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Growing Up With The Beatles: An Illustrated Tribute
For the most enthusiastic Beatles fan, this book will bring back memories of youth and a simpler time . Ron Schaumburg talks about growing up as an awkward teenager in Shawnee Mission, Kansas and how the songs of the Beatles were with him every step of the way. A wonderful book for those who want to remember their youth in the 1960s and 1970s but also for the younger generations who are just discovering and falling in love with the songs of one of the most famous rock bands of our time.
- GenresMusicNonfictionMemoir
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 21, 2014
I've never considered myself a Beatles fan, per se. I like many of their songs--both from when they were a band, and after they embarked on their solo careers. But I've never owned a Beatles album, or listened to one from start to end to get the theme of it.
Maybe that's because when the Beatles exploded onto the American scene in 1964, I was only two years old. When I got old enough to notice the popular music my older sisters were playing, the Beatles were already so ingrained into the fabric of American culture that they were everywhere on radio and TV. They were like the clouds or the grass--I just didn't notice them.
Not so with Ron Schaumburg, growing up outside Kansas City in the '60s. He was eight years older than I, and already developing a pre-teen's sensitivity to music and pop culture, so the discovery of the Beatles was to him a life-altering event. In this book, he carefully chronicles every Beatles album, TV appearance, concert, and film, along with events like marriages or badly worded press conferences that had an influence on the band's popularity. But far from being just a standard history of the Beatles, Ron skillfully weaves in the events of his own life at the time, and how his interactions with Beatles music influenced those events or his reactions to them.
I identified heavily with Schaumburg as I read along, because despite our age difference, his childhood and teen years seems to have paralleled my own in many ways. Like me, he was an introvert who found solace and companionship in books, and through reading gained a love of writing as well. He was a science fiction fan, and a movie aficionado. He was involved in Scouting, and developed a few but very close friends. In many ways our lives were so similar it was eerie reading about his, but fascinating to see how perhaps mine could have been different if I had not taken until the 1980s to really develop an interest in current pop and rock music (for me, it was bands like Pink Floyd, the Eagles, Rush, etc).
I have to really credit Schaumburg with the quality of writing in this book. He's detached and frank when describing his own failures or shortcomings (in his perception, at least) just as he is with his successes and accomplishments. He takes the same approach with the Beatles, whom he obviously admires, collectively and individually. He is eloquent in describing the emotions their music evoked in him, as well as the disappointments brought about by their all-too-human failings.
What I didn't expect from this volume was the wonderful dissection of almost all of the songs and albums in the Beatles catalog. Schaumburg uses his musical background and training to discuss the technical merits and flaws of the various compositions, the emotions or atmosphere they touch, and how well each song fits into the album it's in, and into the Beatles corpus as a whole. Honestly, the thing his song descriptions reminded me of most was good whisky tasting notes: you may not get the same flavors as the reviewer every time, but there's no doubting his enjoyment of the subject and his qualifications to speak on it. This is all the more remarkable when you consider that Schaumburg would have only been in his early 20s when he wrote this book!
Perhaps the most poignant aspect of Growing Up With the Beatles is the fact that it was published in 1976, six years after the band broke up. At the end of the book Schaumburg includes a sort of "where are they now" section, with several pages devoted to the solo career of each of the Fab Four. He ends each one with a personal note from himself to the artist, like "Bless you, George," after discussing Harrison's emerging spirituality, and "Be ever so, Paul!" when referring to McCartney's quote, "My ambition now is just to be happy." To John Lennon, Schaumburg wrote: "Survive well, John." Painful, in light of what was to happen four short years later.
Maybe that's because when the Beatles exploded onto the American scene in 1964, I was only two years old. When I got old enough to notice the popular music my older sisters were playing, the Beatles were already so ingrained into the fabric of American culture that they were everywhere on radio and TV. They were like the clouds or the grass--I just didn't notice them.
Not so with Ron Schaumburg, growing up outside Kansas City in the '60s. He was eight years older than I, and already developing a pre-teen's sensitivity to music and pop culture, so the discovery of the Beatles was to him a life-altering event. In this book, he carefully chronicles every Beatles album, TV appearance, concert, and film, along with events like marriages or badly worded press conferences that had an influence on the band's popularity. But far from being just a standard history of the Beatles, Ron skillfully weaves in the events of his own life at the time, and how his interactions with Beatles music influenced those events or his reactions to them.
