You Never Give Me Your Money by Peter Doggett | Page 2 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

I’m on a fan group on FB and just had someone on there lament that they’ve been thoroughly disillusioned by this book and it made them feel really sad and like they wanted to take a shower after reading it.  On a scale of 1 to 10, how sad is this book going to make me if I read it?  I mean, I’ve already had my disillusionment happen in regards to the fabs.  I’ve read most of the good Beatles books out there already, I know that none of them were perfect angels or anything, but I haven’t gotten to this one yet.  

ewe2 said
Hi @her_magesty it is a pretty unblinking look at the aftermath of the band. I think the sadness comes from the sheer detail of it, but I wouldn’t swap that for having a clear and pretty fair account. The integrity of the book is only second to Lewisohn’s work in my opinion, it is that good, and has been recognised by others. Don’t pass it up just because it isn’t flattering; it only by learning the twists and turns that you’ll come to understand why it is such a saga.

Sadness scale 6.5/10

Information scale 11/10

edit edit: If that doesn’t tip the scale for you, consider this: it’s such a professional work and the difficulty of coming at the material from any other angle is so great, that it actually has a problem with being very likely the only in-depth look at the period and issues at all. It will be impossible to write any account without citing it, let alone quoting great wads of it (in many cases it’s the sole source from personal interviews).  

Thanks for the reply and rec.  I honestly am cool with all of this stuff and will add it to my “to read” list.  I find it all such a fascinating study into how ordinary human beings with extraordinary talents who got where they were because of equal parts talent and hard work can still be so naive, have feet of clay and make mistakes.  I also am of the mentality that for the music business and recording artists that came after, it offered a lot of tremendous lessons about what does work and what definitely doesn’t.  

I think I’m able to read about the uglier sides of the fabs and not feel too icky about it, because I see that they were just people who had some faults like the rest of us.  My opinion from what I have read is that they still managed to come out as basically good people (with some warts of course, we all have issues) under an inhumane amount of public pressure and demand. 

If you think about it, all of us can be equal parts kind and mean, depending on our moods or caprices.  I can be downright moody and mercurial at times, but I can also be really jovial, generous, and soft-hearted.  I’m sensitive and feel empathy for others.  I cry at songs and commercials that hit a certain nerve, but I can be really impatient and get set off and become frustrated and angry by little things.  I struggle with periods of depression as well.  I have to work at keeping my less positive attributes in check, because I’m human.  The biggest difference between a normie like me and someone famous is that my financial situation is small and simple enough that my husband and I know how much money we have and we don’t need to hire accountants to keep track of our spending or understand what’s going on.  There’s an anonymity and privacy I have that famous people forfeit.  No matter how hard they try to maintain boundaries and have a private life, they always have people placing them under a microscope and appraising their entire character based on every good or bad thing they’ve ever done (and it’s hard for the public not to know everything they’ve done, because people in their orbits will eventually blab all their personal business about).  Us non-famous folk have the same faults to some degree, but we don’t have the entire world examining our lives like that. 

I think people make the mistake of worshiping their favorite musicians and celebrities and placing them on a pedestal.  I’ve never felt inclined to do that.  My being a fan and having them as my favorite band doesn’t mean I think they’re gods.  In fact, what I think makes me appreciate them as artists even more is the fact that I know they were just human beings making art.  It’s a testament to what human beings, clay feet and all, are actually capable of when they put their minds and hearts into something they’re passionate about.  It’s more inspiring to me to know they were just people who did screw up.  I don’t think their accomplishments would be satisfying to admire if they were these saintly, otherworldly creatures.