Mark Lewisohn on his new books: :)
Expert says The Beatles’ full story still to be toldMay 15 2008 by Alan Weston, Liverpool Daily Post
THEIR impact was felt way beyond the musical world. For that reason alone, there has probably been more written about the Beatles than any other group.
But renowned Beatles expert and professional historian Mark Lewisohn believes the full story of the four guys from Liverpool has still yet to be told.
Last night, he told an audience at the city’s first Beatles literary festival how he has undertaken a mammoth 17-year project to tell the definitive history of the group and of the times in which they lived.
Mr Lewisohn is currently hard at work on the first of what will eventually be a three-volume biography of the Fab Four, the first time any pop or rock group has been subjected to such in-depth scholarly treatment.
As well as trawling the archives for original documents, he has interviewed literally hundreds of people who lived through that momentous period, many of whom have never spoken before.
The first volume is due to appear in 2010, with the next two appearing at four-yearly intervals after that.
“It’s mad, but I’m loving every minute of it,” he told the audience at The Beatles Story exhibition centre at the Albert Dock last night.
“The story has been told so often it’s become a bit of a cliche. I want to make it rise off the page.
“It’s got every ingredient you could want – the highest highs and the lowest lows.”
And while Mr Lewisohn said he welcomed the regeneration of Liverpool, on another level he regretted it because important historical sites associated with the individual Beatles were being swept away.
In conversation last night with Beatles Story press officer Jamie Bowman, Mr Lewisohn said he undertook the daunting project because no-one had attempted such a comprehensive history before, and he was also dissatisfied with the quality and accuracy of many of the works already on the market.
He also believes the Beatles fully justify such a monumental work.
“To say the Beatles were just a pop group is like saying Mozart was only another composer, and Churchill just another politician,” he said.
“Their impact was huge, and is still being felt today. We’re talking about the most important group of all time. They didn’t just change music, they changed society.
“It’s a story so extraordinary, it would seem like fiction if it were not true. It doesn’t need to be embroidered, and I believe it’s far more interesting than has ever been put down on paper.”
Mr Lewisohn said the three-volume history would tell the story in chronological order, going right back to the family backgrounds of each of the individual Beatles.
“It’s got to be done now before it’s too late, as the numbers of people who were around at that time, and witnessed history at first hand, are steadily declining,” he said.
“The first volume – which goes as far as the end of 1963 – will be very much about 20th century Liverpool.
“As a non-Liverpudlian, especially one who wasn’t there in the 1950s, I’m keenly aware of the difficulty of writing about the city at that time, so I’ve absolutely steeped myself in it over the past few years. The second and third volumes will be more global in their reach, as they will deal with the period when the Beatles achieved worldwide fame.”
Mr Lewisohn – who has spent much of the past 30 years researching and writing reference works on the Fab Four – already has a formidable reputation as a Beatles scholar.
This includes being the first to identify the correct date of the fateful meeting between John Lennon and Paul McCartney at Woolton village fete: July 6, 1957. And he says his detailed work has in no way impaired his ability to enjoy the Beatles’ music.
“I was five when I first heard them and they went straight into my bloodstream and my heart, and that’s where they’ve remained ever since.
“But though I have this lifelong passion for their work and the story, these books are being written without favour or agenda, as an independent historian.
“To me, it’s crucial this is understood. These won’t be books saying ‘Hey weren’t the Beatles great!’ They’ll be thorough, balanced, comprehensive histories.”
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