I identified heavily with Schaumburg as I read along, because despite our age difference, his childhood and teen years seems to have paralleled my own in many ways. Like me, he was an introvert who found solace and companionship in books, and through reading gained a love of writing as well. He was a science fiction fan, and a movie aficionado. He was involved in Scouting, and developed a few but very close friends. In many ways our lives were so similar it was eerie reading about his, but fascinating to see how perhaps mine could have been different if I had not taken until the 1980s to really develop an interest in current pop and rock music (for me, it was bands like Pink Floyd, the Eagles, Rush, etc).
I have to really credit Schaumburg with the quality of writing in this book. He's detached and frank when describing his own failures or shortcomings (in his perception, at least) just as he is with his successes and accomplishments. He takes the same approach with the Beatles, whom he obviously admires, collectively and individually. He is eloquent in describing the emotions their music evoked in him, as well as the disappointments brought about by their all-too-human failings.
What I didn't expect from this volume was the wonderful dissection of almost all of the songs and albums in the Beatles catalog. Schaumburg uses his musical background and training to discuss the technical merits and flaws of the various compositions, the emotions or atmosphere they touch, and how well each song fits into the album it's in, and into the Beatles corpus as a whole. Honestly, the thing his song descriptions reminded me of most was good whisky tasting notes: you may not get the same flavors as the reviewer every time, but there's no doubting his enjoyment of the subject and his qualifications to speak on it. This is all the more remarkable when you consider that Schaumburg would have only been in his early 20s when he wrote this book!
Perhaps the most poignant aspect of Growing Up With the Beatles is the fact that it was published in 1976, six years after the band broke up. At the end of the book Schaumburg includes a sort of "where are they now" section, with several pages devoted to the solo career of each of the Fab Four. He ends each one with a personal note from himself to the artist, like "Bless you, George," after discussing Harrison's emerging spirituality, and "Be ever so, Paul!" when referring to McCartney's quote, "My ambition now is just to be happy." To John Lennon, Schaumburg wrote: "Survive well, John." Painful, in light of what was to happen four short years later.
September 23, 2023
I was 12 when I borrowed my aunt’s old Beatles albums in the summer of 1979. She had every one up to Norwegian Wood, and then she stopped buying because she said they “got weird”. My fascination grew. I checked out the “weird” ones from the album section of our local library. Eventually I owned them all. It wasn’t cool to love John Lennon in 1979 in the 7th grade.
Someone gave me this book, probably around 1980. With no internet, not much tv, this book was a treasure trove. My 12 year old self studied this tribute to my favorite band like my life depended on it. I still have it to this day.
For these reasons, this book gets a spot on the favorites shelf.
Someone gave me this book, probably around 1980. With no internet, not much tv, this book was a treasure trove. My 12 year old self studied this tribute to my favorite band like my life depended on it. I still have it to this day.
For these reasons, this book gets a spot on the favorites shelf.
March 14, 2021
This brought up so many wonderful memories! Being the approximate age of the author, I experienced similar thrills with each stage of the Beatles' development growing up. I appreciated the view of a regular teen swept up in their world. For me, my first concert, first "adult" album, and a subject to discuss with girlfriends at school. Great job, fellow Beatle fan!
July 31, 2025
What can a lonely Kansas kid do, except to listen to a rock and roll band? That's the story of Ron Schaumburg, me, and a lot of us from the Sixties and Seventies. Asking the local barber to give him "a Beatles haircut", making up new lyrics to "I Am the Walrus" (hey, Lennon did it, why not we fans), or joining in on the "Paul is dead" worldwide conspiracy (Ron spots evidence on the covers of SGT. PEPPER, REVOLVER, and ABBEY ROAD), Ron speaks for a generation that knew life before the Beatles and after. For every kid whose home was dullsville until the Fab Four showed up. I suggest pairing this book with Robert Zemekis' film, I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND, about that fateful night the Beatles played on Sullivan.
August 20, 2016
I enjoyed this...probably because I'm a big Beatles fan myself and could really relate to it. Very pleasant to read.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews