John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs

John & Paul: A Love Story In Songs
Ian Leslie
448 Pages
ISBN: # 9781250869548
Celadon Books
2025

Considering the reams of research and writing devoted to The Beatles since their monumental success in the early '60s, it seems almost implausible any writer could find a fresh perspective on the British group and their work. But Ian Leslie has done just that with John & Paul: A Love Story In Songs.

Yet he has accomplished much more with this book that its cover synopsis suggests. Leslie covers the gestation of the group right from the initial meeting between teenagers John Lennon and Paul McCartney, lending insight into how the quartet, including George Harrison and Ringo Starr, captured the fancy of their home town of Liverpool, England and then went on to fascinate virtually the whole world.

The wonder of the narrative, however, is not that Leslie builds it with such efficiency. Before the midway mark of the near four-hundred pages, the author has covered the Beatles' burgeoning career through the end of 1965, the year after their breakthrough via appearances on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' and their first motion picture. Perhaps because this writer does not come from a music background—he has previously written books on human psychology and creativity—his perspective(s) are novel and eye-opening.

Even for devout Beatles fans, epiphanies abound, not only in terms of how the Lennon/McCartney methodology of songwriting reflects their psyches, but also how the whole group, under the aegis of producer (Sir) George Martin, brought the compositions fully to life. Ian Leslie dissects songs with an almost-surgical precision.

Yet he does not succumb to dry interpretation bound in technical terminology without seasoning his analysis with purely human emotion. For instance, his description of the arpeggio concluding the title tune to the movie A Hard Day's Night (United Artists, 1964) comes only after he has described how the alternating vocal lines from its authors reveal the joyful sense of deliverance intrinsic to the composition.

But Leslie's approach does not just elaborate upon the connection(s) between John Lennon and Paul McCartney as creative partners. He presents them as the engine of artistry that only comes to full fruition in partnership with Harrison and Starr, as well as their long-time producer Martin; writing the songs such as "She Loves You" is the means to an end of articulate expression of emotions, the inherent contradictions of which are resolved through the arrangements, performances and recordings. The Beatles developed their own sense of logic, an inscrutable one to be sure but an infectious one nonetheless

The contributor to The New York Times and The Guardian maintains an unusually insightful view of the Beatles dynamic during John & Paul. He does not become caught up in the public phenomenon, but instead only takes note of the furor as he delves into the complexity of the relationship within the foursome, and in particular, its chief composers. Ian Leslie thus maintains an objectivity that precludes the worshipful attitude of a fan. Instead, he proffers a mature and empathetic admiration for their work, not just in terms of their original material, but also in their musicological approach.

The Beatles purposefully honed a distinctive style of playing and singing that incorporated unconventional motifs of pop, melded to rock and roll, interwoven with the influences of r&b and soul music. The author poses the theory that the Beatles' affection for Motown artists like Smokey Robinson and girl groups like the Shirelles both widened and deepened their musical roots in crucial ways.

Much has been made of the experimental leanings of the quartet in their later years, but as early as 1964's "I Feel Fine" (a standalone single released coincidentally with their fourth album Beatles For Sale (Parlophone, 1964)), their trust in their instincts was nigh-on impeccable. The eruption of feedback on that recording, arguably the first of its kind so utilized as an integral element of a recording, was an accident the Beatles recognized as propitious because the caustic sonics were an ideal opening for the riff at the heart of the tune,

The Beatles may not have been able to hear themselves all that well during performances on stage in larger and larger venues through their retirement from the road in 1966. But the practical aspect of playing together still enhanced their musicianship, yet perhaps no more so, in Leslie's eyes, than the shared experience of traveling together.

The resulting, incremental solidarity, between Lennon and McCartney in particular, had the songwriting duo teeming with ideas. Still, the author describes the ingenious execution of recording the material sans hyperbole; in maintaining such healthy detachment throughout, and refusing to overtly make a case for himself and his ideas, the London scribe only enhances his credibility.

In fact, the down-to-earth nature of his perceptions of the various roles the two Liverpudlians assumed only clarify their personal and professional relationships with each other, their bandmates and, by extension, their audience. The delicate balance thereof is never explicated with more detail than in the Beatles' managerial agreement with the late Brian Epstein. Early on, the group convinced him of their steadfast desire to reach success on their own terms and he acceded to their wishes even as, in his own words on page sixty-seven "I didn't change them...I just projected what was there."

In describing those tenuous connections, it is to Ian Leslie's great credit that he refuses to oversimplify the dynamics of the interactions. He clearly has no need to convince readers of the veracity of his accounts, but instead prefers to let the information he shares speak for itself. So it is in the latter portions of his narrative, in the wake of Epstein's passing in 1967, the contrast in the personae of the principals heightens as they switch positions in the hierarchy of the ensemble. He posits "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" as a telepathic exchange between the two men.

In keeping with the markedly different tone and sound of the two songs—as with the contrasting sections of "A Day in the Life" from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Parlophone, 1967)—it comes as no surprise the garrulous, charming McCartney consciously or unconsciously takes the position of organizer/cheerleader in the Beatles' later years. Or that Lennon, the one-time titular leader of the band, finds himself relegated to a secondary position in the group dynamic (in part due to his burgeoning creative and personal relationship with Yoko Ono).

As depicted in Peter Jackson's film Get Back (Apple, 2021), the rebalancing of power between the two men has its adverse effects on their two bandmates. Nevertheless, the grownup Beatles avoid more rancorous dislocation, at least to a point, by making music together, even if only on an informal basis, such as jamming on oldies during their own early attempts to compose original material in early 1969.

As time goes on, the bond between the Beatles remains but only as an undercurrent of their lives, now complicated through outside relationships including but not limited to business partnerships. Without the group endeavors at the center of the four's universe, each begins to see possibilities and potential outside the familiar constraints of recording and performing live.

Even so, the sense of satisfaction derived from both endeavors has not disappeared but only diminished as a motivating factor, in relative terms, at least according to the author. It is somewhat telling that the eight pages of photographs (de rigueur for such books, many of them here previously published) appear roughly three-quarters of the way through John & Paul: the writer had long ago moved from filtering his observations through songs the two knew—Ray Charles' "What I'd Say"—to songs the two wrote (together or apart), such as "We Can Work It Out" and "Day Tripper," the double-A side single issued in advance of Rubber Soul (Parlophone, 1965).

In both his 'Prologue 'and 'Acknowledgments,' Leslie confesses to a certain bias towards McCartney. Even so, he refuses to exercise it as a means of criticizing Lennon. Instead, his sensitive point of view is a method of highlighting the respective virtues of the two men's work, especially in the years following the breakup of the Beatles (and his empathy extends to Harrison too, reasonably rationalizing via illness the latter's prickly behavior in the film Let It Be (Apple Films, 1970) ).

Until that point, the subtitle A Love Story in Songs seems too mawkish for its own good. But by the time the tale concludes, following a scrupulous account of the group's tortuous legal machinations prior to the official break-up, it is a vivid summary of a psychic connection Ian Leslie presents as one of the most accessible artistic expressions of modern culture.

Comments