A ROADIE”S DIARY

BY BUZZ

The back cover of the book:

The Long Way Round

By Martin Wilson (Author)  Format: Paperback

A collecting friend of mine in the UK named Seamus Hayes was very kind in informing me of this new book written by a Wings roadie in the UK on the 1973 wings UK Tour. It is not a big softcover of approximately 70 pages, but it certainly intrigued my interest, and I await my copy in the mail

Here are the links for the book if you are interested in also checking it out:

Amazon UK:

The Long Way Round : Wilson, Martin: Amazon.co.uk: Books

Amazon US:

The Long Way Round: Wilson, Martin: 9798235297289: Amazon.com: Books

The Amazon description of the book:

• The Long Way Roundby Martin Wilson (Author)  Format: Paperback Before the stadium anthems and the corporate tours, rock and roll was built on steel ramps, heavy flight cases, and the sweat of invisible men. In the spring of 1973, Martin Wilson is a twenty-year-old lad from Byker with four pounds to his name, a bad hangover, and hands scarred from carrying gear for bands that never made it. Then a letter slipped under a rehearsal room door changes everything. Suddenly, he is trading the cold working men’s clubs of Tyneside for a warehouse in West London, joining the elite American audio crew Showco, and embarking on a journey that will shape the rest of his life: the historic, chaotic, and deeply human 1973 UK tour of Paul McCartney & Wings. Told from the vantage point of a side-stage flight case, this beautifully crafted memoir is not a book about the “dragons” of celebrity gossip or rock-star excess. It is a profound love letter to the craft, the road, and the families we forge at four in the morning. From a terrifying moment when a roaring Glasgow crowd threatens to bring down a century-old balcony, to a quiet, unforgettable late-night encounter in a Cardiff theatre, Martin captures the rhythm of an era defined by a sonic revolution. Most of all, it is a story about home, fatherhood, and the silent dignity of a true craftsman-learning to love people through the hard, invisible work of your own two hands.
• Readers’ Praise: “A masterfully written look at the golden age of rock from the perspective of the people who actually built the cathedrals of sound. “Deeply moving, authentic, and evocative. A stunning memoir about music, memory, and the choices that make us who we are.”

From the 73 UK Tour from YouTube:

Paul McCartney & Wings Live at NewCastel 1973 + bonus tracks

Thanks again Seamus for informing us of the availability of this book!

Be healthy and be happy!

Buzz

If you thought you knew it all about Beatles animation, you probably do not. This book goes a long way to help correct that complication!

Received my copy of Matthew Hahn’s recently released book about Beatles animation and I am very pleased. It is thorough and will serve as an excellent research resource book about Beatles animation in your Beatles book libraries

I have provided the description of the great new book below for you as guidance and a few links as to where it can be ordered!

The Amazon Description of the book

The Animated Beatles
by Matthew Hahn (Author) Format: Hardcover
By 1964, the Beatles had conquered the media of music, radio, television, film, and literature. Little did they expect they were about to dominate animation.

Al Brodax produced The Beatles Cartoon (1965), which was the first time that likenesses of contemporary personalities were cast as stars in an animated television series. (They beat the Three Stooges by a few weeks.) The premiere scored a 51.9 share, which was hitherto unheard of in daytime TV. Brodax followed up in 1968 with Yellow Submarine, another first: “. . . extremely real and enormously famous people were going to be animated into a feature film.” It received rapturous critical notices and audiences flocked to the theaters. Today it is recognized as a classic and an alternative to the Disneyfication that had taken over and stagnated animation.

The Beatles are the most caricatured celebrities of all time, with new fan films coming out daily on YouTube and TikTok. Matthew Hahn, author of The Animated Marx Brothers, The Animated Peter Lorre, and The Animated Universal Classic Monsters, has found hundreds of toons with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, and also “Fifth Beatles” Brian Epstein, George Martin, Stuart Sutcliffe, Pete Best, and Billy Preston. They have appeared in computer games, music videos, rides, museum exhibits, virtual reality, and AI. All three surviving Beatles did guest shots on The Simpsons (1989), and John made many posthumous cameos. Other projects include Family Guy (1999), The Powerpuff Girls (1998), Robot Chicken (2005), Celebrity Deathmatch (1998), BoJack Horseman (2014), Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), Minions (2015), Paul McCartney’s Give My Regards to Broad Street (1985), The Beatles Rock Band (2009), unfinished works like the long-gestating remake of Yellow Submarine, and apocryphal ones like the “Lost Beatles Cartoon Episode.” Creators and voice actors affiliated with Beatle-toons include Paul Frees, Bob Godfrey, Matt Groening, Dan Castellaneta, Hank Azaria, Seth MacFarlane, Simon Pegg, Seth Green, Jake Kasdan, Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Jason Schwartzman, Robert Zemeckis, and Cary Elwes.

