Toppermost

In his history of the Beatles, Bob Spitz explains everything important about the phenomenon of this group and its manager Brian Epstein. Spitz suggests modestly that there are no revelations here. In fact, the book confirms facts that previously have been established, provides documentation for facts assumed and views the participants with a clear eye. It's a long book, but compulsively readable, impossible to put down. It is the show biz story in its most extreme form and a great read. But this is not a review of the book. It's a comment on the nature of their creativity.

John, Paul, George and Ringo were four boys from Liverpool, a rough and tumble North England city. They grew up in the shadow of World War II. They were influenced by American music. To a man, they fell through the educational safety net of British education. They all were self-taught , lacking the musical vocabulary that would help them to explain their musical ideas. Fortunately, they worked with a producer who recognized their brilliance and was able to translate their descriptions into sound. They were children of the working class, destined to do as their families had done for generations. Many teenagers in the north lived for the evening broadcasts of American popular music by Radio Luxembourg. These four became devoted to the music of Elvis, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly. They absorbed the music of Ray Charles and the R&B artists of the 50's and early 60's.

They succeeded because of talent and total dedication to their craft. There is hardly a true artistwho is not wholly dedicated to art. As a good friend explained, "Complete dedication is necessary but not sufficient." Not everyone worked as hard as the Beatles did. But many who did work hard lacked the talent - their genius in crafting songs, extending or rethinking the forms, harmonies, rhythms, creating melodies so true that even they doubted their originality.

The creative process is at the heart of the mystery of the Beatles. There is that initial spark of an idea - completely original or stolen from something else - but after that, it's all about what you do with it. Good writing is not what is thrown on the page. It's how it's shaped afterward.

Certain songs, like Yesterday, took a couple of years to reach final form. The melody came first but there were no words. The first verse began "Scrambled Eggs, oh baby, how I love your legs..." That was never going to work. Over time, the writer heard other things, felt no feelings, and connected them with the music to produce the final product. The arrangement also went through several permutations before finding the ideal combination of solo voice, acoustic guitar and string quartet background.

It's almost universally accepted that the primary writers, Lennon and McCartney, were not nearly as successful working alone. The difference in the work began to show in the White Album, where they did not collaborate much. It shows.

So, the lessons for this one: if you want to be the toppermost of the poppermost, and you have talent, you need: total devotion and conviction, the doggedness to keep working it without self-censoring; a mind open to new ideas and information; teamwork and the ability to subordinate ego to the creative process.