A Quest for the Secret of the Beatles
It is remarkable how many people – young – old – worldwide – become or remain intrigued by the legacy of The Beatles. Reissues, covers, films, fan sites, books, it provides an endless stream of new reflections on the music, life and cultural influence of The Fab Four. One such fascinated person is pharmaceutical scientist Peter Eijgenhuijsen, who was only twelve when The Beatles fell apart, but followed them with interest even then. Now at the age of 63 he publishes a book in which he reflects his own quest for the secret of The Beatles. “The Beatles Era, a Quest for the Secret of the Beatles” is written in English to reach a wide international audience and is available through Amazon.
Musical Development
Eijgenhuijsen, involved in daily life in writing registration files for new medicines, listened endlessly to details in the recordings, read every fragment that could be found about the boys and thought thoroughly every facet in order to understand the secret of The Beatles. He goes into detail about their musical development; from “Love me do” to “The End”, trying to find out why their music, fifty years later, still sounds fresh and remains interesting.
The Five Periods of The Beatles
Eijgenhuijsen divides his argument into five distinct periods: Before the Beatles, The Beatles Years, The Solo Years, The Reduced Solo Years, and After the Beatles, and tries to use these periods to explain why the Beatles became so great. He does this with wonder and admiration. To him it is not so much about what happened, but why it happened. The inability and frayed edges that also characterized the mutual relationships of the boys are often left out of consideration, but that is not necessarily a nuisance in a passionate argument in which the composition and performance of the most influential songs are central. McCartney’s musical genius and Lennon’s quirky originality are given free rein. Harrison’s fabulous final sprint as a songwriter is not forgotten.
Excellent Musical Knowledge
You can always argue about taste, but Eijgenhuijsen’s interpretations show excellent musical knowledge. Whether the secret of The Beatles is actually unravelled in this book is up to every reader. In any case, the writer of this piece was intrigued by the raised question that also occupies him and which he believes will continue to exist forever, because miracles cannot be explained.
Jan van Galen (original book review in Dutch on BEATLESFANCLUB.NL)
