Join Angie & Ruth #McCartney for #Teaflix Tuesday at 11:30am Pacific time on https://fb.com/drangiemccartney on Tuesday June 17th, 2025.
Today, they are joined by old friend David Bedford who is a Beatles author/ historian/podcaster/ filmmaker who grew up in The Dingle, Liverpool. He started to write for the British Beatles Fan Club magazine in 2000. His first book, now on its third Edition: Liddypool: Birthplace of The Beatles. His second book, The Fab one hundred and Four: The Evolution of The Beatles, was published in 2013. In 2016, he was a co-author with Hunter Davies on The Beatles Book, with Keith Badman and Spencer Leigh. Published in 2018, his fourth book was Finding the Fourth Beatle, the story of the 23 drummers in The Beatles. He even self-published a part fact, part fiction, detective novel called “Inspector Rocke: That’ll Be The Day That I Die” set in Liverpool in 1960, featuring The Beatles.
Published in 2020 was The Country of Liverpool: Nashville of the North, and in 2021, ACC published The Beatles Fab Four Cities, co-written with Beatles tour guides Richard Porter and Susan Ryan.
He was also the Associate Producer and historical consultant for “Looking For Lennon” (2018).
In 2024, he was the Archive Producer for the film about The Beatles in Hamburg, called “No Hamburg, No Beatles”. In 2025, together with writing partner Andrew Phillips, they released “What If?” via New York publisher Imagine & Wonder and Golden Age Music Collectables. It’s the journey of probabilities that examines the question “what if The Beatles never met?”.
He is currently working on new books and a movie too!
He has a Liverpool Beatles podcast called Liddypod. www.liddypod.com and a YouTube channel called Brightmoon Liverpool, at www.youtube.com/brightmoonliverpool.
Join Angie & Ruth #McCartney for #TeaflixTuesday on June 17 at 11:30am PT ☕️ at fb.com/drangiemccartney with Beatles author & historian David Bedford! A proud Liverpudlian from The Dingle, David’s books include *Liddypool*, *The Fab 104*, *Finding the Fourth Beatle*, and *What If?*. He’s also worked on Beatles films like *Looking for Lennon* & *No Hamburg, No Beatles*. More: davidabedford.com
Sponsored by: MrsMcCartneysTeas.com
GET YOUR COPY NOW!
The Beatles What If? Limited Edition Hardback
How different would the world have been without The Beatles?
This book explores the many times The Beatles story could have turned out so differently. What if it didn’t happen the way it did?
Managed to secure this wonderful English language book, All Together Now, in 2020 from the Netherlands of illustrations by artist, Willibrord Baar. He offers illustrations and interpretations of 211 of the Beatles songs in his book!
I first made contact with the artist when I formerly was on Facebook. It is the only thing I miss about FB. I met so many nice and talented people there who I miss corresponding with very much!Willi was one of those individuals!
Here is the Beatles book I purchased from Willi:
All Together Now
I enjoy Beatles books that go beyond the typical biographical and historical analysis of their work. Enjoying books with a different approach and perspective like this is a great pleasure for me…
The author’s signed inscription to me in the book:
A few sample illustrations from his book:STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER
Here is Willi’s text describing his interpretation of the song in the book: The title of the song is inspired by the Children’s Salvation Army, close to the house of John Lennon. In the bewildered garden Lennon had a beautiful place to play with his boyfriends. Like McCartney’s Penny Lane, Strawberry Field is Lennon’s memory from his childhood. I have chosen for strawberry’s all over, they seem to roll through the entrance, the former gate of the Salvation Army. There was a temptation to use colour, but Children’s Salvation Army sounds so dark. That’s why I used the black and white only.
Sgt. Pepper:
The author’s illustration of the Beatles song, Good Night
The author shares his inspiration for his Good Night illustration:
Count Elvis Presley, Lenny Bruce, and John Lennon as only some of the targets of Albert Goldman.
Jim Morrison of the Doors was to be the next bullseye that Mr. Albert Goldman was setting his sights on and working on a book about the Doors lead singer, when he passed away from a heart attack on a plane flight from Florida to London in 1994.
There are those that claim that Goldman did his homework exceedingly well when writing his books as his sources were certainly very numerous in his work. Let us try to be fair and acknowledge there may be a lot of truth in his writings based on his research. That does not discount the tone in which his books are written with the obvious intended goal of taking established cultural icons and cutting them down to size, reflecting all their faults, failings and insecurities.
It is the same rationale and logic that makes people feel better when they criticize celebrities. Or when people read the tabloids to see the foibles of people that have always been described as being better or more talented, or having more advantages than the reader has. The stories of the celebrities failings often help to serve the purpose of putting the reader and the celebrity on the same level. “They have the same problems that we do.”
