Reproduced in facsimile are over 100 handwritten manuscripts of the Beatles' original lyrics, tracked down from friends of the band, museums, universities and collectors. Author of the only authorised biography of the Beatles, Hunter Davies worked with the band in their heyday. He here reveals each song's context with vivid behind-the-scenes stories and gives unique insight into the creative process of the world's greatest songwriters. From 'Yesterday' and 'Eleanor Rigby' to 'Yellow Submarine', 'Help!', 'A Hard Day's Night', 'I Saw Her Standing There', to 'Misery' written back stage in Stoke-on-Trent in January 1963 by John hoping Helen Shapiro would sing it - she never did. Hugely informative and revealing, nice layout and design and with eight pages of colour images as well, many pages are from notebooks, hotel stationery, backs of envelopes and it is fascinating to see their hasty revisions, crossings out, lines re-written and ideas rethought even before they were fully complete. It's as if the band could not keep up with their own creative momentum and colourful doodles and stoned illustrations accompanying some of them. Thankfully they were not binned. 405 page paperback.
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