'll definitely pick up the Philip Norman books, they seem to have more substance.
Despite the low rating it was nice to get a glimpse into the characters of all four Beatles and especially the chapter on how they wrote songs was fascinating to me.
But: I got a better impression of George Harrison's character from Eric Idle's autobiography (they were best friends), which might give you an impression of how superficial this book is.
And now excuse me while I go to the kitchen to listen to Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band, the best album by the best band in the world.
July 13, 2024
I will always, always be excited about The Beatles. No matter who writes it, or whom in particular it's about.
I read few reviews of this book through the course of my time with it and for the most bit, came across other fans the likes of me, describing parts of it that sat with them, etc.
2 of which, I feel compelled to mention :
#1 - The reviewer writes about the inadequacy of content, information and the writing style to be that of a 4th grader. For the former, the author provides a whopping 78 page introduction and essentially, context to why the content will be the way it's exhibited. About the time he'd gotten with them, the chronology of it all and everything he managed to gather. It adds up, and it'd be foolish to expect more. While I understand the urge, there are books about their individual lives if you're looking for something more than a sequential narrative.
#2 - Another reviewer called out the misogyny in this book and I simply cannot disagree with them, it was the state of affairs back then and now in a somehow modernized version of it in certain areas.
Coming to my take, I think HD has done a brilliant job with the structure of it - 18th months worth of research could render any writer bewildered. There's simply that much. Even for a base of a biography.
Coming to the aforementioned purpose of this book HD truly came through, having captured their voices, thoughts, characters, and music. Paul and John's polar personalities assisting the Beatles instead of complicating them, George and Ringo's nature/s, their methods of creation and their individual presences within the 4 of them.
I quite admired their dismissal of traditional show business and that they always, always, did as they pleased - although I can now say that since they've made it. All the beat groups in Liverpool that didn't would possibly receive criticism for having exhibited similar traits.
HD writes about how The Beatles weren't particularly excited about their own music, how it made them gods in the eyes of the public and that meaning was being juiced out of their songs like the making of wine. Perhaps the dilemma with success and fame of artists is that their work doesn't exactly remain theirs, as much as one would want it to. Some of their tracks were dedicated to people and I think that's... certainly not meaningless. John's "Julia" for his mother and Paul's "Hey Jude" for Julian, or "Yesterday". If only, if only, just for a second, any one of us beatlemaniacs could show them the haven their music has become for us. If only, they could fathom knowing the birth of their creation is a saviour to many.
Perhaps it really doesn't matter. It's here, it exists, it's left to your interpretation, it's gone.
Maybe, something they may never come to realise is that their work is something extraordinary. That something about all their randomly created tracks made them the best in the world. If they are being rendered gods in the eyes of the public there is something divine in their music. Just the way most music works, it either agrees with your taste or not.
When I first discovered them, I thought nobody could like them more than I did. Simply nobody. Until I got to chapter 22, Beatlemania, that magnificently destroyed the bubble of Fandom I was briefly living in.
However, for them to have had that exact, Beatlemanic effect on me, 60 long years after their legacy was created, is something I cannot do justice to by writing. To place me right back in 1964 when it all began unfolding. Hell, by the time I got to this world, half the Beatles had left. Yet 6 decades later, I'm just as swayed. Tranced. Fully in love with what I hear.
Here's to both Pete's, George Martin, Neil, Mal, Roy, Brian, and anyone else that made it all happen. Without being managed, produced, and recorded efficiently we'd have tragically missed out on something legendary.
There is so much more though. HD beautifully portrayed everything he'd gotten from that particular timeline, and I plan on sourcing books that talk more about Yoko, Linda , The Beatles' trip to India, drugs and meditation and their breakup. The four of them couldn't quite care less yet something about this Fandom leaves us wanting to know everything if not more.
Which brings me back to all the works of Art we're kept from, simply because of inaccessibility, bad luck, and unfortunate circumstances.
All in all, it was a brilliant read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I read few reviews of this book through the course of my time with it and for the most bit, came across other fans the likes of me, describing parts of it that sat with them, etc.
2 of which, I feel compelled to mention :
#1 - The reviewer writes about the inadequacy of content, information and the writing style to be that of a 4th grader. For the former, the author provides a whopping 78 page introduction and essentially, context to why the content will be the way it's exhibited. About the time he'd gotten with them, the chronology of it all and everything he managed to gather. It adds up, and it'd be foolish to expect more. While I understand the urge, there are books about their individual lives if you're looking for something more than a sequential narrative.
