The Beatles—Books, Drugs, and Immortality

2500 words • 12 minutes

It is hard to imagine that at this point anything more can be written about the Beatles—what is there, after all, to say? It’s very possible that more ink has been spilled about the Fab Four than about wars, the rise and fall of nations, and world religions. In fact, speaking of religions, over the years the aura around the Beatles has become its own form of a secular religion with its unique icons, relicts, shrines, pilgrimages to the holy places, corps of scholarly interpreters of the sacred texts, and the veneration of the saints.

Fortunately, since we never can seem to get enough of the Beatles, there are a number of quality authors to slake our constant thirst for yet more information. With this is mind, I could not resist tucking into yet two more recent books about those four cheeky lads from Liverpool who conquered the world.

My first reading was Englishman Craig Brown’s One Two Three Four—The Beatles in Time which proved to be a humorous change of pace in the Beatles genre and, surprisingly, a real page-turner. Normally by the end of 600 pages even the most interested reader has had enough, but I would have gladly welcomed 600 more—it really is that good.

What makes Brown’s book worthy is that he deftly weaves together quirky storytelling with reverence when it is demanded and irreverence when someone is taking themselves far too seriously—such as the tour guides at Paul’s and John’s childhood homes who, to be quite frank, come across as real pompous asses. Brown’s witty style helps him avoid what could be, in lesser hands, merely a monotonous litany of facts and figures. 

Paul McCartney
and Stuart Sutcliffe

To mix things up a bit, he even explores alternate histories of where a Beatle(s) might have ended up if history had taken the other fork in the road. At other times he recounts events in reverse chronological order—a technique that builds a surprising amount of suspense since you already know the ending but are curious about the start. 

Brown is certainly not out to topple any reputations with mere gossip or chit-chat or to engage, just for the sake of it, in prurient details—these were four young male rock stars after all so you can use your imagination as to what went on… Nor does he play the game of uncovering yet another “startling revelation” for, in 2020, there is not much left to startle us. Instead he describes how these gifted musicians played, night after night, the clubs and small venues in order to perfect their skills. For, as Ringo later sang during his solo career, you know it don’t come easy.  

Ah, but even the most even-handed author can be mesmerized by the Beatles and here I give Brown extra points for not, as the story unfolds, falling into a slavish hagiography with the dourness and overwrought descriptions that are present when all is praise and not honest analysis. 

Yet it is impossible, no matter how good the author, to capture the true magic that was present at the creation of this band. That magic, of course, was a once in a lifetime indescribable something that others could only dream of having and with it, the Liverpool Lads swept their competitors aside.

Yet once they captured the public’s imagination, they revealed themselves to be genuine artists by learning new things and always challenging themselves—it’s worth asking just how many groups would have had, at that young age, the maturity to step away from big stadium touring to see just how far they could go in the studio . 

Of course, as is the case in any success story, hard work brings a luck of its own and this came in the form of Brian Epstein, an honest agent/manager and George Martin, a brilliant producer and solid musician himself. These two men were the necessary links to getting the Beatles recognized, recorded, and on their way to greatness.

While the term “genius” is grossly overused, if one true definition of it is the ability to incorporate influences from all types of music and then conjure up something completely new and earth-shattering then the Beatles were undoubtedly geniuses. We should remember that very early 60’s music was still sort of plodding along with the remnants of doo-wop groups, Elvis, and Frank Sinatra. All impressive in their own right but…

Outside the recording studio Epstein took the four scruffy Liverpudlians, clothed them in bespoke suits, made them Mop-tops, and then plopped them in front of screaming, often overwhelmingly female, audiences. Looking back, perfect hindsight reveals the musical DNA that was present in those earliest performances and how it marked out the brilliance of all that was soon to follow—as if it were all predestined and only being a matter of time.

Now some music historians argue that while the Beatles did have an outsize influence on pop/rock music, they didn’t revolutionize it all by themselves as they were just one part of, for example, the British Invasion. Nor, so the argument goes, did they necessarily single-handedly change culture as it was culture that was also was constantly changing them.  

