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Beatles Book Reviews on my Blog
3 April 2014
12.58pm
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Zig
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a-hard-days-night-ringo-8Prudence Farrow

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3 April 2014
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DrBeatle
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Vera, Chuck, and Dave?  a-hard-days-night-john-6

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3 April 2014
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Ron Nasty
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DrBeatle said
Vera, Chuck, and Dave?  a-hard-days-night-john-6

No, they need to be real people who featured in Beatles lyrics.

Like Mr. Kite. Or Mr. Henderson. Or Eleanor Rigby .

"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty

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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966

3 April 2014
3.18pm
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DrBeatle
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Ron Nasty said

DrBeatle said
Vera, Chuck, and Dave?  a-hard-days-night-john-6

No, they need to be real people who featured in Beatles lyrics.

Like Mr. Kite. Or Mr. Henderson. Or Eleanor Rigby .

I know, I was just being a bit cheeky :D

 

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3 April 2014
9.31pm
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IveJustSeenAFaceo
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Mary McCartney

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4 April 2014
2.16pm
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DrBeatle
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Her Majesty (ie QE II)

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4 April 2014
8.32pm
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Zig
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Since we are up to Abbey Road (nice one, DrB), wasn’t Polythene Pam a real person?

IMS, I believe her name was Pat.

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4 April 2014
11.57pm
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There was a Pat and John did meet her, back in ’62 or ’63 (i forget which).

From wiki

“That was me, remembering a little event with a woman in Jersey, and a man who was England’s answer to Allen Ginsberg…I met him when we were on tour and he took me back to his apartment and I had a girl and he had one he wanted me to meet. He said she dressed up in polythene, which she did. She didn’t wear jack boots and kilts, I just sort of elaborated. Perverted sex in a polythene bag. Just looking for something to write about.” The song is sung in a very strong Liverpudlian “Scouse” accent.

Polythene is a British variant of the word polyethylene, a plastic material. The name ‘Polythene Pam ‘ came from the nickname of an early Beatles’ fan from the Cavern Club days, named Pat Hodgett (now Dawson), who would often eat polythene. She became known as ‘Polythene Pat’.She said in an interview, “I used to eat polythene all the time. I’d tie it in knots and then eat it. Sometimes I even used to burn it and then eat it when it got cold.”

 

 

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20 June 2014
6.55pm
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Damn it’s been a while since I’ve posted the links here! I’ll go back and update, but here’s the latest one from today: The Beatles in Cleveland!
http://rnrchemist.blogspot.com…..eland.html

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29 June 2014
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Ahhh Girl
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Since this is where this conversation about people who are named in Beatles songs developed, I will put this post here. I collected all the names, threw in some more I thought about, and grouped them by album. All four Beatles are found somewhere in a song a-hard-days-night-john-1a-hard-days-night-paul-7a-hard-days-night-george-10ahdn_ringo_09

If anyone thinks of any real person named in a Bealtes song that has been missed, let me know, and I will add them to this post to keep it all together.

Live At The BBC

Matchbox = John (Lennon) and Ringo (Starr)

Beatles For Sale

Honey Don’t = George (Harrison)

Revolver

Taxman = Wilson (Harold) & Heath (Edward)

Eleanor Rigby = Eleanor Rigby (See Joe’s page for more on this name and Father McKenzie)

Doctor Robert = Doctor Robert (Freymann)

Sgt Pepper ’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds = Lucy (Vodden née O’Donnell)

Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite ! = Mr. Kite (William) & The Hendersons (John and Agnes) & Pablo Fanques (His real name was William Darby)

Magical Mystery Tour

I Am The Walrus = Edgar Allan Poe & Lucy in the sky gets a mention

The Beatles (White Album )

Dear Prudence = Prudence (Farrow)

Glass Onion = Paul (McCartney)

I’m So Tired = Sir Walter Raleigh

Julia = Julia (Lennon)

Yer Blues = Dylan (Bob)

Revoultion 1 = Chairman Mao (Zedong)

Abbey Road

Polythene Pam = Polythene Pam (Pat Dawson née Hodgett)

She Came In Through The Bathroom Window = *

Her Majesty = Her Majesty (Queen Elizabeth II)

Let It Be

Dig It = B.B. King & Doris Day & Matt Busby & Georgie Wood

Let It Be = Mother Mary (McCartney)

For You Blue = Elmore James

Past Masters

Ballad of John and Yoko = Peter Brown

*This may be a stretch, but quit in “quit the police department” comes from Eugene Quits.

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20 August 2014
3.26pm
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DrBeatle
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I’ve just reviewed the bio on Paul, Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney : http://rnrchemist.blogspot.com…..-paul.html

Not a perfect book, but damn good and probably the best I’ve read on him as an overall biography of his life. Some things about it annoyed me and there were some inaccuracies, but overall it was quite good.