ORDERING LINKS:

AMAZON US:
Amazon.com: The Animated Beatles: 9798887719474: Hahn, Matthew: Books

AMAZON UK:

The Animated Beatles : Hahn, Matthew: Amazon.co.uk: Books

Author of “The Animated Peter Lorre” from BearManorMedia.

http://www.bearmanormedia.com/index.php?route=product/search&search=the%20animated%20peter%20lorre

The author kindly sent me a bookplate for the book! Thank you, Matt!

The back cover of the book:

Concluding Remarks:

Let me know if you decided to add this title to your Beatles book collections and your opinions and comments about the book!

I found the book to have significant amounts of new and very interesting information, and the protagonists of the book (the Beatles) were very animated and often cartoonish about their convictions!

“Take some nasty medicine your blueness!”

The Beatles – All Together Now (Official Video)

Enjoy this wonderful book, folks!

Be healthy and be happy!

Buzz

PRELUDE:

Recently a good friend of mine on the internet named Anthony had a discussion with me about all of the fantastic, unreleased John Lennon songs that we both heard on the Lost Lennon radio series and on YouTube but these songs never had a studio professional treatment until three of them were finished by the remaining Beatles, of course I refer to Free as a Bird, Real Love, and the #1 UK release of Now and Then. Anthony and I had a discussion of hoping that Sean would eventually consider a family project of finishing up the best of his dad’s still unreleased compositions to gift the world with studio productions of the many wonderful songs that John left behind.

I Invited Anthony to write the letter and I invite you to read the exquisite letter that Anthony wrote, welcoming the latest Lennon addition to the family, Aurelius, to the world, and explaining to Sean a project that he hopes he will consider one day when he has the time. Enough of my dissertation. Here is the exquisite letter of my internet friend, Anthony:

THE LETTER:

Dear Sean,

Congratulations Dad (and Mom). What a joyful time in your lives and one that is certain to inspire the proud parents.

As lifelong fans, it is our hope you might someday consider a project that would mean a great deal to millions of people around the world: an album built around some of your father’s unfinished demos.

For so many of us, John’s music has never really belonged to the past. We grew up with it. We fell in love to it, raised families with it playing in our homes, turned to it during difficult times, and celebrated better days with those songs somewhere in the background. In a very real sense, generations of fans have grown up alongside the Lennon family. After all these years, the love still burns remarkably strongly.

The extraordinary work that was done with “Now and Then” reminded us that an unfinished recording does not necessarily have to remain unfinished forever. In the right hands, and approached with sensitivity and respect, an old voice can reach across the years without losing the humanity that made it matter in the first place.

Perhaps somewhere in the Lennon archives are a few more fragments—unfinished songs, home recordings, melodies, lyrics, or ideas—that John never had the opportunity to complete. We can think of no one better than you to decide whether any of them deserve another life. Not as an attempt to recreate John Lennon, which no one could ever do, but as a loving conversation between generations.

And now you and Charlotte have welcomed little Aurelius into your family. Parenthood has a wonderful way of changing our sense of time: suddenly the past, present, and future seem to sit together in the same room. Aurelius will grow up surrounded by an extraordinary artistic legacy, but more importantly, by the family behind that legacy. Who knows? Perhaps one day he, too, will find his own way of making music and adding another chapter to a remarkable family story.

Of course, this may not be the moment for such a project. These are the days of diaper changes, nighttime feedings, very little sleep, and discovering the incomparable joy of simply being Mom and Dad. The tapes can wait.

But someday, should the idea speak to you, imagine what might be possible. With some of the world’s most gifted musicians and producers only a phone call away—and with your own remarkable musicianship and understanding of your father’s work—you would certainly have some interesting choices to make.

There is no need to manufacture nostalgia. John already left us more than enough. But if there are still a handful of songs waiting quietly in a box somewhere, perhaps they deserve to be heard.

And perhaps we are not quite finished listening.

With affection, gratitude, and enduring love for the music,

Lennon Fans Forever

LENNON DEMOS

Now that the beautiful letter by Anthony has expressed the viewpoint of many fans, we wanted to take this opportunity to demonstrate some of the Lennon demos that have appeared on YouTube, being attempted by various musicians:

Anthony, YouTube has proven that there are more than just a few scraps remaining. The following links from YouTube reflect several people attempting to finish up some of John’s demos with their own vision of what a studio sounding track might sound like. Some of them are noticeably better than others, but they all deserve a listen to envision or determine what the final finished product might have sounded like if it was ever brought to the studio! Some of these YouTubers deserve a medal for their efforts in my opinion.