Perhaps all that is true, but the Beatles were staking out some pretty forward territory. Nearly every album took them in a new direction with the composition, recording, and vocal arrangements. It is breathtaking to think that only four years separated A Hard Day’s Night from what is known as the White Album with its arrangements such as Helter Skelter and Revolution Number 9

This speed and breadth of change of course always begs the question about the group’s use of drugs. I find these questions to be fair as a variety of substances did indeed propel a lot of changes in the band’s music.  Full disclosure:  As a military and airline pilot for 35 years I was required to be a paid-up member of the clean-living club, but I do consider much of the war on drugs to have often been a stupendously stupid waste of lives, resources, and time. Addiction is life-crushing and we as a society have to be careful with what we allow, but I am open to legalization where it safely fits—something the Beatles advocated fifty years ago.

Why, dear reader, do I trouble you with this personal disclosure? Well, because the second book I thoroughly enjoyed was Joe Goodden’s 2017 work Riding So Highthe Beatles and Drugs. Gooden, who is no mere hack, freely acknowledges from the outset that this topic is fraught with controversy but nevertheless is worthy of investigation. How else could the four lads have been singing, in 1964, about how they want to hold your hand and then two years later in the song Tomorrow Never Knows (Tomorrowcompose lines such as “Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream?”  

The last
photo shoot of the band. You cannot help but notice the less than convivial and harmonic body language. The Beatles had run their course as a band and sadly it was over.
The answer to that, as both John Lennon and George Harrison freely discussed was LSD—and not the mere micro-dosing of today but some really strong amounts. Both were, shall we say, rather indulgent in using acid—Harrison at least until he had a dangerous run-in with the not-so-cool hippies of Haight-Ashbury in 1967. With most things Beatles, two eventually becomes four, with Ringo and Paul dabbling as well. 

Goodden starts his narrative at the beginning and traces the Beatles use of uppers from their time when they were playing multiple sets a day in the grotty clubs of Hamburg, Germany in the early 1960s and barely staying fed, to the flow of endless unfiltered cigarettes that alone would kill many a man, weed, alcohol, and a good deal more in the following years. He is never judgmental and studiously avoids the impression that he is either glorifying the extent to which the Beatles were users (especially John) or unduly prying—this is simply the way it was and their music was, without question, influenced by it.

We can’t forget that these were, after all, young men of great artistic gifts who were living in a time when the entire British class and social structure was being turned on its head. You cannot help but be relieved that these whippet thin youngsters, whose first album appeared in 1963, were able to come out the other side of the ‘60s not only just as rail thin, but with their creative powers and ambition intact—even if the group did not hold together. This is undoubtedly a tribute to some pretty strong genetics and, in the case of Paul, perhaps an inner voice reminding him what would have been just too much.

Unfortunately, John, Ringo, and George (seemingly more so than Paul) at times struggled mightily with “issues” after the band’s breakup in 1970, sometimes violently so, but all of them, even John, seemed to have eventually come clean after some pretty difficult periods (Ringo’s actually sounds the worst). Mastering such demons could not have been easy and Goodden again steers clear of judgment—it is just a far too personal a struggle for outsiders to poke and prod at.  

Like Craig Brown’s book, I found this to be a compelling page turner. No one expects the offstage Beatles to have been angels, but one realizes that while “the lads” were riding this crest of acid, weed, and everything else, it was not the substances that brought them their ultimate success, but rather the unbelievable musical chops and creativity that under-girded their sonic forays. Since we are so bewitched by the results of their studio work, we are tempted to directly tie the wonderful music with the influence of the drugs. But we mustn’t forget that no matter how heavy their indulgences, they were masters of their musical craft first and users of drugs second. Throw into that mix a bit of luck that allowed them to avoid falling victim to being yet another “drug accident”—something many of their musical colleagues were not able to do.

In 2020 only two Beatles, Sir Richard (Ringo, now aged 80) and Sir Paul (78) are still alive. Naturally we wish that they will remain with us for many years to come, but time respects no man and one day they too will be gone—they, perhaps the four most famous men in the world, who for that bright shining decade of creative outpouring gave us some of the greatest popular music the world has known.

