Music.

When Paul McCartney told the world in 1970 that he had no plans to work with the Beatles again, it was widely viewed as a cultural tragedy by the media and public alike. But one of the most fascinating phases of the Beatles' story was just about to begin. Now, for the first time, You Never Give Me Your Money tells the dramatic story of the Fab Four post 1969. It charts the almost Shakespearean rivalry of the Lennon and McCartney families, the conflict in George Harrison's life between spirituality and fame, and Richard Starkey's efforts to conquer his personal demons. It also chronicles the transformation of their multi-media company, Apple Corps, from a bastion of 1960s counter-culture into a corporate behemoth. From court battles to chart success, the best of rock'n'roll writers, Peter Doggett traces the untold story of a group and a legacy that will never be forgotten.

The world stopped in 1970 when Paul McCartney announced that he was through with the Beatles. Though the Beatles’ breakup was widely viewed as a cultural tragedy, one of the most fascinating phases of their story was just beginning. In You Never Give Me Your Money, journalist Peter Doggett tells the behind-the-scenes story of the personal rivalries and legal feuds that have dominated the Beatles’ lives since 1969. It is both a compelling human drama and an equally rich and absorbing story of the creative and financial empire the band members set up to safeguard their interests but that ultimately controlled their lives. You Never Give Me Your Money charts the Shakespearean battles between Lennon and McCartney, George Harrison’s raging inner conflict between spirituality and fame, and the struggle with alcoholism that nearly cost Richard Starkey his life. From tragedy to triumphant reconciliation, from individual chart success to bitter courtroom battles, this meticulously researched work tells the previously untold story of a group and a legacy that will never be forgotten.

(Piano/Vocal/Guitar Artist Songbook). Over 100 timeless hits from the Fab Four in piano/vocal/guitar arrangements, including: Across the Universe * All My Loving * Back in the U.S.S.R. * Blackbird * Can't Buy Me Love * Come Together * Don't Let Me Down * Eight Days a Week * Eleanor Rigby * The Fool on the Hill * Good Day Sunshine * Here Comes the Sun * Hey Jude * I Want to Hold Your Hand * In My Life * Let It Be * Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds * Michelle * Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) * Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da * Penny Lane * Revolution * Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band * She Loves You * Ticket to Ride * Twist and Shout * When I'm Sixty-Four * Yellow Submarine * Yesterday * and more.

Given the phenomenal fame and commercial success that the Beatles knew for the entire course of their familiar career, their music per se has received surprisingly little detailed attention. Not all of their cultural influence can be traced to long hair and flashy clothing; the Beatles had numerous fresh ideas about melody, harmony, counterpoint, rhythm, form, colors, and textures. Or consider how much new ground was broken by their lyrics alone--both the themes and imagery of the Beatles' poetry are key parts of what made (and still makes) this group so important, so popular, and so imitated. This book is a comprehensive chronological study of every aspect of the Fab Four's musical life--including full examinations of composition, performance practice, recording, and historical context--during their transcendent late period (1966-1970). Rich, authoritative interpretations are interwoven through a documentary study of many thousands of audio, print, and other sources.

An NPR Best Book of the Year • Winner of the Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism “This is the best book about the Beatles ever written” —Mashable Rob Sheffield, the Rolling Stone columnist and bestselling author of Love Is a Mix Tape offers an entertaining, unconventional look at the most popular band in history, the Beatles, exploring what they mean today and why they still matter so intensely to a generation that has never known a world without them. Dreaming the Beatles is not another biography of the Beatles, or a song-by-song analysis of the best of John and Paul. It isn’t another exposé about how they broke up. It isn’t a history of their gigs or their gear. It is a collection of essays telling the story of what this ubiquitous band means to a generation who grew up with the Beatles music on their parents’ stereos and their faces on T-shirts. What do the Beatles mean today? Why are they more famous and beloved now than ever? And why do they still matter so much to us, nearly fifty years after they broke up? As he did in his previous books, Love is a Mix Tape, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, and Turn Around Bright Eyes, Sheffield focuses on the emotional connections we make to music. This time, he focuses on the biggest pop culture phenomenon of all time—The Beatles. In his singular voice, he explores what the Beatles mean today, to fans who have learned to love them on their own terms and not just for the sake of nostalgia. Dreaming the Beatles tells the story of how four lads from Liverpool became the world’s biggest pop group, then broke up—but then somehow just kept getting bigger. At this point, their music doesn’t belong to the past—it belongs to right now. This book is a celebration of that music, showing why the Beatles remain the world’s favorite thing—and how they invented the future we’re all living in today.

‘Who gave the drugs to the Beatles? I didn’t invent those things. I bought it from someone who got it from somebody. We never invented the stuff.’ – John Lennon Riding So High charts the Beatles’ extraordinary odyssey from teenage drinking and pill-popping, to cannabis, LSD, the psychedelic Summer of Love and the darkness beyond. Drugs were central to the Beatles’ story from the beginning. The acid, pills and powders helped form bonds, provided escape from the chaos of Beatlemania, and inspired colossal leaps in songwriting and recording. But they also led to break-ups, breakdowns, drug busts and prison. The only full-length study of the Beatles and drugs, Riding So High tells of getting stoned, kaleidoscope eyes, excess, loss and redemption, with a far-out cast including speeding Beatniks, a rogue dentist, a script-happy aristocratic doctor, corrupt police officers and Hollywood Vampires. ‘The deeper you go, the higher you fly...’