The Beatles Bible is an online repository of information on The Beatles from a range of sources. It is an unofficial site and not affiliated in any way with Apple Corps, The Beatles or anyone else connected to the group or their representatives. Got that? Good.
The Beatles Bible is the web’s biggest Beatles fan site. There is currently a total of 5,284 historical posts, and a further 1,481 features on songs, albums and more, totalling 4,610,771 words across the website. Phew.
About the author
My name’s Joe. By day I’m a writer and website producer. I’ve published a book, Riding So High – The Beatles and Drugs, and also work on the Bowie Bible. I’m a bit obsessed with music.
I was born in England in 1976, and grew up with the Fab Four’s music. I first listened to them properly in around 1990 when my older brother played me ‘A Day In The Life’. From then on nothing was quite the same.
The Beatles Bible crept into life in March 2008. I wanted to flex my writing muscles, and to make a web project on a subject I was passionate about. The aim was to collate as much information as I could lay my hands on about the group, to have an outlet for all the Beatles-related facts that I’d been carrying around in my head for years, and to put it in one place for fans of the band.
The Beatles Bible is written and published in Cardiff, Wales, UK.
Spelling and grammar generally leans towards standard UK English; however, where possible information about The Beatles’ success in both the US and the UK has been included.
A note on The Beatles’ output
During the 1960s the US music industry frequently bowdlerised The Beatles albums and singles, releasing often bizarre collections which often bore little resemblance to the band’s progression and chronology. For this reason, for the most part this site uses their UK output as the standard.
In some cases, such as the Yesterday… And Today album, the US market produced a noteworthy release, yet for the most part the UK releases, from Please Please Me to Let It Be – as reissued worldwide on CD in 1987 – are considered the Beatles’ canon.
One notable exception to this, however, is the Magical Mystery Tour compilation. Whereas EMI released a double EP set containing the soundtrack to The Beatles’ 1967 TV movie, in the US Capitol combined the songs with extras which had been released elsewhere as singles, to make a full album. These songs included ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, ‘Penny Lane’, Hello, Goodbye, and ‘I Am The Walrus’. The full album was wisely re-released by Parlophone/EMI in 1976, and on CD in 1987 (and remastered and reissued in 2009).
A note about sources
The Beatles Bible is a mixture of original research and fact-based information from a range of sources. All writing on this site is original, and should not be reproduced without explicit written permission from the site owner.
The sources used are too numerous to mention every one. However, these books proved invaluable during the research process:
- Anthology by The Beatles. This should be on the bookshelves of every discerning fan. The inside story on The Beatles’ career, in their own words. What more could you ask for? There are plenty of fantastic photos too.
- The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story Of The Abbey Road Years by Mark Lewisohn. This exceptional book was published in 1988, after EMI gave Beatles expert Lewisohn unprecedented access to the tapes from the band’s recording sessions. Some of the information has since been improved upon, with new information that has since come to light, but it’s still a fantastic insight into what went on in the studio.
- The Complete Beatles Chronicle by Mark Lewisohn. This follow-up combined the (slightly edited and updated) text from the Recording Sessions book with an exhaustive account of their whole career, including live shows, radio appearances, recording sessions and much more. It is a definitive reference book for Beatles fans. Again, new information has emerged since it was published in 1992, but no other single author has done more for our understanding of The Beatles’ career than Lewisohn.
- Tune In by Mark Lewisohn. Any book by the brilliant ML is worth reading, but Tune In is sure the final word in the band’s biography. Look out for further instalments in the All These Years sequence.
- Revolution In The Head: The Beatles’ Records And The Sixties by the late Ian MacDonald. This absorbing and enlightening book should be owned by anyone interested in the music of The Beatles. Published in 1994, MacDonald took each song from The Beatles’ core canon (ie all the songs released by the band prior to Anthology), detailing the backgrounds, recording methods and wider cultural impact. The definitive version is the 2005 revision, published according to plans MacDonald had made prior to his suicide in 2003.
- Many Years From Now by Barry Miles. This is as close to a Paul McCartney autobiography as you’re likely to read. McCartney wanted to set the record straight and tell his side of the story. It focuses mainly on the Beatle years, and although a lot of the material was also covered in Anthology, it’s definitely worth a look.
- The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film by Richie Unterberger. An exhaustive guide to The Beatles’ bootlegs, film and radio appearances, and unreleased studio and home recordings. From The Quarrymen’s performance on 6 July 1957 (the day Lennon met McCartney) to the drawn out and often unhappy Get Back/Let It Be sessions in 1969, and more, it’s all here. A great companion piece to the Lewisohn books.
Photographs have been taken from a range of sources. Where possible I have tried to use images believed to be in the public domain. Copyright holders are welcome to contact me and I will either take down the image or provide a suitable text credit. I mean no offence.
Comments and forum policy
Generally people are free to post what they want on the site. However, I’d like to keep the quality higher than your average YouTube page. So, meaningless, offensive or abusive comments may be removed. Spam messages certainly will be. Constructive discussions of The Beatles’ music and history certainly won’t, as long as they’re appropriate.
I like comments to be relevant to the page in question. So, if you choose to start an anti-Yoko Ono rant on the ‘She Said She Said’ page, it probably won’t get published. I reserve the right to edit comments to improve the discourse, whether it’s to keep the conversation flowing or to amend typos. If, however, you hate The Beatles, don’t bother letting me know – try another site instead.
If you spot any errors, either factual or grammatical, please point them out. The easiest way is normally by leaving a comment on the relevant page. Corrections may be made without the comment being published, but all suggestions are gratefully received nonetheless. If you submit a factual correction, please provide a citation or source so it’s clear that it’s not just your opinion. However, please remember that this site is written in UK English, so your idea of a spelling mistake may be different from mine.
The Fab Forum is a place for freewheeling discussions about anything to do with The Beatles. Generally this is moderated with a light touch, but you should read the forum rules and help guides before posting for the first time.