All you need is love

If I were to write a biography, I would like to do it the way Bob Spitz put together the lives of the Fab Four, whom we all know as John, Paul, Ringo and George, into a book that you can't put down, although it's almost 1,000 pages long. Spitz certainly worked hard on the book - his bibliography of books; pamphlets, fanzines and catalogues; unpublished sources; letters and personal correspondence; audio and video; interviews from other sources; and internet sources run into eleven pages. All that research resulted in a book of 37 chapters, the text of which is supported by notes running from page 864 to 947. And there are, of course, photographs.

But don't let the size of the book scare you. It is a very readable book, thanks to Spitz's ability to turn dry facts into a rich and fascinating story of how four young talented men became one of the music world's most creative phenomenon... ever. You can read about how Spitz wrote the book here.

The book takes you through the lives of each of the Fab Four, their family backgrounds, how they grew up, the circumstances that brought them into one another's world, their early struggle, the fame that then came to them, their loves and marriages, and the differences, creative and personal, that sadly tore them apart. 

Is there mention of Yoko Ono, the woman whom many of us loved to hate? Definitely, one instance being how she and John met at a party: "... this sphinxlike woman merely handed him a card, which John turned over in his hands a few times. There was nothing on it except a single word: BREATHE. 'You mean, like this?' John asked, panting like a winded terrier. That was it, yes, that's what she'd intended. Yes ... breathe. John liked that; it was part of the joke." 

And of Yoko's relationship with the other three Beatles: "For someone who desired more interaction with the Beatles, Yoko acted resentful, even scornful toward them. She found the band to be 'very childish.' As different as it seemed to mainstream ears, to her there was nothing daring about it, and she hooked right into John's own lingering doubts about his creative powers and self-fulfillment."

Hopefully, these little snippets would send you to the bookshop to get your own copy. It's rather ironic that there just wasn't enough love amongst the four to keep them as one.