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John & Paul begins the day after Lennon’s assassination in 1980 as a stunned and tongue-tied Paul emerges from a recording studio and famously utters, “It’s a drag, isn’t it?” in response. Leslie attempts to set this seemingly glib remark in context as he tells their joint history through their songs. The duo wrote 159 of the 184 songs the Beatles recorded. “When they couldn’t speak what they felt, which was most of the time, they sang it,” Leslie writes. He observes, “their friendship was a romance” and a “madly, creative quasi-marriage.” He begins with “Come Go with Me,” by the American doo-wop group the Del-Vikings, a song John and Paul sang when they first met at a church garden party in July 1957, and ends with “Here Today,” McCartney’s homage to his friend and musical partner. In between are songs that tell the stories of Hamburg, the Cavern Club, The Ed Sullivan Show, A Hard Day’s Night, Beatlemania, and, ultimately, “the End.” A well-written and touching story of two very different men, their glorious songs, and how they changed the cultural landscape forever.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A new take on a legendary partnership. British journalist Leslie’s thoroughly delightful portrait of the Beatles comes by way of the duo’s friendship and their songs. Early on, besides playing others’ tunes, they came up with their own, like “I Lost My Little Girl”; the “more they shared, the closer they became.” Manager Brian Epstein’s relationship with producer George Martin resulted in their composing more songs, including “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You” on their first single, garnering income for the now songwriting pair. Their first hit, “Please Please Me,” and a TV appearance, were followed by their first album, opening with “I Saw Her Standing There.” Leslie meticulously works through the canon, with the bio unfolding. He’s excellent at delving just deeply enough into how the music and words created songs. “She Loves You” became the “bestselling single of the decade.” For a new album came a “powerhouse”: “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” The single sold nearly 700,000 copies in America. Their songs began to show the influence of Bob Dylan—especially for John—and pot. Leslie notes that the band probably saved John’s life—he literally meant “Help.” “Ticket to Ride” is a “masterpiece”; nobody “sounded like this before.” Paul’s “Yesterday” was a striking, masterful departure for the band. The inventiveRubber Soul brought “out the best in John.” His “In My Life” is for Paul. “Eleanor Rigby”: “Nobody had created a pop song like this before.” “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” begatSgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. On Feb. 10, 1967, they had a party at Abbey Road that resulted in “A Day in the Life.” Paul said: “We weren’t the Beatles anymore.” Leslie closes nicely withAbbey Road’s “The End” and the duo’s rocky post-Beatles relationship. Fans will love this fresh, insightful approach to the band. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
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Music journalist Leslie (Born Liars) delivers an ardent exploration of the intimate relationship between the Beatles’ primary songwriters. Tracing Paul McCartney and John Lennon’s bond through the tracks they collaborated on, Leslie spotlights 1963’s “She Loves You,” written during the group’s early touring days as the pair’s “songwriting partnership caught fire”; 1965’s “Ticket to Ride,” a closely collaborative effort (the idea was Lennon’s but many of the production decisions McCartney’s) that signaled a shifting power dynamic as Lennon came to suspect that McCartney was less reliant on him than vice versa; and 1968’s anguished “Yer Blues,” which Lennon wrote in the grip of a deep depression during the band’s retreat in India, from which he emerged “edgy, paranoid,” and determined to “smash up” his life, foreshadowing the band’s demise. The author’s unbridled enthusiasm fuels analyses that can be perceptive and often touching (“She Loves You”—narrated by a third party who wants to bring two lovers together—is as much about a romantic relationship as it is a love between friends, Leslie argues, reflecting McCartney’s later efforts to play mediator in Lennon and Yoko Ono’s relationship), mostly compensating for moments of overblown praise elsewhere. Beatles fans will be eager to add this to their shelves. (Apr.)