Pattie Boyd signed and titled the lyrics that Eric Clapton wrote for her in the dynamic song, “Layla.” The lyrics were based on an ancient Persian poem.
Lyrics to “Layla”
Pattie Boyd, of course, was married to George Harrison at the time of the song’s creation. The pictures below the lyrics are the books that Pattie has produced about her storied past. The newest book is a photographic history of her life. The earlier work was her biography! Pattie’s musical legacy was to have been the muse for quite a few memorable classic songs.
Both Pattie Boyd and Yoko Ono were two of the backing female vocalists on the Beatles song, “Birthday.”
Signed twice-Julian Lennon Beatles Memorabilia Flyer for an Exhibition held in Gibraltar
Most of us are aware of the often-tumultuous relationship between Julian Lennon and his dad. Though this is not a book product it is a print item twice signed by Julian at an exhibition of his Beatles memorabilia in Gibraltar. Julian, unfortunately had to buy back many of these items in auctions as many were not inherited or left to him directly after John’s passing. It is good to see that in recent years Julian seems to have forgiven his dad for his feelings of being abandoned when he was a young child.
The Leather-bound Beatles Lyrics Hunter Davies Book-Fact or Fiction?
I learned a lesson the hard way with this title. It was advertised on Ebay as a leather-bound prototype of only two copies that were made by the publishers. The volume was also signed by the author. According to the seller he approached Hunter at the hotel he was staying at for a Beatles event and he asked him to sign the book there. I paid a lot of money for this book and then I did what I should have before I purchased it. I wrote to our good friend, author David Bedford, to ask Hunter Davies about this limited-edition book. David obliged my request and Hunter got back to him saying to the best of his knowledge, no leather-bound limited-edition versions of the book were ever issued. The publishers subsequently verified that notion.
Refund?
I could have returned the book to the seller demanding a full refund, but I decided not to for what you may interpret as an odd reason. The book is indeed leather-bound, and it is signed by Hunter as I have several of his signatures. What the sellers or people that they got the book from did, was to take the contents of the regular hardback edition of the book and bind it in a leather casing. Even though what was done was not a legitimate enterprise, it gave me the only leather-bound edition of the book in the world which I found to be very intriguing and prompted my keeping it. However, I am not going to throw caution to the wind in the future, as this will not happen to me again!
The Beatles Lyrics – Leather-bound
Thoroughly investigate ahead of time when thinking about buying a big-ticket item.
Apple to the Core was the book that attempted to get to the heart of the Beatles business problems which ultimately led to their breakup. There were several editions of this book released with many cover variations – some of which are below. The most difficult edition of this book to find is the hardback, 1972 edition. The book was co-written by authors Peter McCabe and Robert D. Schonfeld.
The hardback is of course more expensive, so it is often the case, the hardback editions are issued briefly as a quick run then the softback or paperback editions take over the bulk of the sales of the title. Even when titles are released simultaneously in both hardback and softcover, the bookstores would often choose to stock only the softcover. I do not know how you feel about this issue, but I personally prefer hardcover books as they are more durable over time. Often, the paper used for hardcovers is superior and the yellowing of pages is a much longer process. Of course, hardcovers usually have a superior binding as well.
In regard to the book below, the picture is the hardcover, with a selection of other covers below it. Despite having a huge Beatles book library, I went many years without even knowing there was a hardcover edition of the book until I acquired one a few years ago on the Abe Books Bookstore/search service.
This song, although attributed to Lennon/McCartney, is a John Lennon song about his devotion to Yoko Ono. In part, the song is controversial for the distinct simplicity of the lyrics and in part because of its length (around 8 minutes) and, some could argue, its self-indulgent structure.
It was the first song the Beatles worked on when the Abbey Road sessions began in February of 1969, yet one of the last songs that was completed for the album in August of that year when instrumental and synthesized tracks were layered in.
About Yoko
John Lennon’s repetitive, plaintive lyric, “I want you, I want you so bad” is the dominant content of the entire song, along with the colloquial compliment for Yoko, “She’s so heavy.” At the time Abbey Road came out, some critics took issue with the lyrics. In a Rolling Stone interview in 1970, Lennon reflected: A reviewer wrote of “She’s So Heavy”: “He seems to have lost his talent for lyrics, it’s so simple and boring.” “She’s So Heavy” was about Yoko. When it gets down to it, like she said, when you’re drowning you don’t say “I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,” you just scream. And in “She’s So Heavy” I just sang “I want you, I want you so bad, she’s so heavy, I want you,” like that.
The Final Three Minutes
The final 3 minutes of the song is an extended guitar/Hammond organ/Moog synthesized white noise cacophony that sounded as if it could have gone on for much longer. All the Beatles, and their friend Billy Preston, were totally committed to this very different-sounding work that closed out the A-side of Abbey Road. And in the final mixing process, Lennon himself ordered the abrupt ending of the riff in the middle of a phrase, as if the needle were being arbitrarily lifted off a record.
Biden and Harris?
The day before I initially wrote and posted this, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris became the President and Vice-President Elect. It was a day when, officially, the votes of around 80 million voters said, “I want you, I want you so bad.” There is much work for them to do, beginning with a concerted assault on the coronavirus pandemic. But may their efforts to defeat the virus, now surging again throughout the nation, be both thoughtful and successful. It will matter not only to the people who voted for them, but also to the people who didn’t.
Tim Hatfield
Get Tim’s book of reflections on the songs of The Beatles
When We Find Ourselves in Times of Trouble: The Beatles: All Their Songs with Encouraging Words for Challenging Times
KINDLE (OR DOWNLOAD THE FREE APP TO READ ON YOUR LAPTOP)
This book addresses all the songs of the Beatles, from their earliest demos to Abbey Road, in a conversational, accessible format. Special attention is devoted to the band’s creative process and its influence on and synergistic relationship with the culture at large. The book’s genesis was the author’s hope that a daily Beatles song could provide a brief respite from the significant stress and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and beyond that, from the challenges of any personally difficult time – our times of trouble.
This is a very difficult book to find and/or locate for one’s collection. The people that put the book together solicited fan photos taken between 1963 and 1969. The book was published by Photobox and long-time Beatles associate, Barry Miles, provided much of the narration for the book.
The title was only available to purchase for a very short time and then was no longer being offered for sale. Apparently, the reason it was no longer available was administrative reasons and several people who had contributed photos for the book had not been properly credited.
I was able to find a copy of the book by contacting a gentleman who had contributed photos to the book and had not been credited for their use. Always will be grateful to you, Mr. R. Kern!
There are many wonderful photos of the Beatles in this book capturing the personal nature of fan photography, not being posed for! It is in my opinion, a shame that the book was not allowed to have a much wider circulation.