Albert Goldman’s Lennon Biography
It is my opinion that Albert Goldman in his Lennon biography revealed more about his own insecurities than he did of John Lennon. How can a person write a book, painting a picture of someone with seemingly no redeeming qualities evident on virtually every page of the book and pass it off as the “researched truth.” If Goldman’s conjectures were 100% accurate, what does that say about the people that chose to be around John, like Paul McCartney, who admired John? Did Paul therefore have a bad judge of character by choosing to be a friend of John’s? How can Goldman write a biography about a man who made his fame and reputation on being a musician and only touch minimally on his musical creative talents in the book?
It is known that Goldman wanted the sleaze and controversial information about John to be the focus of the book as that is the modus operandi of his journalistic style. He directed his researchers to dig up the dirt. Goldman was not a stupid man. He knew that controversy sells, whether it is true or not. The accusation always gets more coverage in a news story than the retraction does. It is reported that A. Goldman received an $800,000 fee for writing the Lennon book. He spent 800 pages questioning John Lennon’s motivations and behavior, yet little is known about what the motivations were of the author who wrote the book about John!
The power of language is so important to any writer. The choice of words being used can immediately alter your perceptions about someone that is being described. If someone calls you a freedom fighter vs. calling you a terrorist, that choice of words will radically alter the mind’s eye view of how you are perceived. Albert Goldman’s prose is loaded with vitriol and venom with the obvious intention to cut away the reverence people might have held for the celebrity in question. He wants to bring them down to earth. That notion appeals to the masses as it serves the purpose of elevating the feelings of self-importance that the non-celebrity may have of themselves.
Many people were amazed that Yoko Ono said very little publicly about the book believing that to acknowledge the title would be giving it added publicity and credence. However, Yoko did do a one hour Westwood One radio show hosted by confidante Elliot Mintz which dealt with the Lennon family discrediting many points raised by Goldman in his Lennon biography.
Most people who followed John’s career would tell you that John himself would be the first person to tell you he had a lot of faults. Many of those faults helped to contribute to and create a tremendous amount of great music.
The Goldman Phenomenon
I think it is important to me to use some “rock” imagery to finish discussing this portion of the “Goldman phenomenon” .
Cliches and Bible wisdom seem to be the most suitable avenue to take:
“Let he who would be without sin, cast the first stone.” “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones!”
That sums it up for me…..What about you? We all know John Lennon was certainly not a saint, but we also know he was not the demon that was portrayed by Mr. G in his book!!!
NOW WE CAN LOOK AT SOME OF THE PRINT ITEMS DEALING WITH THIS ISSUE:
In 1971 Mr. Goldman took a decidedly different tone in this rare 2-part interview he conducted with John Lennon,
in the JUNE and July 1971 Issues of CHARLIE MAGAZINE!
These two magazines reflected a different Albert Goldman who realized that Mr. Lennon was a very intelligent human being who was as sharp as a tack and that he seemed to actually admire.
It makes one wonder why his tone would change so drastically, 13 years later when he sought to write Lennon’s biography. Also, why when Goldman writes any biography, the tone of the book is based on tearing down the protagonist, most of the time in a brutal fashion!
These two magazines are very difficult to find. One I was able to locate on Ebay and the other issue I was able to find with the assistance of the former editor of the Lennon fanzine entitled Instant Karma, Marsha Ewing.
Goldman’s Interview with Lennon
The Walrus imagery from my copy of the magazine:
The 2nd part of the interview in the July 1971 issue of Charlie Magazine:
A brief excerpt from the magazine:
The Lives Of John Lennon
US Edition of the book:
Publisher-William Morrow & Co
Publication date – January 1, 1988
The Lives of John Lennon by Albert Goldman
People will ask me why would I consent to collect a signed copy of a book where I personally detested the author’s approach to his task. To answer that criticism I say that Mr. Goldman is part of the Beatles story, whether I like it or not. I also have Lew Grade’s signature. I did not approve of what Lew Grade did to John and Paul regarding their publishing empire, but he was part of the story/history, and for that reason I also have his signature in my collection.
I collect the bad guys as well as the good guys…
UK Editon of the book with the light cover in direct contrast to the US edition. I remember visiting Liverpool in 1988 when the book was issued and I remember fans tearing out pages of the book in protest of the book’s content. It was at the Adelphi hotelprior to a Liverpool Beatles convention!
Transworld/Guild Publishing -1988
The Doors
Goldman’s last book victim was going to be about the Doors lead singer, Jim Morrison.