Many of you have had the chance to attend a concert of either Ringo and his All-Starr Band or Paul with one of his ensembles–Wings, for example. Both men have stayed busy in their post Beatles career and seem as lively today as they did 60 years ago—60 years ago when Sir Winston Churchill was still alive and stereo recordings were slowly replacing mono as the norm. Yet even today Paul and Ringo can still fill any of the world’s great auditoriums and are, in the best and truest sense of the word, A-list entertainers.

Today many music fans, whether young or old, consider themselves to be too cool or edgy to express a fondness for the Fab Four and are reluctant to admit to being fans of a mere “pop” group. These are, of course, the fans who think of themselves in the outlaw mold of the Rolling Stones or the heavier blues tinged Led Zeppelin. Or they might prefer the 1980’s rock scene, the metal or grunge era of the 90’s, or 1001 other musical styles and groups.

But…ah, yes… Juxtapose if you will the Beatles first album Please Please Me from 1963 (Please) and their last studio collaboration in 1969 Abbey Road (Abbey). If you are pressed for time just look at the songs  Ask Me Why from the first album and Because from the latter. The first album was recorded, under the direction of George Martin, in a single 13-hour long session with very few retakes—you can actually feel the beautiful rawness in it. Six years later, also under the direction of Martin, the group rolled out Abbey Road with its much deeper and layered sound.  

Yet the similarities are obvious. Those melodies and harmonies of those early days can still be heard in 1969—arrangements that, by the way, seemed to have set the stage for music as varied as Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon to Queen’s A Night at the Opera and everything in between.

The Fab Four famously started the song All My Loving (Lovingwith the phrase “Close your eyes.” One of the great things in life is that we can indeed close our eyes and as we do, we can hear four musicians whose sound is as every bit as fresh today and it was when they rasped out these lyrics 60 years ago. The Beatles set out on an incredible musical journey and fortunately for us, they took us along on that magical ride.  

I look forward to your thoughts in the comment section below.

Some additional notes:

1. Serious Beatles fans might take me to task for not mentioning the author Mark Lewisohn. Lewisohn is rightfully considered to be the world’s leading expert on the Beatles. He is thorough, accurate, and an excellent writer who is working on a full three volume biography of the Beatles. My discussion of Brown and Goodden is not meant as an oversight of Lewisohn, but rather that I just wanted to discuss these two authors in this article. You can find Lewisohn’s work on Amazon.

2. Another excellent book is of course the Beatles’ Anthology. This large and heavy work (2 Kilos at least!) was published with the direct input of Paul, George, and Ringo and is considered the must read for any Beatles fan.

3. One of the great “what if” games is which Beatle you would want to be if you could magically transport yourself back in time and be another person. Brown makes a good case for being Paul McCartney in the years 1963 to 1966—around the time he was living at his girlfriend Jane Asher’s place. Her family was an inexhaustible font of discussion for him and his fecund mind was at full-throttle in exploring the world and ideas. It is here, barely in his twenties, that he wrote Yesterday and any number of easily recognizable hits. By the way, Jane Asher’s brother was Peter Asher of Peter and Gordon fame and for whom Paul penned the song A World Without Love with its very McCartney-esq sound and lyrics.

4. In a follow-up to note #3 I sometimes think I would have preferred to have been Ringo. I find the rhythms he came up to be brilliant. He served the song and never overpowered it as is the habit of all too many drummers these days who want to be heard. His work on Rain is nothing short of inspired. Plus, he really was just a regular bloke who made good. There probably is no one on the earth who is less pretentious than Ringo Starr.

5. As for Beatles movies, if you have not seen it, I would recommend Ron Howard’s film The Beatles: Eight Days a Week about the lead-up to Beatles’ decision to stop touring in 1966. The recent (2019) film Yesterday is a fantastically fun alternate history that looks at a world in which the Beatles had never existed. Of course, there is always the classic 1964 movie A Hard Day’s Night even if the follow-up of sorts, entitled Help!, is not quite that good.

6. Joe Goodden is also the creator of the Beatles Bible website (https://www.beatlesbible.com) which is a stupendous go-to resource for all things Beatles. You can lose yourself for hours in this top-quality plunge into Beatle history and I encourage you to do so as a way to pass an evening.

7. Of course not all writing about the Beatles is just happy sunshine. The late Ian MacDonald’s work Revolution in the Head—The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties takes a more scholarly critique to the Beatles’ catalog of work and their artistic accomplishments, or at times lack thereof, during course of their recording careers. It is well worth the read, but be prepared that he can be rather severe in laying out his arguments—no matter how well founded they might be.

9 Comments

  1. Phil

    Thanks for the trip down memory (Penny?) lane. Your wonderful writing brought a smile to my face on a rainy day at the gliderprort.

    Reply
  2. Bill Driver

    Thanks for mentioning the 2019 Yesterday movie Neal. I hadn’t thought much about The Beatles this century (other than seeing Ringo’s All Star Band & Paul as a regular “guest”of everyone)and the movie was a pleasant diversion. It’s impossible to overstate their influence on modern rock & roll, and especially my generation(NOT punning The Who!). Their peak years ‘63-69 encapsulated my junior & high school years. To say it was a new paradigm in “white music” is obvious. Their R&B influences were melded into a “new” sound that was profoundly refreshing. And their hair was revolutionary!

    Reply
  3. Claudine

    I remember when I “discovered” the Beatles as a teen. I stayed up for most of a 48 hour marathon Beatles retro on a local (Florida) radio station. After reading this, I had to play ‘Here, There and Everywhere’ and ‘In My Life’.

    Reply
  4. Michael Schier

    One of my responsibilities as a grandfather is to introduce them to everything music, starting with the Beatles. First Yellow Submarine, then Here Comes the Sun and then???? Hopefully by the time 6th grade rolls around, they’ll all be humming those wonderful songs from an array of albums.

    Reply
  5. Annie L

    This was so fun to read! I have always loved The Beatles since I heard them for the first time when I was eight. Thank you for your intellect, I am excited to learn more from your writings!

    Reply
  6. Max Jewell

    Great essay! I love your outlook and perspective on such an iconic group.

    Reply
  7. Lauren

    Really enjoyed this essay, Neal! It’s a lot of fun to read with meaningful info. Will you now cover the Beach Boys?

    Reply
  8. Paul Crookall

    The Beatles, like any artist, are present in their work.
    It is no more necessary to analyse their motives and milieux
    than it is to imagine that War and Peace will deliver up more
    meaning by attempting to set Leo Tolstoy in his time.

    What is important is to realise that they landed at EMI
    almost fully formed, as an examination of their early songs
    – especially the above-mentioned B-side, Ask Me Why –
    with its jazz influenced changes, assymetric verse forms
    and its crazy hop-step-and jump rhythm arrangement
    (that they could perform !) will quickly reveal.

    This was no raw R’n’B band that suddenly blossomed into genius,
    they and hundreds of groups, poets and stand-up comedians came from
    a North of England performing tradition that was created by the civil disabilities
    imposed upon Roman Catholics after the seventeenth century political revolutions.

    Jimmy McCartney was a weekend band leader
    and his influence shows in his son’s hankering
    for Tin Pan Alley arrangements on Beatles’ albums.
    Nor should it be forgotten that John Lennon
    was no mean piano player as a young man
    and had had a formal training in music.

    Before, during and after WWII, Liverpool was already awash
    with small groups playing dance music in venues that The Beatles
    frequented and in which they later performed, dancehalls such as
    The Grafton, built by the Platt family, The Rialto, and every
    Co-operative Retail Society shop, that had an upstairs room
    and bar in which weekend social life flourished,
    then there were extraordinary entrepreneur-priests
    like Fr Ignatius Tierney, whose rock and roll nights
    at St Anthony of Padua cleared his parish debts,
    a feat he repeated at St Patrick’s in Manchester.

    ‘Fr Ignition’ put on every Merseybeat era ‘name band’
    of the early 60s except for The Beatles and The Stones.
    One of Liverpool’s lost treasures were the autographed
    photographs of those bands, destroyed when his successor
    closed the parish club because it profited from the demon alcohol….

