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10.32pm
25 June 2022
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Hello fellow bug folk, long time no see! It’s been very busy at Maddingway Lane so I haven’t been as present as I’d like but I’m still reading lots of Beatle books! I have been chewing my way through a lot of them. I have noticed that there are a lot of books covering the break up and the Sgt. Pepper era but there aren’t that many covering their touring years.
I have read a few books on this topic that I really liked:
Ticket To Ride by Larry Kane – this book is more of a memoir but Kane’s affection for the boys makes it really charming. It has some really interesting details like the “hooker incident” as Kane puts it, and the moment where he stood up for himself against the boys using racial slurs was a great read. (John being self aware enough to obliquely take responsibility was nice to read.) I loved the notes he included about the concerts. I just wish there was more.
The Beatles Down Under: The 1964 Australia & New Zealand Tour by Glenn Baker – this one is an absolute tome but luckily it’s available to read on archive.org. I loved this one the most, its full of granular detail about the Australian tour, why Australians were going nuts, what radio stations did to promote the Beatles, and it also covered the New Zealand and Hong Kong legs of the tour. Lots of great quotes from the boys and even info on their groupie activities but it was done without being lurid while still being honest. For me this book is the gold standard for information about their tours!
So I guess I was wondering, are there any books like “The Beatles Down Under” about the American tours? I’m particularly interested in the 1964 tour but I’d like to know more about all of them at this point.