This Wikipedia article details some of the magazine prep work Goldman had done with the Jim Morrison saga.
Goldman was to die of a heart attack on a plane flight from Florida to London and the Jim Morrison book was never completed
LENNY BRUCE by ALBERT GOLDMAN from the journalism of Lawrence Schiller published by Virgin Books – 1975
I own this Lenny Bruce bio by Goldman because I wanted to learn if his journalistic style was evident in all of the books he writes. He inscribed and signed this volume to a lady he knew:
Elvis by Goldman
This is the book that started the reputation of Goldman’s known talent and penchant for taking rock icons and bringing them down to earth with their assortment of faults. What someone forget to tell Goldman was that these figures certainly had faults but his portrayals of them had the pendulum swinging too far in the other direction classifying the celebrities as being devoid of seemingly any good qualities, whatsoever. A lack of balance in his presentation, so to speak!
Publication Year 1981
Hardcover Elvis author: Albert Goldman, Publisher: Allen Lane
Elvis by Albert Goldman
PEOPLE MAGAZINE
AUG 15 1988– Excerpts of the Goldman bio circulation in People magazine which would be seen alongside the National Inquirer at supermarket checkouts…
The Australian Nov.1988 issue #424 of Rolling Stone magazine whereby the Rolling Stone authors dispute many of the claims made by Goldman in his book: The Inside Story article was written by David Fricke and Jeffrey Ressner!
Rolling Stone Magazine # 537 October 20, 1988 John Lennon – The US edition of the magazine a month earlier
The Character Assassination article was written by David Fricke, Jeffrey Ressner
Though not having anything to do with the Goldman book there was an article in this magazine that dealt with how others were dealing with the passing of John Lennon and not in the best of ways!!!
Playboy Magazine in MARCH 1984-featured an article entitled The Betrayal of John Lennon. Not completely sure if the article was written exclusively by Vicki Sheff or if her former husband, David Sheff was involved in contributing to the piece. (If you know, please fill me in with the details). This unbelievable article demonstrates that the Lennons were on the receiving end of a tremendous amount of vile behavior by many assorted individuals many of which were some of Albert Goldman’s primary sources for his book. I wonder what Albert Goldman thought of the observations and reporting of Ms.
Sheff when constructing his own version of what supposedly happened in The Lives of John Lennon. After all, many of Goldman’s primary sources certainly had axes to grind and they also had their own personal agendas to satisfy. Therefore, try to be careful thinking you ever know the absolute or complete truth about anything unless you know every facet of the story…remember people in general have a tendency to believe what they WANT to believe! That is how rumors are often spread and are propagated!
A few programs on YouTube about the controversial Goldman book:
Closing comment, I wonder why Albert Goldman only chose to write about dead celebrities? Was he afraid that a living individual would contest or challenge any of his data or conjecture?
As most people are aware, you can not be held legally responsible or accountable for libeling the dead!
Conclusion?
What do you think of Goldman and his books? I would like to hear what you think.
John “BUZZ” Bezzini
OUR BOOK OF THE WEEK
The Beatles What If? Limited Edition Hardback
How different would the world have been without The Beatles?
This book explores the many times The Beatles story could have turned out so differently. What if it didn’t happen the way it did?
Beat Instrumental Magazine : No.79 : November 1969
Recently acquired this old magazine featuring the Mal Evans’ account of the Plastic Ono Band Concert in Toronto! I love material like this for the collection…
Can’t wait for the second Mal Evans book from Kenneth Womack tentatively scheduled for a November, 2026 release!We all know that this will be another superb book release from the prolific author!
Beat Instrumental
Beat Instrumental
Hope you enjoyed this gem.
BUZZ
OUR BOOK OF THE WEEK – THE BEATLES: WHAT IF?
The Beatles What If? Limited Edition Hardback
How different would the world have been without The Beatles?
This book explores the many times The Beatles story could have turned out so differently. What if it didn’t happen the way it did?
THE NEON LIGHTS ARE NOT ALWAYS BRIGHT FOR THE BEATLES ON BROADWAY
The Beatles enormous success in music and album production is unparalleled in the world. However, when their music has been translated into Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, that success has been somewhat limited. In fact, there have been a few box-office flops.
Here are a few of the shows dealing with the Beatles phenomenon appearing in the theater since the group disbanded all those years ago! With only a couple of rare exceptions, Beatles music via covers does not have a long shelf life. However in Las Vegas, the Love show using the actual Beatles music cleverly manipulated by the talents of the late George Martin and his son, Giles into a lavish production has stood the test of time!
I am aware that not all of the theater productions are being presented here, please bear with me!
