The worst-ever book about The Beatles?!

I just bought a copy of Al Brodax's "Up Periscope Yellow: The Making Of The Beatles' Yellow Submaine."

Brodax seems like a great guy, someone you'd love to have dinner with, but I think this is a strong contender for the worst book ever written about The Beatles -- and I'm only 33 pages into it, with another 230 pages to slog through.

The writing is very engaging. But this thing, in my opinion, is basically fiction.

Brodax claims to have basically secured the deal for the animated series "The Beatles" on Feb. 10 and 12, 1964, just days after the group's "Ed Sullivan Show" debut, after dashing through the rain in midtown Manhattan to a music publisher's office and running past a record shop where "A Hard Day's Night" was playing. Well, the contract wasn't finalized until April 1965, so I really doubt the whole premise of his claim to have been on the cutting edge by doing this deal just days after The Beatles first arrived in America. He also implies the deal was closed the with no input at all from Epstein - just a confirming phone call from John Lennon, who, after looking over the terms of the deal, OK'd it. (And, yeah, "A Hard Day's Night" wouldn't even be recorded until April 1964...)

He also claims that during the TV series' production, in 1967, he had to travel to Abbey Road to persuade the boys to record more songs for the show. They were slowing down production of his series because they just weren't prolific enough! He claims he went to Abbey Road to light a fire under them and he and Lennon got into it right there in the studio, cursing at each other somewhat good naturedly as George Martin threw his hands in the air as if to say to Brodax, "What can I do? They just won't produce music for me!"

George Harrison supposedly told Brodax: "It's been a hard day's night. You're scoping four bloody tired rockers here, Al."

Lennon allegedly said: "Brodax, you Yank son of a b---, those Beatle cartoons are like Flintstone outtakes, something Grandma Moses would scratch out on a bad day ... I could do better sitting on the loo..."

As Brodax tells it, he laid down the law, saying "You b-----s are making very big bucks while I'm riding coach and sucking air at 29,000 feet!"

At which point, Paul, apparently struck by this inspiration from Brodax, said, "This one's for you, Big Al," and they launched right into Take 17 of "Baby You're A Rich Man," complete with references to Al "having traveled very far," and the "big brown bag" Al carried with him that day.

Brodax claims they all went out to a pub and celebrated and unanimously decided Take 17 was the keeper, and Al thanked them for paying tribute to him in song -- although they claimed it was all a happy coincidence of sorts.

Of course, the "Baby You're A Rich Man" Session" wasn't even at Abbey Road. It was at Olympic Sound Studios. And the session included only 12 takes, not 17. And it lasted from 9 p.m to 3 a.m. and was not during "the day," as Brodax describes it. And since the session ended at 3 a.m., it's very unlikely they all went out for drinks afterward.

And, again, the basic premise of the story is flat-out impossible: The group never recorded anything specifically for the cartoon show. Brodax simply used previously released tracks -- straight from the vinyl discs, not from studio tapes -- and at that point there were literally dozens and dozens of unused Beatles songs he could have drawn from. There was no need to travel to London to demand that more songs be recorded, especially since there were only nine new episodes of the show to be created for the 1967 season.

There are even more bizarre sections later in the book that I've skimmed through. In one, Lennon and Brodax allegedly toke weed and quaff highballs whilst discussing the merits of the "The Doors Of Perception" ... and, uh, well, Brodax's groundbreaking work on, uh, the "Popeye," "Barney Google" and "Krazy Kat" cartoons.

There's another part where Paul professes great admiration for those mindbending "Popeye" cartoons as Brodax feeds Purina Chewy T-Bone treats to Martha, the sheepdog. At one point, Paul allegedly tells Brodax, "I just have this one mate, this Lennon, to mesh gears with and there are days we're not on the same planet, if you get my meaning. But there's just the two of us and we can work it out."

Ouch! Two Of Us? We Can Work It Out?

I think Brodax must have ghostwritten some of those alleged Beatle quotes the narrators recited on Capitol Records' "The Beatles Story" album!

 

Please post more bits as you read on, these are hillarious!

 

Oh, man. This book is baaaaaad.

In the book, Brodax (who was then a 41-year-old businessman from the Bronx) was downing cocktails and smoking "weed" with George Harrison. They were rapping about "Yellow Submarine" and "Popeye" and all things hep and cool, when George started to get all heavy and mystical on Al. Among the quotes that Brodax attributes to Harrison:

"Would you believe, Al - you, me, cut from the same cloth, out of the same part of the forest that is this universe? Son of a b---! Hoc Mir Nicht, brother! ...We turned negative on a whole bunch of scripts cause we were tired, needed a holiday in a major sort of way. Bloody beat we were, from all the touring, from all the recording sessions, especially the "Pepper" album, that was a ball breaker but a f---ing good piece ... You can get most of the songs you need (for the 'Yellow Submarine" film) out of "Pepper" and there's no way you can do better than that. Cheers and good luck. Look out for yourself, mate! Next time, the pints are on Apple!"

Now, see, this is amazing! George Harrison, from Liverpool, talked just like the Cockney street merchants in "My Fair Lady." Who knew? And in the summer of 1967 he could forsee the creation of Apple, which was still several months away!

(Almost all of the Beatle quotes in this book seem to be based on some American idea of how all British people speak: All four of the Beatles are saying 'bloody' this, 'blimey' that, and calling everyone 'Luv' and "Guvner' and 'mate' and they always seem ready to burst out into a chorus of "Get Me To The Church On Time.")

