Thoughts on You Never Give Me Your Money (the book)?

Just finished reading it. It chronicles basically 1969-2009 (when the book was published).

I thought it was fascinating and learned a lot, especially about how insidious of an influence Yoko was on John. I can’t help but think she was somewhat abusive to him, especially in how she managed to forbid him from really interacting with people she didn’t like or felt threatened by. Apparently Paul made several attempts to see John and record with him, but Yoko prevented them from rekindling their relationship in any meaningful way.

Really interesting!

Would love other people’s thoughts on it.

 

Worth reading for anyone interested in how music is entangled with finance, and a must for Beatles fans -- you'll never look at them in quite the same way again.

 

I love the book, read it multiple times but I don't really get the above from Doggett. He references other authors about those without ever really taking a side or clarifying if he thinks Yoko did those things. Pang and other sources bring up possible Lennon-McCartney reunions but at the end of the day Lennon was an adult who chose to say no, even if he was influenced by both Yoko and his tarot reader (iirc). I did not get an insidious vibe from Yoko in the book, like many others have done. If anything Doggett presents her as a positive influence given that this is a book focused on the business side of the Beatles and Yoko did a great job representing John's interests in that matter.

The limited audio from the private diaries of Lennon show that he did not need any influence from Yoko to have a negative opinion on people he sometimes considered his friends.

One of the things I like most about the book is that Doggett does not show his biases. They all come off as fallible people.

 

One of the very few books on the Beatles to significantly add to our understanding. Peter is brilliant at researching and presenting information without, as others have said, adding too much opinion and speculation. His 'Electric Shock' history of recorded music is also fantastic.

 

Great book!

At the risk of being "that guy", there's already a long thread about the book:

You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup --> my book review

It's still open, so maybe this one should wrap into it?

 

Yes, I love it! (even if Doggett didn't note his sources as well as Lewisohn did, but we can't expect everyone to be that detail-oriented)

In my opinion, these are the essential "Beatle Books":

-- The Beatles (1968) by Hunter Davies NOTE: Get the newest edition, for fascinating notes on the "behind-the-scenes" stuff by Davies

-- Tune In -- The Beatles: All These Years (2013) by Mark Lewisohn

-- The Complete Beatles Chronicle (1992) by Mark Lewisohn NOTE: This is a merging of The Beatles Live & the Complete Recording Sessions. (Incidentally, this book also explains the whole Ardmore & Beechwood publishing deal as a reason for 'Love Me Do' being recorded and issued... 21 years before Tune In!)

-- The Beatles (2006) by Bob Spitz NOTE: Get the paperback to avoid Spitz's embarrassing photo-caption errors in the hardcover

-- You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup (2010) by Peter Doggett

-- While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison (2006) by Simon Leng

-- The Unreleased Beatles: Music & Film (2006) by Richie Unterberger


That's it. (And the Spitz book can be skipped if you are already a knowledgeable, "veteran" Beatle historian.) I would never recommend anything by Philip Norman, especially not the execrable Shout! (1981), which is packed with lies and misinformation. I also don't trust Ian McDonald's Revolution in the Head, as I think much of it is bogus speculation. McCartney's Many Years From Now is 50% interesting, 50% PR-revisionism (to aptly assign percentages).

There are a few other worthy ones. Peter Doggett also wrote a nice book on John's solo music called The Art & Music of John Lennon (2009). If, like me, you're very interested in the early years, you'll also want to get Eric Krasker's excellent The Beatles: Fact and Fiction 1960-1962 (Lewisohn also recommends this one in the Tune In notes), but it's not easy to get the English version. (One small gripe about Krasker -- he finished his book shortly after the Raymond Jones identity thing came to light, and in the book he seems reluctant to actually admit that Raymond Jones was indeed a real and regular guy.) The Beatles' Anthology is of course great too, but as we know it's personal memory/history so it's about 30% factually incorrect, but still quite worth reading.

 

Here's my review of it from last summer --> The Rock and Roll Chemist: BOOK REVIEW: You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup

Quite simply, it's a great book and essential reading for any Beatles fan.

 

Great book, I had never read anything that so detailed the Fabs' fallout in this way, or this entertainingly. Doggett is a really good writer.

 

I found Doggett's books on Eminem and Dylan on Internet Archive, but YNGMYM was not included in the library. Has anyone read those other books?

 

Essential reading. Really gives you an insiders look at the business reasons that led to the end of the band and the strain on their personal relationships.