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

I'm getting confused. Conan O'Brien is mentioned in Hunter Davies' book?

 

No. It's just something which means Olivia doesn't trust him enough to let him see documents/diaries/letters for research. It was talked about a few pages back.

 

Does Olivia trust Conan O'Brien enough though to show him that stuff?

 

Maybe!

I know it's a silly thought, but it's an interesting little connection if Lewisohn still feels strongly about it. Dhani would've still been young during the Anthology, so I'd like to think he'd be a bit more open-minded about it.

 

Actually I just checked the Davies book and it doesn't say anything about Pete (or Conan O'Brien) being suicidal. It mentions he became a recluse.

So I guess I read it elsewhere (I haven't read Pete's book).

 

Mark's been given access to Patti's diaries so all that's really left to do is get Olivia behind him. I hope it happens, I've listened to enough of Mark's interviews to realise how seriously he takes the wishes of participants.

George took umbrage with Mark because he thought Mark was responsible for some leaks that he wasn't, couple that with GH's general distrust of the media/biographers/hangers-on and his perception of Mark as a Macca-man and he wrote Mark off which is a real shame. Mark is legit.

 

About the Anthology project.

 

It's in this interview about 1 hour 18 minutes in or so.

 

It’s in this book


Pete Best and Patrick Doncaster
BEATLE! The Pete Best Story
1985
Plexus Publishing.
ISBN 978-0-85965-077-9

 

It’s a real shame about what happened between Mark and George during the Anthology. There had been other things as well - in a recent podcast, Mark talks about George calling him a ‘bootlegger’ in front of the Anthology (I think) film crew. He actually calls G a b*****d and regrets not suing him for slander.

It must be strange to have met and worked for two members of your favourite band and then, through no fault of your own, be banished from their circle. He must be very strong mentally to deal with that, never mind spending whole days researching their history for years. I hope The Beatles ‘family’ sees fit to give him some credit for he’s done and is doing for them. It’ll probably fall to the children to do this.

 

I suppose that's always the risk of getting too close to something you love, especially in that type of industry. Thinking about their history and how they treated each other, Lewisohn's situation certainly wasn't unusual, but it's always painful hearing about the decent people who were hurt by their interactions with The Beatles. Maybe being aware of the bigger picture helped him.

I don't think that ever could've worked out though. So many people have taken advantage of The Beatles, pried into their lives, and betrayed their trust over the years that I'm sure privacy is of the upmost importance to them -- hence George's overreaction. Lewisohn's goal goes against that. He wants to find the truth and bring new information to light, which means he either would've gotten too friendly to follow through or things would've still gotten uncomfortable somewhere down the line. For instance, Lewisohn learning the real reason George Martin took on The Beatles and revealing it when that was something Martin tried to keep a secret for decades. I can understand why they may not be able to separate themselves enough to appreciate what he's doing. Despite the fact that they broke up a long time ago, they're so ingrained in our culture that I find it hard to view The Beatles objectively as historical figures even as an outsider. I can't imagine what it's like for them.

 

Well put.

 

Has anyone asked Mark what is he going to do when the bubble bursts?

(sorry)

(no really sorry)

 

Great post, very perceptive. I do wonder, however, if George M began to believe the ‘everyone else had turned them down but I heard something interesting’ myth. In the paperback version of Complete Chronicle, Mark relates how he spread out all the relevant documents and GM was genuinely baffled as to why he would - apparently - have signed them unseen. If that is the case, then it must have been a big shock for GM to be reminded of the true circumstances

 

I also recall the story about GM saying he was inspired by Fahrenheit 451 when writing Eleanor Rigby’s strings, but upon being told that wasn’t true (F451 wasn’t out yet) he corrected his story in future tellings of it (he meant Psycho!)

 

I didn't realise that - I'd always heard him tell the 'Psycho version', which does make sense if you compare the two scores.

 

I heard about it on the great podcast "Producing the Beatles"

 

Any thoughts on this tweet? Mark Lewisohn on Twitter

 

I don't know but it adds up to 5.6 hours

 

I assume he just listened to/watched all the circulating audio and video in chronological order over the past month.

 

Is Mark Lewisohn working for/with Peter Jackson on the film?

 

I don't think he has any connections to the Beatles camp/Apple anymore, and I think that's his preference.

 

I don't think so but he conducted interviews for the extras on the postponed DVD release in the early 2000s. These could potentially be used in this new project.

 

I think it means that chapters 61 and 62 in Tune In Volume 3 will amount to about 700 pages of text ...