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Body Count
Commemorative special edition of the notorious autobiography of Francie Schwartz, first published by Rolling Stone's Straight Arrow Books in 1972. Most controversial for Chapter 8, entitled, "Don't Cry, I'm a ....", which details her spring and summer with Paul McCartney and the Beatles, as Paul's livein girlfriend, backup singer on the White Album, and assistant Apple publicist under and around the late Derek Taylor. Also noted for its lack of explicit sexual detail, this book tells what living the 60's media myth was really like. From L.A.'s rock publicity circuit to New York's East side bar scene and ad agency maelstrom, to London in '68 and back! A survivor's story.
- GenresMemoir
125 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1972
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 13, 2021
I'm going to give this four stars out of Goodreads' possible five. It is a time capsule. If you are looking for footnotes, a bibliography, cross-references or anything like proof that the author experienced the things she said she experienced, you will not find it. But if you have an aesthetic sense, and some intuition, I believe you will agree with me that this memoir has the ring of truth.
Very briefly, Francie Schwartz describes her time rising in the advertising world in Manhattan and Los Angeles in the 1960s. That she found herself with enough money to make a trip to London in 1968 so as to put a screenplay into the hands of a Beatle is almost beside the point. The chief merit of BODY COUNT is that it is a prototypical example of a type of writing which flourished at the time and which has since disappeared. Published in 1972, it anticipates Erica Jong's novel FEAR OF FLYING (which came out a year later), and Judith Rossner's 1975 novel LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR. GOODBAR was made into a film in 1977. Another book this reminds me of was also made into a movie in the seventies, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. Ken Kesey's novel came out in 1962, but its view of the cruelty of psychiatric wards is much the same as that in BODY COUNT. As I read BODY COUNT, I kept thinking of PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT, by Philip Roth, and I was pleased to see that, toward the end, someone perusing Francie Schwartz's manuscript tells her it is a "female PORTNOY." PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT came out in 1969. I mention these books because BODY COUNT, a book about promiscuity, hints at themes each of these other books have. While at times boastful, the sexual antics become frightening. I'm not certain the intention was to frighten, but when Schwartz describes her time visiting pickup bars on Manhattan's Lower East Side, I couldn't help thinking of the terror in LOOKING FOR MISTER GOODBAR. Schwartz winds up, midway through the book, spending several months in the psychiatric ward at Roosevelt Hospital. That's where she genuinely deals with the horrors the mentally ill are subject to.
The sexual revolution Francie Schwartz describes must be hard for people born after, say, 1975, to imagine. The AIDS crisis, becoming known to the world in 1981, brought about dramatic changes in sexual behavior. I think one reason many Beatles scholars dismiss what Francie Schwartz says on ANY subject is that the sexual environment she details is now alien. Schwartz considers herself a feminist, but the feminism she experienced was one of casual sex with successive partners. But readers blinded by the bravado with she describes her sexual encounters should look carefully at the chapter set in the psychiatric ward. She is not blind to the self-destructive side of the erotic life.
The book itself is unbelievably hard to find. I found a free download. Amazon wants $375 as a STARTING price. Abe Books's few copies go up to more than a thousand dollars. My download was missing pages 14-15 and pages 34-35. But the Beatle chapter was completely intact, as was the rest of the book.
I may write an essay about Francie Schwartz. (What you're reading here is a book review.) If I write an essay, I won't put it out there until I fact-check it. She's given a few interviews and I gather she's said more about the Beatles over the years. I won't address that in this review, or the veracity of what she says in this book. All I will say here is that there are some very well-written lines. Here is one: "His eyes were the same color as the desert sky and his face would have looked hard and rugged if it hadn't also been so young. He had a slight limp which all his other movements contradicted, especially when he tossed his hair from his face."
She can write.
Very briefly, Francie Schwartz describes her time rising in the advertising world in Manhattan and Los Angeles in the 1960s. That she found herself with enough money to make a trip to London in 1968 so as to put a screenplay into the hands of a Beatle is almost beside the point. The chief merit of BODY COUNT is that it is a prototypical example of a type of writing which flourished at the time and which has since disappeared. Published in 1972, it anticipates Erica Jong's novel FEAR OF FLYING (which came out a year later), and Judith Rossner's 1975 novel LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR. GOODBAR was made into a film in 1977. Another book this reminds me of was also made into a movie in the seventies, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. Ken Kesey's novel came out in 1962, but its view of the cruelty of psychiatric wards is much the same as that in BODY COUNT. As I read BODY COUNT, I kept thinking of PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT, by Philip Roth, and I was pleased to see that, toward the end, someone perusing Francie Schwartz's manuscript tells her it is a "female PORTNOY." PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT came out in 1969. I mention these books because BODY COUNT, a book about promiscuity, hints at themes each of these other books have. While at times boastful, the sexual antics become frightening. I'm not certain the intention was to frighten, but when Schwartz describes her time visiting pickup bars on Manhattan's Lower East Side, I couldn't help thinking of the terror in LOOKING FOR MISTER GOODBAR. Schwartz winds up, midway through the book, spending several months in the psychiatric ward at Roosevelt Hospital. That's where she genuinely deals with the horrors the mentally ill are subject to.