This blog post does not represent an encouragement or sanction of these YT recordings only that they do exist on YouTube, giving the Lennon family a possible prime incentive to put together the project being suggested at the beginning of this post directly under the Lennon family tutelage and direction!

Many of these attempts are excellent and makes fans wonder, “I wonder what a finished studio production sanctioned by the family would actually end up being?” Peter Jackson – this is one helluva project for you, dear sir!

Do most fans think that a project like this should be attempted by the family or should things be simply left alone?

Two excellent attempts:

A song John apparently wrote about playwright Tennessee Williams sometime in 1974/75!

John Lennon – Tennessee (Memories) (Unreleased 1970s Dakota Demo) – Fan made (Not AI)

A potential song begun as a Lennon jam during the Get back sessions:

The Beatles – Watching Rainbows (Finished)

A cover from 1969: Could some of the unfinished music from the Get Back Sessions be made into finished songs?

The Beatles – Maybe Baby (1969 Demo With Completed Vocals) – YouTube

Was impressed with these:

The Beatles – India, India (Finished)

Two more Lennon jams during the Get Back sessions!

The Beatles – Mad Man (Finished)

The Beatles – Suzie Parker (Finished) [Mashup]

Another cover:

The Beatles – Keep Your Hands Off My Baby (1963 BBC Saturday Club Recreation)

More:

John Lennon’s Unreleased ‘Real Life’ Demo – My Full Instrumentation Version

India India John Lennon cover with John Lennon singing!

You saved my soul John Lennon Cover Happy Birthday 2023

John Lennon – Illusions (Not for Love Nor Money) [Fan Arrangement / 2026]

The Happy Rishikesh song cover with John Lennon Not AI

John Lennon – She Is a Friend of Dorothy (Unreleased 1970s Dakota Demo) – Full Band Recreation

John Lennon – Mucho Mungo (1976 Home Demo Enhanced) | Real Instruments Over John’s Original Vocal

My Take on John Lennon’s Hidden Gem: Here We Go Again (Demo Cover)

The Beatles – Brian Epstein Blues (Finished)

By the way this list is not fully comprehensive as there are many more hone demos that were heard in the Lost Lennon tapes!

Based on the Beatles performance of a jam during Let it Be

Watching Rainbows

Another demo by a source who seems to produce quality stuff on YouTube

Solitude John Lennon Demo. Not AI. Fan Made

TWO EXCELLENT ARTISTS WHO HAVE COVERED JOHN’S UNRLEASED MATERIAL IN THEIR OWN CDS:

LOS ESCARABAJOS: A Spanish group who produced a cd called Lennonphile

Los Escarabajos – Lennonphile (The Album That John Could Never Record) – YouTube

PAMELA DAVIS: A very talented musician who teaches music put together a wonderful CD called Dear John an exciting collection of her interpretations of some of John’s as of then unreleased material

Dear John (A John Lennon Tribute) – YouTube

More samples:

John Lennon – My Life Demo (Re Imagined)

John Lennon’s Lost 1970 Demo “I Promise” Cover Not AI

Sally and Billy-Help me to help myself Music only John Lennon demos. New 2024

John Lennon & Bob Dylan Mashup – Serve Yourself + Gotta Serve Somebody (Not AI)

The Beatles – Help Me To Help Myself (Finished)

The Beatles – All I Want Is You (Finished)

John Lennon – You Saved My Soul (restored demo)

® John Lennon – “Memories” (AI Completed Version of Unreleased Demo)

Post Beatles John Lennon: Just Because (1973) (unreleased Lennon song) new 1st time heard in Stereo

John Lennon – One Of The boys (unreleased song) [Remastered 2023]

John Lennon – Dear John (RARE Demo Remixed 2024)

John Lennon – Memories (unreleased song) [Remastered 2023]

John Lennon – Not for love or money (unreleased Song)

John Lennon – Whatever Happened To (unreleased song) demo circa 1978 [Remastered 2023]

John Lennon – Mirror On The Wall (GENERAL CRACKERS) demo ca. 1977 [Remasted 2023]

John Lennon – Cookin’ (in the kitchen of love) [AI Remaster]

John Lennon – Mucho Mungo (Demo) [Restored 2025]

I’m In Love (early recording) – The Beatles

1963 John Lennon Demo (Bad to Me)

Different version of this one:

The Beatles: What Goes On (Demo)

More covers:

John Lennon – You send me (unreleased 1979 Cover)

Cathy’s Clown- John Lennon

Dream Lover / John Lennon from album ROCK “N” ROLL SESSIONS

John Lennon – Dream Lover / Stay

Bits and Pieces:

The Beatles/John Lennon: Hold On, I’m Coming [Unreleased Demo]

9 – JOHN LENNON – Say it Again – (rare demo)

Child Of Nature (Esher Demo)

John Lennon – Child of Nature

JOHN LENNON – ‘A CASE OF THE BLUES’: The Extremely Rare Unreleased Dakota Song In Its Entirety!

