Beatles Biography by Mark Lewisohn (6th edition)- plus Lewisohn news. *

Lewisohn makes a big deal out of the name "The Beatles." His point is that very few groups in 1959-60 were using a definite article followed by a collective noun only; after 1963, everybody was using it. Is this the case? I looked up Billboard's US Top 100 singles of 1959 and found 13 groups with such a naming convention.
True, there were fewer on the UK charts that year.

Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1959 - Wikipedia

The Fleetwoods
The Platters
The Coasters
The Impalas
The Crests
The Drifters
The Virtues
The Chipmunks
The Bell Notes
The Skyliners
The Fiestas
The Flamingos
The Falcons

And of course The Crickets from 1957.

 

So you're saying you'll be surprised if Lewisohn isn't still actively researching and writing at age 105?

I actually think we'll be lucky if all 3 intended volumes get written. Especially while many of us are still alive...

 

Does he really say that? I can only find this:

It also stood out as different by bucking a trend. Most (though not all) of the other Liverpool groups—in a different class to them in terms of proficiency and stage experience—followed a name formula. There was Cass and the Cassanovas, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Derry and the Seniors, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Ken Dallas and the Silhouettes, King-Size Taylor and the Dominoes, and more. As George put it, "All the groups were 'Harry and the Somethings' or 'Charlie and the Somethings' so we decided we'd just have 'The _____' and that's it. Instead of trying to be one of the fellers as the star with the rest in the back we thought we'd just all be together."​

 

I wish I read the Extended Edition first. I didn't realize Lewisohn's intended release was the Extended Edition. I don't think I can justify paying $200 to import it. I wish I could buy the Kindle edition from Amazon UK, but ebooks appear to be region-locked.

 

...if it takes you three years to read it. Supposedly, 2020 was the projected date for volume 2 a year or two after volume 1 had come out.

 

It's possible that he'll be more selective in the detail he covers. When the Beatles became public property we know a lot more about them. he may stick to what is less known rather than regurgitating details that are common knowledge. What I liked about the first volume was that it did not stick to the script.

 

Why did he get the long time to do all the volumes

 

What's that work out to? A couple of pages a night?

 

More like three-quarters of a page per day.

 

I can do that.

 

You know that thing outside the the borders of the US? That is the rest of the world. That is where The Beatles came from. So Mark might just speaking about the rest of the world.....

 

What makes you think he wasn't selective in what he included in the first volume? Does he chronicle every meal they ate on the road or every hotel bed they stayed in?

If you read (or listen to) interviews with Lewisohn, he makes it clear that with the vast wealth of information he has collected, he had to leave out a lot of good material from his first volume (including the extended edition).

 

we have spicer for those right?...

 

sorry..i meant the "have some fun tonight" books...the 2 books....really good for the touring years

 

Now listen to the Lewhison episode of the FabCast podcast. 2 hours of exceptional conversation. I could listen for 24 hours.

 

Quoting this post so I can remember to listen to the FabCast myself.

 

The subject was music groups' names, not geography.

 

He brings it up in most of the interviews I've watched as being unusually significant. But it's not like the Beatles only had other Liverpool groups as a reference point.

 

Context, context and context.

In this case the context is brittish.

 

These are mostly (though obviously not all) exclusively vocal groups; I always took Lewisohn to be referring to bands specifically. The Crickets were probably the real innovators in this regard, but I think they're credited as such including by the Beatles themselves.

 

Yes, and in that subject, when the Beatles were thinking up names, none of the groups around them had names that were just "The ________".

Sorry but Lewisohn is extremely clear in what he means. He never said there were no groups in the world with names like that. He IS talking about geography - the musical geography of Liverpool and the UK music scene. This isn't something that needs to be talked down - just read what Lewisohn says, and the context in which he says it.

And yep he's also clear that the Beatles themselves took inspiration from The Crickets, cos they wanted a name "that meant two things", just like Crickets did in the UK.

 

What are these "12 versions of each volume"? There's Tune In, and there's Tune In extended edition.

 

Every time I see this thread being reactivated I think Vol II is out!!!

 

Only another 22 years to wait.

 

Accept 22 months.




Not really.