Another book on the Beatles? It’s hard to imagine a writer shedding new light on the band given the mountain of literature already in existence. But there is a freshness of perspective in Ian Leslie’s book, which tells of Lennon and McCartney’s unique alchemy through the songs they wrote together. Leslie’s background in psychology serves him well in a study that jettisons the usual narrative of male rivalry; their partnership, Leslie suggests, was closer to a marriage.
He begins with the pair’s early songwriting sessions, usually in McCartney’s front room, where rather than each taking ownership of songs, they worked in sync. Other fabled musical partnerships such as Leiber and Stoller, or Rodgers and Hammerstein, divided the labour between lyrics and melody, but Lennon and McCartney worked together on both. Pointing to their profound connection, Leslie notes how in the song If I Fell they performed “an intricate courtship dance, moving apart and close again as the song unfolds, like birds weaving in and out of each other’s flight path, alternately shielding and leading the other”.
The Thick of It actor Chris Addison is the book’s fluent and engaging narrator, and his enthusiasm for the topic is clear. The audio edition also has a bonus chapter featuring a terrific conversation between Leslie and presenter and podcaster Geoff Lloyd, where they ponder the continued enthusiasm for all things Beatles: “In terms of scale and complexity of achievement, there’s very few people who come close to what John and Paul did,” says Leslie. “People say ‘Do we need more books about the Beatles?’ It’s only just begun, in my view.”
• Available via Faber, 14hr 9min
Further listening
Stone Yard Devotional
Charlotte Wood, Sceptre, 6hr 36min
This novel by The Natural Way of Things author finds a middle-aged woman leaving her life and marriage in Sydney to return to the religious community in the Australian outback where she grew up. Narrated by Ailsa Piper.
Peach Street to Lobster Lane
Felicity Cloake, HarperCollins, 10hr 47min
The Guardian food writer embarks on a coast-to-coast cycle across the US during which she discovers new culinary delights such as crawfish stew, sauerkraut balls and Tex-Mex gyoza. Read by the author.