Anyone here read it? Thoughts?

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19 November 2014
4.21am
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Here’s a new book and review from tonight…honestly, a pretty lousy book called The Beatles Through Headphones 

http://rnrchemist.blogspot.com…..s.html?m=1

Anyone here read this? It sounded good initially but the book fell far short. An inessential and inconsequential book, especially for fellow Beatles fans on here who know everything about them. Way too many errors of basic facts for me to take seriously as a scholarly or serious work.

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19 November 2014
10.56am
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Always like reading your reviews @DrBeatle. 

One thing. You said “Wrong about “A Beginning” being intended as an introduction for the White Album or for “Good Night ” (it was intended as the introduction to “Don’t Pass Me By “)”.

I’ve wondere about that since John C. Winn wrote in ‘That Magic Feeling’ for the 12 July 1968 session for ‘Don’t Pass Me By ‘: 

It’s also likely that the so-called tinkling piano intro was added during this session. Mark Lewisohn indicates that this was taped on July 22, and this seems to be corroborated by the tape log, which indicates that four takes of “Don’t Pass Me By (intro)” were recorded that day, on the same tape as “Good Night .” However, the “tinkling piano” appears on the rough mix (A) given by Ringo to Peter Sellers. This is almost unquestionably RM4 from July 12, of which Ringo took home a copy that night.
So what is the mysterious “intro” recorded on the twenty-second? Most likely it’s the orchestral track released on Anthology 3 as “A Beginning.” This lasts just more than 47 seconds, and Lewisohn claims that the piano edit piece was trimmed down from 45 seconds to 8. It’s difficult to imagine that piano rambling on for 45 seconds, let alone needing four takes to perfect.”

In the Anthology 3 booklet, Lewisohn surmises that “A Beginning” was intended to open “Don’t Pass Me By.” In fact, it had already been used as “a beginning” for the film Yellow Submarine , where it’s heard right after the opening credits. Since that film had already premiered, it’s anyone’s guess what George Martin was doing rerecording the piece five days later, unless he was trying to get a head start on the soundtrack album (his film score had been taped at Olympic and would be remade for LP release at EMI October 22 and twenty-third).

So was ‘A Beginning’ actually intended for ‘DPMB’? Seems an odd move to include an instrumental that had already been in the film? Mybe it was a tie in but still.

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

19 November 2014
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Thanks, @meanmistermustard!

There’s certainly been a big debate about that song, especially on the Steve Hoffman forums (where I’m also active) so I agree with you, it’s not so cut and dry. The general consensus seems to be that it was either intended for DPMB or that it was always just intended as incidental music for the YS film (which is where it ended up anyway). Even though it was recorded at the time of “Good Night ” (which makes sense…might as well record it while the orchestra is already in the studio!)  I’d never heard of either of the intentions the author stated, which is why I called them out, especially because he doesn’t have any citations to back his claims up. 

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19 November 2014
1.33pm
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meanmistermustard
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Yeah, the author was spouting drivel. Certainly one book i will be avoiding, which is a shame as it has a cool premise. Maybe someone will take the idea and write a decent book on what you hear thru the headphones; one that won’t result in the book getting flung out the window every night before you go and get it back because its Beatley.ahdn_paul_01

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

19 November 2014
7.27pm
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DrBeatle
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meanmistermustard said
Yeah, the author was spouting drivel. Certainly one book i will be avoiding, which is a shame as it has a cool premise. Maybe someone will take the idea and write a decent book on what you hear thru the headphones; one that won’t result in the book getting flung out the window every night before you go and get it back because its Beatley.hahdn_paul_01

Haha! I agree with you, the premise is great but the execution was piss poor. 

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31 December 2014
2.48am
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DrBeatle
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I revisited an older book, one I hadn’t read since it first came out almost 20 years ago. As you’ll see, it’s a good book but my opinion of it has cooled considerably:

http://rnrchemist.blogspot.com…..-life.html

 

Anyone else here read this one? Thoughts?

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31 December 2014
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meanmistermustard
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I read it years ago and thought some of the details and information were excellent as Hertsgaard had access to some of the studio tapes (something that pissed off Yoko and got Lewisohn shunted from the ‘Lennon Anthology’). There were some really stupid mistakes however and at times got bogged down in boring details that even the hardcore fan would think twice in mentioning.

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

13 February 2015
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DrBeatle
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Some Fun Tonight: The Backstage Story of How the Beatles Rocked America

 

http://rnrchemist.blogspot.com…..stage.html

 

I cannot highly recommend this book enough! Who else has read it?

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13 February 2015
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meanmistermustard
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I’ve heard very good tings about it but its $250 to buy and so way off my justification reasoning table when purchasing books. Thanks for your review and post tho.apple01

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