Ticket To Read

Title: The Beatles: The Biography
Author: Bob Spitz
Year: 2005

I gotta be honest here. I've never been much of a Beatles fan.

Ok, now that those words have sunk in and everyone’s sharpening their axes in order to lop my head off, let me explain. Let’s imagine, just for a moment, that you didn’t grow up listening to the Beatles. What if you didn’t have parents who played Rubber Soul all the time? What if, in fact, your only early life exposure to the Beatles was a little VHS copy of Yellow Submarine? Well, welcome to my wonderful, Beatle-less childhood. It wasn’t until I really started getting into music that I really encountered the Beatles. Without all those fuzzy, early adolescent memories attached to their music, they just don’t do much for me.

This is where Bob Spitz’s book comes in handy. An absolutely intimidating tome of Beatles lore, clocking in well over 900 pages, it provides a fantastic background for one of the most written-about bands in history. Although it spends far too much time tracing the family histories of anyone even closely related to the band, the sheer scope of information being offered is incredible. You also get a very strong sense of each Beatle over the course of the book. At least in my mind, I ended up annoyed at Paul and filled with empathy for George. I also learned that John Lennon was a huge asshole. These are the kinds of important facts you can learn from this book.

I’m still not a raving Beatles fanatic. They’re fine, plenty of good songs, but none that have really carved out their own special place in my heart. However, after reading this book, which provided some crucial context for their music, I find I can listen to their records and enjoy them much more. Knowing the personal circumstances and emotions that went into the songs gives you another way to look at them. Despite its length, this is an excellent musical reference book and probably the most definitive version of the Beatles story in print.

PS: I apologize for the horrific pun that I used for the title of this post. It was too tempting.