John Lennon – Gone from this place (unreleased Song) **Restored 2024**

The final word is from Paul:

Paul McCartney’s Unreleased Song About John Lennon called “John’s Boots”

Questions: Based on what you have heard on the YouTube samples provided on the post, what are your favorite numbers and why? Would you like to see a couple of final studio albums put together by the Lennon family finishing the incomplete numbers and taking the finished numbers and giving them a full studio production with backing vocals, where applicable, and guest musicians to play and sing along with John, perhaps some of his musical friends that survive could lend a contributing hand to the recordings. Peter Jackson could help like he did with Now and Then to bring John’s special voice to the forefront of the possible releases!

A special thank you to Anthony, a very special person indeed, for his wonderful letter to Sean! I hope he hears you and agrees that this is a good idea!

Be happy and healthy!

Buzz

John Lennon – Making The Case For Genius

Postscript to Ponder:

Don’t let the recent historical and cultural revisionists tell you who John Lennon was, as only he truly knew! Personally, I will always see him as a troubled but beautiful genius who invited us all to reflect about our own lives!

My friend Anthony sums it up perfectly when he states:

“THE WORLD JUDGED JOHN LENNON FOR THE MASK THAT HE WORE – THE SHELL THAT PROTECTED THE PAIN OF HIS CHILDHOOD! THE PEOPLE WHO LOVED HIM SAW THROUGH ALL OF THAT!!!“

THERE YOU ARE, EDDIE – AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A LIVERPOOL CABBIE

Ordering Information:

There You Are, Eddie – Autobiography of a Liverpool Cabbie

The cover of the book:

WHY I LOVE THIS TYPE OF BOOK:

Here we have the autobiography of a Liverpool taxi driver who came to be known as the Beatles cabbie. Brian Epstein used to call Eddie for his advice about the matters of the pressures of managing a very successful band. Sometimes it is not the earth-shattering news stories that are important in capturing the spirit of the times. Many of these books do not circulate on a mass scale and that is another element of attraction for me.

They have important stories to reveal, yet are not always widely available. Many are independently published and reach a small audience, and those good stories are lost to the public at large. That is what holds the fascination of these titles for me. As stated on numerous times on this blog, the Beatles story is analogous to a giant puzzle. No one has the complete full story or all of the pieces; it is comprised of little pieces that help to paint a small part of the whole magical marshmallow pie. Here is another little piece of the pie for you to consume…

A brief book description:

There You Are, Eddie – Autobiography of a Liverpool Cabbie is the true and remarkable life story of Eddie Willis. A cabbie’s cabbie, Eddie has met many folks over the course of his 50-year career. Many of them told him he should write a book. This is it. With the ease of a natural storyteller, Eddie’s voice rings loud and clear from every page. It’s a rare, poignant and moving account of how one working-class man didn’t let working with the world’s most famous people go to his head. And what he built instead “You’re not just a taxi driver. You’re a therapist, psychiatrist and a philosopher.” John Lennon

Please note-a special commendation goes to Tom Calderbank who encouraged and assisted Eddie Willis with the completion of this book!

Back cover of the book:

The author’s inscription:

A Special Thanks to Seamus Hayes & Dale Roberts: To Seamus Hayes for acquiring the book for me and asking the author to inscribe the book and to Dale Roberts whose YouTube video helped alert me to the book’s availability!

Love discovering books that have some Beatles-related stories between the covers. I was surfing sites on YouTube, and I came across the following link dealing with the activities of Beatle Week in Liverpool. In one of the interviews conducted by Dale Roberts he interviewed the man who helped the author put the book shown above together. It immediately stopped me in my tracks as I knew I would have to purchase a copy for the collection!

I was pleased to learn about the above book by watching this video made by Dale Roberts in the UK. He interviews the guy who helped Eddie and encouraged him to write a book of his many memories and to release his autobiography!

The interview with the bloke who helped the author put the book together is located around 15:30 into the video!

Day Five of Beatleweek – Convention Day in the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool! Behind the scenes

The administrator of this blog, David Bedford, also appears in this video around 6:02 into the video. Check it out!

I will report back to you about the book contents once I have completed the reading of the book!

Saw this on YouTube:

There You Go, Eddie – The Beatles – Reimagining Beatles Demos

Be healthy and be happy!

Buzz

FEATURED NEW BOOK – BY DANIEL HOFFMANN