Even though I do not collect posters, I did purchase this five foot subway poster for the collection. Because the play had such a short run, I bought one as a longterm investment. Wise or not, I do not know!
45X 60 INCH Subway Poster for the short run Lennon play
TWO UNRELEASED JOHN LENNON SONGS
This show quite frankly bombed despite having the worldwide performance premiere of two unreleased John Lennon songs, “India, India” and “Now and Then,” also known as “I Don’t Want to Lose You.”
LENNON CAST SIGNED OPENING NIGHT PLAYBILL AUGUST 14 2005 A signed Lennon Opening Night playbill.
This playbill was signed by over 5 cast members!!!!!
This playbill has the dated Opening Night special page (August 14, 2005).
This performance by musician John Waters was very successful in an Australian theater run but was not as well-received by a New York audience.
BEATLEMANIA
Probably the most successful of the Beatles-related Broadway/Off-Broadway productions. Mitch Weissman was the McCartney look-alike in this production and did an excellent job in his portrayal of Paul. Apparently the Beatles were not happy with the production based on several interviews with the ex-Beatles and several attempts at legal action.
Beatlemania – The Beatles on Broadway
Sgt Pepper – The Beatles on Broadway
I saw the pre-Broadway appearance of this show in Hartford, Connecticut. John and May Pang appeared one night at a NY performance and Yoko was also at that show. At a later show, Paul and Linda were present to view how the Beatles handiwork was being presented. The length of time that the show was active could certainly not be considered a rousing success! The critics were not very kind!
They certainly forgot two other very important people in this inside page of the program!
RAIN
One of the more pleasant recreation of Beatles songs by the stellar Beatles cover-band, Rain!
RAIN – A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES
LOVE
The Crème de la crème- and not by accident!!!
Here is a play and program presented in the UK. Both Paul and George despised this production. George after having viewed this play, withdrew permission to use any of his songs in the performance.
There are certainly more Beatles-related theatrical productions over the years, but space limitations have limited this post to the ones cited above. Hope you enjoyed the posting!
IT WAS GOING TO BE A WONDERFUL LIFEUNTIL…
I was so disappointed to hear that the planned staged theatrical production of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life will not see the light of day despite Paul having composed at least 10 songs for the musical. Apparently the producer of the play, Bill Kenwright and Paul had business differences as to how the play should be staged and then the producer passed away before they had a resolution to the issue. The producer had purchased the rights to It’s A Wonderful Life from the Capra Estate and now it appears that this potential very promising project will never see the light of day! Very sad news…indeed!
Occasionally on this blog we like to spotlight Beatles-related book titles from our friends in Europe. This blog post will highlight two German book titles by author, Andreas Rohde.
Alfred Ebeling, a friend of mine in Germany, has a fantastic Beatles book collection. He works for The Beatles Museum in Germany which stocks an enormous collection of Beatles book titles that exhibit and demonstrate the European viewpoint and perspectives about the Beatles.
Andreas Rohde
Alfred knows that I understand a bit of German and he recommended to me that I look at and peruse a couple of titles by German Beatles scholar, Professor Andreas Rohde.
I thank Alfred for sharing these great tiles with me and helping me to increase my Beatles book library! They are both excellent large format books, the McCartney one is a hardcover and it exceeds 550 pages and published by the Beatles Museum. The Harrison one is a softcover originally published as a hardcover and is over 400 pages long. The Harrison softcover was published in 2013, so the years 2014and beyond are not covered. (Publisher: Nicole Schmenk).The only drawback I can see in either volume is the lack of photos, probably due to the high cost of obtaining copyrights to the pictures but that is made up by the excellent detail and content provided by the author in covering the topics detailed in the book descriptions in English below.
The McCartney title published in April of 2025, is incredible in its detail. I hope the author will strongly consider an English translation one day, however it can be said that you do not need to have a command of the German language to enjoy the book in my opinion. The McCartney work recognizes and acknowledges the excellent work done by Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair in their marvelous McCartney Legacy book series.
If these books interest you, you can write to Alfred Ebeling for further details at:
alfred.ebeling@t-online.de
The McCartney title: Let Me Roll It Paul McCartney/Wings 1966-1981 which explores McCartney’s solo output from 1966 onward including his involvement with Wings in the ’70s, until their dissolution in 1981!
The back cover of the Rohde McCartney title:
A message from the author:
The description of the book provided by the publisher, in the English language:
Saturday 12 April 2025: BookLET ME ROLL IT – PAUL McCARTNEY / WINGS 1966 – 1981.
Authors: Andreas Rohde / Publisher: Beatles Museum Verlag, Germany. ISBN-13: 978-3-00-082216-2
Hardcover with thread binding / Format: 24.5 cm x 17.5 cm / 584 pages / German language.
