The author’s brilliant account of Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting relationship challenges myths, finds new meanings in their music, and even throws up a few surprisesIt is a strange and beguiling experience to find music you have had in your head since childhood reveal new and unsuspected shades of meaning 50 years later. Beatles songs aren’t like most pop songs; instead of fading, they take on a richer colour and nuance, not least because new generations of fans inquire more deeply into what previous listeners might have overlooked or simply misunderstood. One twist of the kaleidoscope and a song we thought we knew suddenly sounds even better than it did the first 100 times we heard it.This is the effect of reading Ian Leslie’s brilliant study of the Beatles’ music, a book that offers not only a lesson in listening (again) but an enthralling narrative of friendship, creative genius and loss. At its centre is the songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and the ...
Ian Leslie's "John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs" is reviewed as a brilliant study of the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership, challenging existing myths and revealing new meanings in their music. The book emphasizes their co-dependent relationship and argues against the simplistic view of Paul as straight-laced and John as rebellious. It explores how their shared experiences, especially the loss of their mothers, fueled their creative genius. The review suggests the book offers a fresh perspective on familiar music and could become a gold standard in Beatles studies.
