The Day John Met Paul: An Hour-by-Hour Account of How the Beatles Began [Paperback]

Jim O'Donnell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 20, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0415979331 | ISBN-13: 978-0415979337 | Edition: Revised

With many new photos and an updated introduction, The Day John Met Paul, a critically-acclaimed Beatles book, reappears in a visually stunning second edition. The book is an hour-by-hour account of the fateful day the two founding Beatles met in July 1957. But it is much more than that: it's a spellbinding story of how fate brought together two men who would radically change the face of popular music, from its look and feel to its sound. Jim O'Donnell, a veteran rock music writer, spent eight years researching The Day John Met Paul. Published in 1996 and translated into several languages, the book was widely praised for its blend of accurate reporting and colorful storytelling. Long out of print, but revered among Beatles fans, the new printing enlivens the text with many well-chosen photos of the Liverpool landmarks--from Strawberry Field to Penny Lane--that played a role in the Beatles' lives and works.

The Day John Met Paul chronicles the first "Day in the Life" of the Beatles--a day that changed the musical world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'fine, lyrical book' - Liverpool Daily Post

About the Author

Jim O'Donnell is a veteran journalist and author. His books include The Rock Book, Born to Rock and Wonderful Tonight. He is editor of RockandRollJournal.com.

 

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; Revised edition (September 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415979331
• ISBN-13: 978-0415979337
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,397,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review, July 14, 2007

By 

Example: Mark Twain - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Day John Met Paul: An Hour-by-Hour Account of How the Beatles Began (Paperback)

I own too many books about the Beatles for my own good, and this book is in my top 5 favorites. Why? It is a very unusual Beatle-related book. This book took years to research and it pays off. I felt like I had relived the day that they actually met. It is just fascinating to read as the hours count down to the very moment that the two meet at the fete.
Please remember: This book is just about one small slice of Beatle lore.
If you have all the essential Beatle books, then this will be a nice variation for you.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Entertaining Way to Tell A Familiar Story, December 4, 2010

By 

Steven Springer (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Day John Met Paul: An Hour-by-Hour Account of How the Beatles Began (Paperback)

Jim O'Donnell has taken the oft-told of how John Lennon and Paul McCartney first met and made it into an entertaining look at the world at large and the world in Liverpool on that fateful day. Filled with background information and facts galore, O'Donnell sets a scene that takes the reader into the sights and sounds of the city and the Woolton fete. I recommend this book for any Beatles fan, and to anyone who enjoys a good story told well.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Little Content, Very Fluffy Writing, March 16, 2008

By 

B. T. Larkin (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Day John Met Paul: An Hour-by-Hour Account of How the Beatles Began (Paperback)

I'm so disappointed in this book. Overall, it's like a bad teenage research paper. There's about 5 pages of content stretched into 138 pages of fluff. Admittedly, it has a narrow focus, but the author spends endlesss paragraphs talking about the weather and 'Rock-N-Roll lightning' striking instead of actually giving us insight into the people involved.

The author claims to have interviewed dozens of persons there that day but confines his narrative primarily to imagining how Paul and John felt. It would have been much better to just relate different persons observations about what they saw and remembered that day with a bit of narrative in between.

A representative example of the fluff throughout this book from page 102, "Like a dexterous pickpocket, a passing cloud steals the sun from the long gray vest of the sky. The cloud edge is black frosted. The shadows of the Liverpool field become more ill defined. It's a summer evening of deepening dampness. The humidity hangs in a dim blue haze. A sudden breeze whispers a warning of whimsical weather."

If you want to read a book of such poetry with a wee bit of Beatles info, then buy this book.