I have a confession: Until I was 22, I didn’t know what “The White Album” was.
Hold on! I knew the Beatles. I listened to oldies and classic rock on the radio almost exclusively when I was a kid, and I knew most song lyrics better than my parents. But I didn’t know all the song titles or album titles.
Fortunately for rubes like me, there’s a new book that explains everything: “All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Beatles Release.”
This dictionary-size, photo-laden book describes the situations and inspirations for every Beatles song. That’s how I learned that Paul McCartney’s first version of “Hey Jude” initially began with “Hey Jules.” I feel smarter already.
Even more, for each song there’s a section with technical details about the recording equipment and instruments used by the band, plus a note about how many takes were required for each recording. Scattered throughout are little yellow notes “for Beatles fanatics.”
For instance, did you know that they recorded various instruments and vocals for “I Am the Walrus” on multiple tape recorders and manually synchronized them later? And that for “The White Album,” George had a Gibson guitar nicknamed “Lucy”? And that at 2:30 of “Come Together,” someone (probably John) yells “Look out!”?
And that’s just one iota of the musical factoids in this book.
If you’re a huge Beatles fan, or just want to fill in the gaps in your music knowledge, “All the Songs” is worth a perusal. From me to you, I’ve got a feeling you’ll dig it.
A wide selection of books, music and films is available at the Flathead County Library System in Kalispell, Columbia Falls, Bigfork and Marion. For more information, visit www.flatheadcountylibrary.org.