"Covers the singles and albums released by labels that had the rights to only a limited number of Beatles recordings ... [including] Swan, United Artists, Decca, MGM, Atco, and Polydor"--Page 4 of cover

HELLO. Welcome to my cottage. And yes, do please come in and make yourself comfortable. So begins this collection of intimate essays by a man, who says hes in his 90s and wanting to leave a loving farewell to humankind. Hes not quite one of us, he claims, and wants to offer us a special parting gift. His gift will be accepted by some, rejected by others, come as a source of comfort or, quite possibly, outrage. Determined to keep his last days for himself, he insists on remaining anonymous. Says the writers godson and editor, Barry Head: Like many of you who will read Swansong, Im not sure what to make of it. I found it challenging and provocative, but while disagreeing with my godfather about many things, I found what he says always beguiling in its friendly, playful, non-judgmental tone. Very quirky. So quirky, in fact, that I felt it deserved publicationparticularly as it was written as a legacy for all of us. BARRY HEAD is a painter and writer, spending most of the year in Oaxaca, Mexico. We invite you to visit barryhead.com and barryheadwriter.com Original cover art 2007 by Barry Head

From Please Please Me to Abbey Road - the fascinating story of the Fab Four's creation, works, and enduring musical legacy.

This condensed paperback encyclopedia documents the enduring cultural impact and musical legacy of the Beatles, providing readers with a one-stop resource to the Fab Four's compelling story and breadth of achievements. Legendary in music and popular culture, the Beatles were one of the most successful bands of all time. The collective achievements of the Fab Four affect a broad demographic that includes today's children, Millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers. This one-volume condensed paperback edition of The Beatles Encyclopedia brings the Beatles' dramatic story alive, highlighting the humanity of the quartet of artists that has made them an enduring artistic and social phenomenon. The entries in this condensed encyclopedia provide in-depth biographical information about the Beatles and their circle as well as fascinating historical background and key details about their most important works, giving readers broad coverage that addresses the major aspects of the band's and its individual members' phenomenal achievement. The easy-to-use A–Z resource also includes a biographical chronology and a discography as well as a bibliography that directs readers to excellent sources of additional information in print and online.

Given the phenomenal fame and commercial success that the Beatles knew for the entire course of their familiar career, their music per se has received surprisingly little detailed attention. Not all of their cultural influence can be traced to long hair and flashy clothing; the Beatles had numerous fresh ideas about melody, harmony, counterpoint, rhythm, form, colors, and textures. Or consider how much new ground was broken by their lyrics alone--both the themes and imagery of the Beatles' poetry are key parts of what made (and still makes) this group so important, so popular, and so imitated. This book is a comprehensive chronological study of every aspect of the Fab Four's musical life--including full examinations of composition, performance practice, recording, and historical context--during their transcendent late period (1966-1970). Rich, authoritative interpretations are interwoven through a documentary study of many thousands of audio, print, and other sources.

A celebration of the four longhaired, oddly dressed chaps who took over America—filled with facts, stories, and photos. Within just two months of the Beatles’ debut on Ed Sullivan’s variety hour, the band had secured all five top spots on Billboard’s Hot 100, and before year’s end would sell an astonishing ten million records. Filled with dozens of color and black and white photographs, The Beatles details the rise and fall of the Fab Four, and the stories behind the men, their relationships, the creation of the songs, the tours, the albums, and the unstoppable spread of Beatlemania around the globe. Topics covered include: The band's rise to fame in 1964 and their grueling schedule of sixty-six tours in three years The unique songwriting partnership between John Lennon and Paul McCartney The Soviet Union's banning and bashing of the band—and how it backfired A debate over the best Beatles tunes The inevitable demise of the Fab Four, and the reasons behind it The long solo careers of the four artists after the dissolution of the band The five top contenders for the “Fifth Beatle” (plus ten runners-up) The story of Capitol Records exec who nearly stalled the Beatles’ entrance into America A look at the band’s children, discussing the music careers of Julian Lennon, Sean Lennon, Zak Starkey, James McCartney, and Dhani Harrison

Despite the enormous amount of writing devoted to the Beatles during the last few decades, the band's abiding intellectual and cultural significance has received scant attention. Using various modes of literary, musicological, and cultural criticism, the essays in Reading the Beatles firmly establish the Beatles as a locus of serious academic and cultural study. Exploring the group's resounding impact on how we think about gender, popular culture, and the formal and poetic qualities of music, the contributors trace not only the literary and musicological qualities of selected Beatles songs but also the development of the Beatles' artistry in their films and the ways in which the band has functioned as a cultural, historical, and economic product. In a poignant afterword, Jane Tompkins offers an autobiographical account of the ways in which the Beatles afforded her with the self-actualizing means to become less alienated from popular culture, gender expectations, and even herself during the early 1960s.

The cottage industry of Beatles publications is more prolific now than it ever was. As the band recedes into the mystic fog of 20th century history we get more and more documentation about their music, their love lives, their personalities, and their finances. I wanted to try to make sense of it by reviewing the best and the worst of the Beatles tomes as they stand side by side in bookstores everywhere. I spent 40 years reading about them knowing that one day I would share my accumulated knowledge with the fans in Pepperland. Having read the book, I'd love to turn you on.

Tune In is the first volume of All These Years—a highly-anticipated, groundbreaking biographical trilogy by the world's leading Beatles historian. Mark Lewisohn uses his unprecedented archival access and hundreds of new interviews to construct the full story of the lives and work of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Ten years in the making, Tune In takes the Beatles from before their childhoods through the final hour of 1962—when, with breakthrough success just days away, they stand on the cusp of a whole new kind of fame and celebrity. They’ve one hit record ("Love Me Do") behind them and the next ("Please Please Me") primed for release, their first album session is booked, and America is clear on the horizon. This is the lesser-known Beatles story—the pre-Fab years of Liverpool and Hamburg—and in many respects the most absorbing and incredible period of them all. Here is the complete and true account of their family lives, childhoods, teenage years and their infatuation with American music, here is the riveting narrative of their unforgettable days and nights in the Cavern Club, their laughs, larks and adventures when they could move about freely, before fame closed in. For those who’ve never read a Beatles book before, this is the place to discover the young men behind the icons. For those who think they know John, Paul, George, and Ringo, it’s time to press the Reset button and tune into the real story, the lasting word.