The sexual revolution Francie Schwartz describes must be hard for people born after, say, 1975, to imagine. The AIDS crisis, becoming known to the world in 1981, brought about dramatic changes in sexual behavior. I think one reason many Beatles scholars dismiss what Francie Schwartz says on ANY subject is that the sexual environment she details is now alien. Schwartz considers herself a feminist, but the feminism she experienced was one of casual sex with successive partners. But readers blinded by the bravado with she describes her sexual encounters should look carefully at the chapter set in the psychiatric ward. She is not blind to the self-destructive side of the erotic life.
The book itself is unbelievably hard to find. I found a free download. Amazon wants $375 as a STARTING price. Abe Books's few copies go up to more than a thousand dollars. My download was missing pages 14-15 and pages 34-35. But the Beatle chapter was completely intact, as was the rest of the book.
I may write an essay about Francie Schwartz. (What you're reading here is a book review.) If I write an essay, I won't put it out there until I fact-check it. She's given a few interviews and I gather she's said more about the Beatles over the years. I won't address that in this review, or the veracity of what she says in this book. All I will say here is that there are some very well-written lines. Here is one: "His eyes were the same color as the desert sky and his face would have looked hard and rugged if it hadn't also been so young. He had a slight limp which all his other movements contradicted, especially when he tossed his hair from his face."
She can write.
Read
July 23, 2011A true period piece from the 60s, this tells the story of a young woman's personal and sexual awakening and is somewhat like a cleaner, classier version of I'M WITH THE BAND, except that whereas Pamela Des Barres was fantasizing about Paul McCartney, Schwartz was having an affair with him. Schwartz comes off as very likable, even when being hard on herself and the men in her life.
May 14, 2021
I'm a child of the late 80s/early 90s, so reading a young woman's candid tale of her experiences during the 60s was quite interesting and informative for me.
Like many others, I sought out this book mostly for the Paul chapter, and the very strong reaction it seems to elicit from people (almost exclusively Beatles fans). The story was so much more than that-- I began the book very much looking forward to that chapter, and then eventually became so engrossed in Francie's tale that I almost forgot it was coming. It's a good story, and I actually really like the style in which she writes. Also, she uses the term "hate-f*ck", which I was pleasantly surprised to see pop up in a book written in the early 70s. Who knew? All in all, this is a very young person with the time and money to live an exciting, independent life in the metropolitan swinging 60s, and she lays out her triumphs and mistakes in hectic hilarity.
Anyway, the Paul stuff-- ok, I'm a huge Beatles fan, and Paul McCartney is my Lord and savior, etc etc. That being said, I do not agree with the seemingly prevailing opinion that Ms. Schwartz wrote this book with the sole intention of trashing Paul McCartney. Having read way too many Beatles/Paul books between the ages of 12 and 38, I can tell you that the picture she paints of him isn't anything that heinously unflattering, nor is it anything that really contradicts what we now know of Paul's situation during that time period. Big changes were happening in his life, he was tired, scared, maybe a little miserable (he was also still super young!)-- by all accounts, it seems he needed someone to mother him, which Francie hadn't signed up for. If anything, she touches on his vulnerability during that time period in a way that isn't often recounted. Nothing too sordid there-- she had a chance to hang out with Paul McCartney, she took it, they weren't a good fit, the end. I like that he calls her "Clancy". I'm glad that she wrote the book, because it's a neat snapshot of something.
Like many others, I sought out this book mostly for the Paul chapter, and the very strong reaction it seems to elicit from people (almost exclusively Beatles fans). The story was so much more than that-- I began the book very much looking forward to that chapter, and then eventually became so engrossed in Francie's tale that I almost forgot it was coming. It's a good story, and I actually really like the style in which she writes. Also, she uses the term "hate-f*ck", which I was pleasantly surprised to see pop up in a book written in the early 70s. Who knew? All in all, this is a very young person with the time and money to live an exciting, independent life in the metropolitan swinging 60s, and she lays out her triumphs and mistakes in hectic hilarity.
Anyway, the Paul stuff-- ok, I'm a huge Beatles fan, and Paul McCartney is my Lord and savior, etc etc. That being said, I do not agree with the seemingly prevailing opinion that Ms. Schwartz wrote this book with the sole intention of trashing Paul McCartney. Having read way too many Beatles/Paul books between the ages of 12 and 38, I can tell you that the picture she paints of him isn't anything that heinously unflattering, nor is it anything that really contradicts what we now know of Paul's situation during that time period. Big changes were happening in his life, he was tired, scared, maybe a little miserable (he was also still super young!)-- by all accounts, it seems he needed someone to mother him, which Francie hadn't signed up for. If anything, she touches on his vulnerability during that time period in a way that isn't often recounted. Nothing too sordid there-- she had a chance to hang out with Paul McCartney, she took it, they weren't a good fit, the end. I like that he calls her "Clancy". I'm glad that she wrote the book, because it's a neat snapshot of something.
May 4, 2025
The book is hard to find, and way overpriced for a paperback on Amazon, but I found a digitally scanned copy on the internet which was missing pages 14, 15, 34 and 35. The book is basically the coming of age story of a sheltered woman during the nineteen sixties and her sexual encounters with different men, including a brief relationship with Paul McCartney. She writes about her experiences with her dysfunctional family, her brief time in a mental hospital and the different jobs she had.
July 24, 2021
This is a disgusting book by a pathetic woman who thought her ticket to fame and glory was to sleep with men, mostly other women's men to get both. She achieved neither and set the woman's movement back 100 years in the process. She made sexual encounters with a Beatle sound about as exciting as reading a shopping list. Avoid at all costs! Ugh.
October 2, 2025
ugh she’s insane i love her
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews