There must by now be well over 2,000 different books about the Beatles–by different I mean with their own ISBN numbers if nothing else. So many do repeat the same old stuff. On this project, it was the music that mattered to me, so I would like to recommend the following music books which I found most useful.
Steve Turner, A Hard Day’s Write, Sevenoaks, 2012
Steve Turner, The Gospel According to the Beatles, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, 2006
Ian MacDonald, Revolution in the Head, Pimlico, 2005
Kevin Howlett, The Beatles, The BBC Archives, 1962-70, BBC Books, 2013
Wilfrid Mellers, Twilight of the Gods, Faber, 1973
Colin Campbell and Allan Murphy, Things We Said Today: The Complete Lyrics and a Concordance to the Beatles’ Songs 1962–1970, Pierian Press, Ann Arbor, 1980
George Harrison, I Me Mine: Genesis 1980 (limited edition), W.H. Allen, 1982
Stuart Madow and Jeff Sobul, The Colour of Your Dreams, Dorrance Publishing, Pittsburgh, 1992
William J. Dowlding, Beatles Songs, Fireside, NY, 1989
Stephen Spignesi and Michael Lewis, 100 Best Beatles Songs, Tess Press, NY 2004
Jean-Michel Guesdeon and Philippe Margotin, All the Songs, Black Dog and Leventhal, NY, 2013
Written by people who were there, or interviewed them:
Hunter Davies, The Beatles (1968); latest updated edition, Ebury, 2009, from which I have lifted quotes shamelessly.
Mark Lewisohn, The Beatles: All These Years, Vol. l, Tune In, Little, Brown, 2013
Barry Miles, Paul McCartney–Many Years from Now, Secker & Warburg, 1997
Olivia Harrison and Mark Holborn, eds, George Harrison, Living in the Material World, Abrams, 2011
George Martin and Jeremy Hornsby, All You Need Is Ears, Macmillan, 1979
Andy Peebles, The Lennon Tapes, BBC Books 1981
Jan Wenner, Lennon Remembers, Verso, 2002
David Sheff, The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Playboy Press, 1981
Jonathan Cott, Days That I’ll Remember, Doubleday, 2013
Pete Shotton, In My Life, Coronet, 1984
Derek Taylor, Fifty Years Adrift, Genesis, 1984
Ray Coleman, John Lennon, two volumes, Futura, 1984
Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Hamlyn, 1988
Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Chronicle, Hamlyn, 1992
Julian Lennon and Brian Southall, Beatles Memorabilia, Carlton, 2010
Michael McCartney, Remember, Recollections and Photographs, Merehurst, 1992
Bill Harry, The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia, Virgin, 1992
Apple Corps, The Beatles Anthology, Cassell, 2000
Spencer Leigh, Brother Can You Spare a Rhyme, 100 Years of Hit Song Writing, Spencer Leigh Ltd, 2000
Keith Badman, The Beatles Off the Record, Omnibus, 2000
David Bedford, Liddypool, Birthplace of the Beatles, Dalton Watson, 2009
Stuart Maconie, The People’s Songs: The Story of Modern Britain in 50 Records, Ebury, 2013
If you know of any manuscript copies of Beatles lyrics (i.e. songs written and performed by them as Beatles) not included in this book, or if you think I have wrongly transcribed any of their handwriting, do please let me know: Johnlennonletters@hotmail.co.uk