 

Sounds like fanfiction to me. :lol:

John Lennon did actually once say that Brodax got about half of the film right out of his mouth. Perhaps it would've saved them the trouble of making all this stuff up if he just had written "Everything was John's idea."

 

Is it wrong that I want to buy this book now? It's like a train wreck, I can't look away!

 

There's an author worse than Geoffrey Guillano(sp??)

 

Yellow Sub? not the most exciting Beatle event...

 

I vote for Twilight Of The Gods by Wilfrid Mellers. It's kinda cool that he tries for a scolarly analysis of Beatles music. It sucks that it's dreadfully boring to read.

 

it's quite dry, and sure does have a classical feel.

 

Look here son, Geoffrey worked long and hard to get that title of worst Beatle author, so I think that Mr. Brodax is gonna need more than one flimsy book in order to steal the Heavyweight Champion Belt away from him...

The Longest Cocktail Party was also quite funny to read. How can a guy that smokes pot all day long for months remember what really happened in the Apple offices?

 

Didnt he write REVOLUTION #9 also....??


oops wrong thread..!!...sorry

 

I'm surprised that Brodax fails to reveal that it was indeed he, who tudored Pauls replacement.

 

Related reading: "A Thoroughly Obsessed Analysis of Al Brodax's Up Periscope Yellow" by Bob Hieronimus, author of Inside the Yellow Submarine.

 

Geoffrey probably is still the worst, I admit!

Brodax is a genuinely gifted writer and an engaging raconteur, but this is a brutally tough read for those who know the story and can spot all the errors. Maybe what I need to do is light one up and start chugging vodka gimlets so I can get in the proper mood...

As for "The Longest Cocktail Party," that's one of my favorites. Although there's not much narrative flow to the thing, and it's hard to decipher in places, it's also dead-on perfect at capturing the spirit of that era and, I assume, the feel of what it was like to be in London, at Apple, in 1969. I consider that book essential.

 

Initials GG. i like how he is getting his daughter involved now as well to continue the legacy

 

I've seen it pop up on eBay from time to time, but for some reason I can't find it , maybe I have the title wrong.

But (I think) it was called My Life With The Beatles, not the recent Magical Mystery Tours book but one that was done in the early 80's. It was done by a fan who did not meet any of the Beatles in anyway, but more or less is a diary of his youth more than anything, where there were Beatles records involved, he was a member of the fan club, and if I remember right, he went to one of their concerts. He gets into his first drug experiences, but the lowlight of the book was when he talks about making out and losing his virginity. Now, in any other situation this would be alright, but I guess I expected some inside story about a guy who was associated with the group in some form. The cover of the book had a huge photo of The Beatles, so one would assume that it might be good.

No.

If I come across it, I'll post the cover here.

EDIT: Found it, and had the title wrong. It's called Growing Up With The Beatles. I bought this in the early 80's, when I was getting into their music and history for the first time. I was probably 11 or 12 and was open to finding out more, and this was just crap.

 

This was one of the first Beatles books I ever ran across when I was a little kid. I remember Ron took the Pepper album into a barbershop and asked the barber to cut his hair like Ringo or something like that.

 

I remember that book. And you're right it was pretty bad.
The first book I ever read was "Apple to the Core." It was all about the lawsuits and I didn't enjoy it at 12 tears old. It told the story of how George Harrison knocked out "Only a Northern Song" while the London Symphony was waiting impatiently to go home. How ridiculous is that?

 

Didn't Bob Spitz's book contain a few factual errors?

 

HEY, come on, now! I LIKED Growing Up With The Beatles! It came out in 1976, I got it for Christmas. The great and then-rare pics and memorabilia was the main focus of the book, Ron Schaumburg (the author) admitted to that, even today. There are some embarrassing moments to be sure, and he regrets a few of them now. Maybe I felt kinship with him because as the few pics of him attest to, he was such a geeky dude just like I was. Am. Kinda. I felt The Love You Make by Peter Brown and the one by Pete Shotton had generous amounts of fiction.

 

The Brodax book seems no more of a work of selective fiction to me than the Geoff Emerick book !

 

Yes, though the book itself was very good.

That Yellow Submarine book sounds hilarious. I never wanted to read it until now.

 

Naw, it's got to be GG's printed legacy (pick any one). Sounds like Brodax is just a confused old guy trying to parlay his faulty memories of his brief interaction with all things fab into publishing dollars. In my opinion, GG is downright twisted, with his pathological revelations about the Beatles and their individual thoughts and motivations, spiced up with photos of him with obviously uncomfortable Beatles wives. The look on Linda McCartney's face alone, with GG's arm casually resting on her shoulder, says it all. All you need to know is that one of the celebrities whose tribute to the author's genius is pasted on the back of a GG book is that noted intellectual and literary critic, Mr. Ginger Baker ("a classic," "accurate and revealing prose").
Nice to hear that GG's daughter has been added to the publishing legacy, to join his "consultant" wife. Our children and their children can look forward to years of additional rehashes of the work of this "acclaimed author."

 

I loved that book!

 

"Growing Up With The Beatles" was actually great book for that era (mid 1970s). As others have said, it had a LOT of great photos that at the time were pretty rare. And his approach to the whole project -- growing up in Kansas City as The Beatles came of age as a group -- was fresh and unique. And while he may have catalogued a bit too many awkward moments in his own young life, I think that's what also gave the book heart and made it ring true.

For years, all we had was "Growing Up With The Beatles," "The Beatles Forever," the Hunter Davies bio, the discographies "The Beatles: An Illustrated Record" and "All Together Now," and a few others like "Apple To The Core" and "The Longest Cocktail Party." Those were your choices.