    Reply
    • NealSchier

      Fantastic info Paul – many thanks for these thoughts. Did Manchester have as lively a music scene as Liverpool did? Mark Lewisohn maintains that only Liverpool could have spawned the Beatles, but surely good things were happening elsewhere? If a genie would grant me three wishes, one of them would be to go back in time as a teenager to stand/sit in the Cavern Club and listen to what was going on…

      Reply

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9 Comments

  1. Phil

    Thanks for the trip down memory (Penny?) lane. Your wonderful writing brought a smile to my face on a rainy day at the gliderprort.

    Reply
  2. Bill Driver

    Thanks for mentioning the 2019 Yesterday movie Neal. I hadn’t thought much about The Beatles this century (other than seeing Ringo’s All Star Band & Paul as a regular “guest”of everyone)and the movie was a pleasant diversion. It’s impossible to overstate their influence on modern rock & roll, and especially my generation(NOT punning The Who!). Their peak years ‘63-69 encapsulated my junior & high school years. To say it was a new paradigm in “white music” is obvious. Their R&B influences were melded into a “new” sound that was profoundly refreshing. And their hair was revolutionary!

    Reply
  3. Claudine

    I remember when I “discovered” the Beatles as a teen. I stayed up for most of a 48 hour marathon Beatles retro on a local (Florida) radio station. After reading this, I had to play ‘Here, There and Everywhere’ and ‘In My Life’.

    Reply
  4. Michael Schier

    One of my responsibilities as a grandfather is to introduce them to everything music, starting with the Beatles. First Yellow Submarine, then Here Comes the Sun and then???? Hopefully by the time 6th grade rolls around, they’ll all be humming those wonderful songs from an array of albums.

    Reply
  5. Annie L

    This was so fun to read! I have always loved The Beatles since I heard them for the first time when I was eight. Thank you for your intellect, I am excited to learn more from your writings!

    Reply
  6. Max Jewell

    Great essay! I love your outlook and perspective on such an iconic group.

    Reply
  7. Lauren

    Really enjoyed this essay, Neal! It’s a lot of fun to read with meaningful info. Will you now cover the Beach Boys?

    Reply
  8. Paul Crookall

    The Beatles, like any artist, are present in their work.
    It is no more necessary to analyse their motives and milieux
    than it is to imagine that War and Peace will deliver up more
    meaning by attempting to set Leo Tolstoy in his time.

    What is important is to realise that they landed at EMI
    almost fully formed, as an examination of their early songs
    – especially the above-mentioned B-side, Ask Me Why –
    with its jazz influenced changes, assymetric verse forms
    and its crazy hop-step-and jump rhythm arrangement
    (that they could perform !) will quickly reveal.

    This was no raw R’n’B band that suddenly blossomed into genius,
    they and hundreds of groups, poets and stand-up comedians came from
    a North of England performing tradition that was created by the civil disabilities
    imposed upon Roman Catholics after the seventeenth century political revolutions.

    Jimmy McCartney was a weekend band leader
    and his influence shows in his son’s hankering
    for Tin Pan Alley arrangements on Beatles’ albums.
    Nor should it be forgotten that John Lennon
    was no mean piano player as a young man
    and had had a formal training in music.

    Before, during and after WWII, Liverpool was already awash
    with small groups playing dance music in venues that The Beatles
    frequented and in which they later performed, dancehalls such as
    The Grafton, built by the Platt family, The Rialto, and every
    Co-operative Retail Society shop, that had an upstairs room
    and bar in which weekend social life flourished,
    then there were extraordinary entrepreneur-priests
    like Fr Ignatius Tierney, whose rock and roll nights
    at St Anthony of Padua cleared his parish debts,
    a feat he repeated at St Patrick’s in Manchester.

    ‘Fr Ignition’ put on every Merseybeat era ‘name band’
    of the early 60s except for The Beatles and The Stones.
    One of Liverpool’s lost treasures were the autographed
    photographs of those bands, destroyed when his successor
    closed the parish club because it profited from the demon alcohol….

    Reply
    • NealSchier

      Fantastic info Paul – many thanks for these thoughts. Did Manchester have as lively a music scene as Liverpool did? Mark Lewisohn maintains that only Liverpool could have spawned the Beatles, but surely good things were happening elsewhere? If a genie would grant me three wishes, one of them would be to go back in time as a teenager to stand/sit in the Cavern Club and listen to what was going on…

      Reply

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