Content: Foreword / LPs, CDs and Singles 1966 – 1981 / Projects / Live / Sessions (for others).
Press release:
By far the most comprehensive documentation of Paul McCartney’s music in the decade after the Beatles in German!
LetMe Roll It traces Paul McCartney’s musical solo journey through the late sixties and seventies to the end of Wings in 1981. Fascinating stories and anecdotes that accompany the creation of the albums and singles find their place here as well as documentaries about the recordings of all known demos, outtakes and other variations of songs. All official as well as all known unofficial publications are taken into account. The book also discusses music projects that were either never released or were released decades later – including the recentOne Hand Clapping – as well as all live concerts between 1972 and 1979. You can also find out on which recordings the live shows can be found. For the research on Let Me Roll It, the author used all relevant English-language sources – including the most recent ones in the McCartney Legacy series – in order to present the most reliable picture possible of Paul McCartney’s work solo and with Wings.
Let Me Roll It pays tribute to the musician as well as to McCartney as a person, while always remaining committed to the facts, and is aimed at all fans who are interested in this exceptional artist beyond his musical work with the Beatles.
Andreas Rohde is Professor of English Linguistics and Language Didactics at the University of Cologne.
Here is the cover of his 2013 book about George Harrison: Publisher: Nicole Schmenk
Back cover of the book:
Another nice gesture from Mr. Rohde:
June 2013: Paperback GEORGE HARRISON SOLO – A MUSICAL BIOGRAPHY. The English deescription of the book Author: Andreas Rohde. Publisher: Nicole Schmenk, Oberhausen; ISBN: 978-3-943022-16-2. Portrait 24.5 cm x 17.0 cm; 448 pages
Press release:
Probably the most detailed chronicle of the musical work of the ex-BEATLE.
The author Prof. Dr. Andreas Rohde about his book: “As a child, I primarily collected the music of the BEATLES, but GEORGE HARRISON quickly became my favorite BEATLE. His songs have something warm, longing, unfathomable about them that particularly touches me. Luckily, there was a boy in our village who got a lot of pocket money and owned all his LPs, even the then almost priceless boxes ALL THINGS MUST PASS and THE CONCERT FOR BANGLA DESH. In order not to have to endure my whining any longer, he gave in at some point and lent her to me. That was well over thirty years ago, but my fascination with George Harrison’s music and his person has never faded.”
For GEORGE HARRISON SOLO – A MUSICAL BIOGRAPHY, all relevant English-language sources were studied, information and data were compared and critically examined. The result is a musical biography of the ex-BEATLE, which traces his life from 1967 to his death in 2001 in detail through his songs and their origin stories. GEORGE HARRISON was by no means the “quiet BEATLE”, he had a lot to say, and he did …
About The Author:
Andreas Rohde was born in 1962 in Böel (Schleswig-Holstein). He studied English, Romance languages and general linguistics in Kiel. This was followed by his doctorate and habilitation. Since 2004 he has been Professor of English Linguistics and Language Didactics at the University of Cologne. He has been a BEATLES and HARRISON fan since the age of ten. From the 1970s to the 1990s, he played in various bands. In 1987 he appeared in the ARD quiz show “Alles Oder Nichts” with the theme BEATLES and won 10,000 DM.
BEATLES MUSEUM: This book (hardcover, now discontinued) was published just in time for GEORGE HARRISON’s birthday; he was born 70 years ago. Due to its success, the paperback edition will be published in June 2013.
Michael Kummer, M.B.M.sp (*1966) from 06118 Halle (Saale):
The stories behind the songs, the recordings, every HARRISON release to date. The book concludes with a 74-page chronicle of GEORGE’s life and work, deliberately starting with his solo works from 1967 until his death in 2001. A lot of reading material, where it is not at all noticeable that there are actually no photos. The book has the makings of the German HARRISON “Bible”. Clearly: Reading tip!
THE BOOKS
If you are interested in either title described above you can contact Alfred Ebeling at alfred.ebeling@t-online.de and he can provide you with the information that you need or request!
BUZZ
OUR BOOK OF THE WEEK
Songs We Were Singing
Take A “Magical Mystery Tour” through the Beatles’ Deep Tracks. The Beatles’ music has become so ingrained in our culture that their songs have become an integral part of our everyday lives. Who doesn’t know the words to “Hey Jude” or “Let It Be”? Who hasn’t been moved by the poetry of “Eleanor Rigby” or energized by that opening chord of “A Hard Day’s Night”?
Songs We Were Singing uncovers the buried treasures that deserve a second listen.
