The Beatles Lyrics: The Stories Behind the Music, Including the Handwritten Drafts of More Than 100 Classic Beatles Songs

by Hunter Davies (Editor)

Overview

"Rich with insider authenticity...Gives us a glimpse into genius": the definitive book of Beatles songs, shown as first written by their own hands and put into authoritative context (Wall Street Journal).

For the Beatles, writing songs was a process that could happen anytime — songs we all know by heart often began as a scribble on the back of an envelope or on hotel stationery. These original documents have ended up scattered across the world at museums and universities and with collectors and friends. Many have never been published before. More than 100 songs and lyrics are reproduced in The Beatles Lyrics, providing Hunter Davies a unique platform to tell the story of the music.

The intimacy of these reproductions — there are sections crossed out and rewritten, and words tossed into the final recordings that were never written down — ensures that The Beatles Lyrics will be a treasure for musicians, scholars, and fans everywhere.

"A fascinating, intimate glimpse into the creative process behind some of the greatest pop songs ever written." —Christian Science Monitor

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316247177
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	10/20/2015
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	126,034
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Hunter Davies is the author of over 40 books, including the New York Times bestseller The John Lennon Letters, and has written for The Guardian, New Statesman, and The Sunday Times. He is married to the novelist and biographer Margaret Forster, and they live in London.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Love Me Do 27

2 With the Beatles 45

3 A Hard Day's Night 61

4 Beatles for Sale 79

5 Help! 89

6 Rubber Soul 109

7 Revolver 137

8 Strawberry Fields Forever 179

9 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 189

10 Magical Mystery Tour 233

11 The White Album 261

12 Yellow Submarine 307

13 Let It Be 320

14 Abbey Road 335

Discography 357

Bibliography 363

Acknowledgements 365

Index 367

Editorial Reviews

"Rich with insider authenticity. To paraphrase Walt Whitman, Mr. Davies was the man, he suffered, he was there.... The book itself-with Mr. Davies's expert guidance-gives us a glimpse into genius. No better monument could mark the 50th anniversary of the Beatles arrival in America, nothing, that is, short of coming up with a hitherto lost scrap of paper with a Beatles lyric on it, wittily doodled on."—Alexander Theroux, Wall Street Journal

"Beatles expert Hunter Davies demonstrates that the Fab Four wrote their songs just about anywhere—many began as a scribble on the back of an envelope, on a napkin, or on hotel stationery. The collection reproduces more than one original manuscript, granting the reader an all-access look behind the music."—Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Publishers Weekly

"A fascinating, intimate glimpse into the creative process behind some of the greatest pop songs ever written."—Christian Science Monitor

"A stunning collection."—BookPage

A "chatty, knowledgeable, readable account of the back stories behind all the Beatles lyrics."—The Seattle Times

"An unprecedented glimpse into the true genius of the band."—Alan Petrucelli, Examiner.com

"This tome still finds some fresh ground to break and observations to make for diehard and casual fans alike, often derived from their handwritten words."—Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press

From the Publisher