#2 - Another reviewer called out the misogyny in this book and I simply cannot disagree with them, it was the state of affairs back then and now in a somehow modernized version of it in certain areas.
Coming to my take, I think HD has done a brilliant job with the structure of it - 18th months worth of research could render any writer bewildered. There's simply that much. Even for a base of a biography.
Coming to the aforementioned purpose of this book HD truly came through, having captured their voices, thoughts, characters, and music. Paul and John's polar personalities assisting the Beatles instead of complicating them, George and Ringo's nature/s, their methods of creation and their individual presences within the 4 of them.
I quite admired their dismissal of traditional show business and that they always, always, did as they pleased - although I can now say that since they've made it. All the beat groups in Liverpool that didn't would possibly receive criticism for having exhibited similar traits.
HD writes about how The Beatles weren't particularly excited about their own music, how it made them gods in the eyes of the public and that meaning was being juiced out of their songs like the making of wine. Perhaps the dilemma with success and fame of artists is that their work doesn't exactly remain theirs, as much as one would want it to. Some of their tracks were dedicated to people and I think that's... certainly not meaningless. John's "Julia" for his mother and Paul's "Hey Jude" for Julian, or "Yesterday". If only, if only, just for a second, any one of us beatlemaniacs could show them the haven their music has become for us. If only, they could fathom knowing the birth of their creation is a saviour to many.
Perhaps it really doesn't matter. It's here, it exists, it's left to your interpretation, it's gone.
Maybe, something they may never come to realise is that their work is something extraordinary. That something about all their randomly created tracks made them the best in the world. If they are being rendered gods in the eyes of the public there is something divine in their music. Just the way most music works, it either agrees with your taste or not.
When I first discovered them, I thought nobody could like them more than I did. Simply nobody. Until I got to chapter 22, Beatlemania, that magnificently destroyed the bubble of Fandom I was briefly living in.
However, for them to have had that exact, Beatlemanic effect on me, 60 long years after their legacy was created, is something I cannot do justice to by writing. To place me right back in 1964 when it all began unfolding. Hell, by the time I got to this world, half the Beatles had left. Yet 6 decades later, I'm just as swayed. Tranced. Fully in love with what I hear.
Here's to both Pete's, George Martin, Neil, Mal, Roy, Brian, and anyone else that made it all happen. Without being managed, produced, and recorded efficiently we'd have tragically missed out on something legendary.
There is so much more though. HD beautifully portrayed everything he'd gotten from that particular timeline, and I plan on sourcing books that talk more about Yoko, Linda , The Beatles' trip to India, drugs and meditation and their breakup. The four of them couldn't quite care less yet something about this Fandom leaves us wanting to know everything if not more.
Which brings me back to all the works of Art we're kept from, simply because of inaccessibility, bad luck, and unfortunate circumstances.
All in all, it was a brilliant read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
June 12, 2017
Lako se čita, malo našminkana.
November 15, 2023
V enjoyable instant history, especially in the first, 1968 edition, written without hindsight.
November 25, 2024
Hunter Davies spent a great part of 1967 and 1968 with the Beatles, their friends, family and associates. Of hundreds of books, this is the only 'authorised' Beatles biography, with the author being given unparalleled access. As such it is often used as a reference work for others. Whilst the period he was researching was after the touring years had finished, it was a fertile time for the Beatles producing new music (such as Sergeant Pepper), a time during which Brian Epstein died and Apple was formed and the dynamic of the group changed.
The book is blessed with a lengthy introduction and postscripts where Hunter is able to bring us up to date with how it all ended and what happened to all the main and many minor characters in the story. The introduction also deals with some of the things he couldn't say so openly at the time due to the permissions he had to get from various parties, including John Lennon's Aunt Mimi and the Epstein family.
A really good read and an essential one if wanting to know anything about the Beatles story, avoiding the many, many myths. It is a shame that some of the really big moments in their career, such as the first number one in the UK and US, were not told with more of a build up and emotion. As with the other Beatles book I read, it again left me wondering why on earth anyone would court fame...all the Beatles suffered for it through the greater part of their lives and hated even revisiting Beatlemania, which had only just wound down (not that you would think so when all their houses in 67/68 were still staked out by a phalanx of girls on a daily basis).
The book is blessed with a lengthy introduction and postscripts where Hunter is able to bring us up to date with how it all ended and what happened to all the main and many minor characters in the story. The introduction also deals with some of the things he couldn't say so openly at the time due to the permissions he had to get from various parties, including John Lennon's Aunt Mimi and the Epstein family.
A really good read and an essential one if wanting to know anything about the Beatles story, avoiding the many, many myths. It is a shame that some of the really big moments in their career, such as the first number one in the UK and US, were not told with more of a build up and emotion. As with the other Beatles book I read, it again left me wondering why on earth anyone would court fame...all the Beatles suffered for it through the greater part of their lives and hated even revisiting Beatlemania, which had only just wound down (not that you would think so when all their houses in 67/68 were still staked out by a phalanx of girls on a daily basis).
May 20, 2016
В книге Дэвис, взявший на себя обязанность биографа, описывает период примерно до 1968 года, когда внутри ансамбля начались появляться проблемы. Группа тогда уже находилась на грани распада. Собственно основой произведения являются четыре биографии музыкантов от юношеских лет и до всемирного успеха. Достаточно подробно рассказано о многих событиях и людях: Гамбургских гастролях, Стю Сатклифе и его смерти, знакомстве с Брайаном Эпстайном, участии Пита Беста и его «отставке», первых записях под руководством Джорджа Мартина, выходе первых пластинок, гастролях, Америке, Битломании, окружении Биттлз и его значении, смерть Эпстайна, прекращение концертной деятельности и многие другие подробности из жизни участников.
В большинстве биографий я читал о том, как песня за песней создавался тот или иной альбом, но здесь, в начале книги, этому уделено гораздо меньше внимания. Далее, в описании «без гастрольного» периода, есть попытка более подробно рассказать о схеме работы двух основных композиторов Джона и Пола, их «рабочий день», структуры написания песен. Но гораздо больше, на мой взгляд, здесь рассказано о межличностных отношениях, о взрослении, о ссорах, женитьбах, о стиле жизни, судебных дрязгах и т.д. самих музыкантов.
Надо учитывать то, что Дэвис согласовывал написание книги с самими Битлами. Давал им на читку главы и корректировал то, на что указывали музыканты или их родственники. С некоторой досадой он говорит о том, что произведение могло бы быть куда более интересным, если бы не было этих правок. Но получилось то, что есть.
Книга, в общем, понравилась, немного суховат язык изложения, возможно причина тому переводчики. Не мне судить, а то их винят все кому не лень. Дэвис попытался показать четверку не как поп-идолов десятилетий, а как обычных молодых парней, на которых свалилась мировая слава, богатство и успех. Он рассказывает о тех трудностях, которые сопровождали это признание, и то, как каждый из музыкантов переживал случившиеся.Дополнения от автора подводят некоторые итоги, и служат эпилогом к переизданию книги в конце 70-х и в середине 80-х.
Что-то мне подсказывает, что именно главы из этого труда я читал ребенком в советском журнале «Ровесник» в середине 80-х. Но, кажется, тогда её до конца не напечатали.
В большинстве биографий я читал о том, как песня за песней создавался тот или иной альбом, но здесь, в начале книги, этому уделено гораздо меньше внимания. Далее, в описании «без гастрольного» периода, есть попытка более подробно рассказать о схеме работы двух основных композиторов Джона и Пола, их «рабочий день», структуры написания песен. Но гораздо больше, на мой взгляд, здесь рассказано о межличностных отношениях, о взрослении, о ссорах, женитьбах, о стиле жизни, судебных дрязгах и т.д. самих музыкантов.
Надо учитывать то, что Дэвис согласовывал написание книги с самими Битлами. Давал им на читку главы и корректировал то, на что указывали музыканты или их родственники. С некоторой досадой он говорит о том, что произведение могло бы быть куда более интересным, если бы не было этих правок. Но получилось то, что есть.
Книга, в общем, понравилась, немного суховат язык изложения, возможно причина тому переводчики. Не мне судить, а то их винят все кому не лень. Дэвис попытался показать четверку не как поп-идолов десятилетий, а как обычных молодых парней, на которых свалилась мировая слава, богатство и успех. Он рассказывает о тех трудностях, которые сопровождали это признание, и то, как каждый из музыкантов переживал случившиеся.Дополнения от автора подводят некоторые итоги, и служат эпилогом к переизданию книги в конце 70-х и в середине 80-х.
Что-то мне подсказывает, что именно главы из этого труда я читал ребенком в советском журнале «Ровесник» в середине 80-х. Но, кажется, тогда её до конца не напечатали.
January 10, 2015
If you dig The Beatles this book is definitely worth reading.
The great thing is it captures them at the height of their powers. The author spent a lot of time hanging out with them and gives insights into their creative process and lots of space for The Beatles themselves to share their own opinions. In particular I enjoyed reading Lennon's opinions on the phoniness of high brow art. The book is written pre Yoko Ono, so I wonder if he would change some of these opinions, but it is interesting to read that from someone who is currently lionized for works like Day in The Life (which I love.) His overall point seems to be just do something, and let other people worry about adding their own underlying meanings and depth. To voice this opinion while at a similar time writing pieces like Tomorrow Never Knows or Strawberry Fields is intriguing. I enjoy the contrast coming from the artist himself.
Off on a tangent there. Back to the point, this book is a great read and I recommend it to anyone curious about the Beatles in their early and middle years. Their personalities shine through and the working chemistry between Lennon and McCartney is vividly portrayed and enjoyable reading.
The great thing is it captures them at the height of their powers. The author spent a lot of time hanging out with them and gives insights into their creative process and lots of space for The Beatles themselves to share their own opinions. In particular I enjoyed reading Lennon's opinions on the phoniness of high brow art. The book is written pre Yoko Ono, so I wonder if he would change some of these opinions, but it is interesting to read that from someone who is currently lionized for works like Day in The Life (which I love.) His overall point seems to be just do something, and let other people worry about adding their own underlying meanings and depth. To voice this opinion while at a similar time writing pieces like Tomorrow Never Knows or Strawberry Fields is intriguing. I enjoy the contrast coming from the artist himself.
Off on a tangent there. Back to the point, this book is a great read and I recommend it to anyone curious about the Beatles in their early and middle years. Their personalities shine through and the working chemistry between Lennon and McCartney is vividly portrayed and enjoyable reading.
August 22, 2017
This book was meant, is meant, to capture them at their height, to explain how they got there, in their own words and in the words of those who were with them at the time."(p.478) True to his words Hunter Davis has given us a amazing informative book on the origins of the Beatles. Hunter Davis had complete access to the band and conducted hundreds of interviews with each Beatle, their families, and childhood friends. This book was before all the bickering and fighting started and before Yoko came into the picture. Davis writes about the rise not the fall and that's what makes this book so interesting. The book was not created to be so comprehensive but rather readable. He chronicles each Beatle's life, his own personal input and experiences. The book also includes postscripts dating from 1985 to 2009. There wasn't much detail here and he may have felt that the details of their post 1970 career's were beyond the scope of this book. It is amazing informative book. I enjoyed every minute of it and found it hard to put down.
September 21, 2022
Horribly sexist but I think it was the wider narrative around girls at the time rather than something to pick on the author for. None of the "fanatic young women" went on to shoot any of them or mastermind Helter Skelter.
Loved how granular the book is, giving exact wage details, favourite foods, home furnishings of even minor characters!
Some bits e.g stories around 'cripples' are hugely offensive too but glad nothing was whitewashed when forwards etc updated.
A really interesting read!
Loved how granular the book is, giving exact wage details, favourite foods, home furnishings of even minor characters!
Some bits e.g stories around 'cripples' are hugely offensive too but glad nothing was whitewashed when forwards etc updated.
A really interesting read!
January 21, 2015
This is the only "official" biography. It has a great deal of interesting source material, but doesn't do a great job of pulling a compelling narrative out of it. Lots about their lives and personalities, not much insight into the music. It also left me feeling less interested in the Beatles then when I started - although maybe that was the narrative...
January 6, 2008
the masterpiece on The Beatles. Deeply researched and essentially accurate. Not spilling over with the usual gossip and rumours which are still regretfully being printed.
September 10, 2018
Audio #115
Didn’t learn anything new
Didn’t learn anything new
April 12, 2025
really wish i was capable of being normal about the things i like but unfortunately i feel like i’ve just been through the seven stages of grief in less than 48 hours
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