Skip to main content

The Beatles Guide to Love & Sex by Scott Robinson: book review


 

The Beatles Guide to Love & Sex: How the Fab Four Inspired a Cultural Revolution, 2ndedition by Scott Robinson (2024) explores the songs of John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Paul McCartney. Although Paul and John composed most songs, all four band members wrote love songs. The author, who has written six books on The Beatles, states that more than half of the band’s 213 songs are love and romance songs. 

 

The book is sectioned by years with sub-sections that explores the songs and romances during that period. The five sections are: 1957-1961: I Saw Her Standing There; 1962: With Love, From Me to You; 1966: And When I Woke, I Was Alone; 1969: All I Have to Do is Think of Her; and 1970: Christ, You Know It Ain’t Easy.

 

The interesting and compelling part of the books is that readers catch a glimpse of four lads from Liverpool growing up – from teenagers to teen idols – as they progress from first loves to first marriages to divorces – and their experiences are reflected in their songs, directly or indirectly. The author states it well: “We begin, then, with four portraits of artists as young men, all eager to partner up, but even more eager to pursue the muse.”

 

Of the romances, the author begins with the “elder statesperson” in terms of long-term relationships – John Lennon’s first girlfriend and wife, Cynthia Powell. There are 4-5 pages for each partner, girlfriend, well-known casual date, dalliance, wife, or mother. The original bassist, Stu Sutcliffe, and his romance with Astrid Kirchherr, also get a mention.

 

Songs are analyzed according to imagined feelings of love, ambiguous loves, or real romances. For example, “P.S. I love you” (a letter song) is ambiguous, whereas “All My Loving” is Paul’s song for Jane Asher. The women evolve too, from teenagers to mothers. Hence, there are also love songs to their children. 

 

Maturity is expressed in songs such as “We Can Work It Out” and in Paul being wistfully nostalgic about lovers and friends in the song “In My Life” – In my life I’ve loved them all. 

 

There is also a brief section on “Beatlesex: Naughty Bits” in which Scott Robinson writes about the overt, implied, guesses, “wink winks” and euphemistic terms and the need for words to be “translated into an already-world-wise sensibility.”

 

This is a fascinating, easy-to-read, page-turning book. Robinson concludes with the final three love-song singles that were all number one hits, by three of The Beatles – John’s “The Ballad of John and Yoko” – George’s “Something” – and Paul’s “The Long and Winding Road.”


As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.




MARTINA NICOLLS

MartinaNicollsWebsite  I  Rainy Day Healing  I  Martinasblogs  I  Publications  I  Facebook  I  Paris Website  I  Paris blogs  I  Animal Website  I  Flower Website I Global Gentlemanliness

SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES 


MARTINA NICOLLS is an Australian author and international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, and foreign aid audits and evaluations. She lives in Paris. Her latest book is: Innovations within Constraints Handbook (2025).

 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...
1 comment
Read more

Shindi: the Georgian Cornelian cherry

The Cornelian cherry – shindi in Georgian – is a fruit with medicinal and decorative properties. It was grown from ancient times, according to the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS). It is also commonly called the European cornel. It is native to southern Europe from France to Ukraine as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. The Cornelian cherry tree ( Cornus mas ) can be grown in orchards, but it is often seen in the forests of Georgia where it grows up to 1,350 metres above sea level. It is a medium to large deciduous tree, growing from 5-12 metres tall. The flowers are small with four yellow petals in clusters, which flower in February and March. The Cornus mas has three botanical varieties: (1) var. typica Sanadze with cylindrical red fruits, (2) var. pyriformis Sanadze with pear-shaped red fruits, and (3) var. flava vest with yellow fruits. The fruits are oblong red drupes about 2 centimetres ...
Post a Comment
Read more