Customer Reviews

The Day John Met Paul: An Hour-By-Hour Account of How the Beatles Began

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In the all-time gallery of Beatles photographs, there are several that have achieved iconic status. The one on the cover of this book is probably the earliest. It was taken on July 6th, 1957, and shows John Lennon and his original group, the Quarrymen, performing at the St. Peter's Parish Church Garden Fete. Among those watching the performance was a young man who would be introduced to Lennon later that day. It was one of those meetings that changed history, because that young man was Paul McCartney.

For all that's been written about the Beatles, it's amazing how much of their history has been obscured. The year of the Lennon-McCartney meeting has been variously published as 1955 and 1956, in addition to the correct 1957. In this volume, O'Donnell gets the year right--and a lot more. "The Day John Met Paul" is a vivid, hour-by-hour recreation of that momentous day in music history. O'Donnell's exhaustive research also allows the reader to understand the city of Liverpool, the skiffle music craze, and all the other elements of the world of 1957 that came together to create the Beatles. O'Donnell pulls this all together with a spellbinding storytelling technique. "The Day John Met Paul" is a must for anyone who wants a better understanding of the birth of the Beatles.--William C. Hall

How did such a normal day lead to such a phenomenen? Was it destiny? Did John Lennon and Paul McCartney have any idea as teenagers as to what lay ahead of them? These are questions that can never be answered, but eight years of painstaking research and a little artistic license has produced a book which plants many a romantic thought in the mind about how the Beatles started. "The Day John Met Paul" is a book about the 6th of July 1957, focusing primarily on events in Woolton, a leafy suburb of Liverpool, where a local village fete leads to the first meeting of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, later to become the driving forces behind the band that became the Beatles. Author JimO'Donnell describes these events as a present-tense review of the day, and it is this approach as well as the remarkable factual detail which makes his book unique and compelling. His introduction to the book is mesmerising in itself, as he explains how his research sought to capture the atmosphere of that place at that time. He also describes world events which were happening simultaneously, taking into account time differences, meaning that these events were literally happening at the precise moments. This gives emphasis on the physical normality of what happened that day but as it is written now, it is an experience to read the book while obviously knowing what happened subsequently. This is where O'Donnell engrosses the reader, forcing us to imagine the scenes taking place, and the book, although really an acquired taste, actually works on a historical level as well. For those who never saw 1957, images are conjured of life at that time on a Saturday in the middle of summer. What O'Donnell also acheives is as mentioned the romanticism of the Beatles story and myth and the idea that the real reason for their success and incredible longevity as a part of people's lives was the personal relationships between them and the higher spiritual plane that they seemed to stumble on together. As Paul watches John play at the fete, and later vice versa, there is a "meeting of minds" and a sharp vision. Whether the true story was anything like this is always open to speculation, but the telling phrases used by O'Donnell in his book lead us to believe that was a union so important that it must have been written in the stars. O'Donnell starts off from the early hours of the morning as the teenagers and most of Liverpool sleeps, and he describes the surrounding scene before the main protagonists have had a chance to contribute to events of the day. We see the build-up to the event which, while not big in itself, began something special, and as the event unfolds, his vivid imagination is given full rein as he describes what might have been going through their minds, and how they were spurred on not just by the sound of the music but what it really meant to them on a personal level, creating the collective vision that would eventually be shared with the world. This is of course primarily a book for Beatlemaniacs and positively demands multiple readings and musings.

This is a beautifully atmospheric tale. The writing is so skilled you forget that you're reading; it's like someone is whispering in your ear. You can practically smell the beer on young John Lennon's breath. This is a wonderfully detailed, lovingly told and quite original addition to the Beatles collection of any serious fan. Few rock bios actually touch your heart; few even try. This one does. It's absolutely haunting.

I bought this book thinking it might be a good addition to my Beatles book collection, but truly not expecting it to have much substance. Surprise! It's one of the best books about the Beatles I have read. The writer weaves all the little facts from that day into a darn good read and I even learned a few things. A good story and well worth the money!

I couldn't stop reading once I started this gem, and of the many Beatles books, I'd rate this as one of the best. For pure literary artistry, it ranks high: the descriptions are vivid and bring you completely into that fateful day (one moment stands out in which the Quarrymen go on their second, evening, show and a minute into the set, a rare Liverpool lightning storm sweeps through the town, knocking out the power, leaving John and his bandmates in darkness for a moment...
the proverbial, but in this instance real, "lightning flash" of greater things to come?!)
Definitely recommended to any Beatles fan.

Jim O'Donnell is a very gifted writer. His descriptions of the past are like painted murals in our imagination. The images he creates with his words take us back in time when John Lennon and Paul McCartney were teenagers, in Liverpool, England, and the world was just learning how to rock around the clock. I couldn't put this book down. Besides his great writing ability, it is very obvious that Mr. O'Donnell has done his research well. This book will NOT insult the intelligence of any Beatles' fan. It will make the reader understand a little more of the genius behind the remarkable songwriting team of Lennon and McCartney. Their strong differences of personalities brought John and Paul together... and yet, drew them closer. The author, I feel, has done the job well.

It was an extraordinary day placed within the framework of an ordinary day. How could it be remotely plausible that the two greatest composers of rock music lived under the same Mersey sky and would not experience separate artistic lives but would navigate their Sturm und Drang collaboration into uncharted waters accessed by ever greater exploration into industry standards.

O'Donnell's book does a masterful job of ticking off the minutiae of a day that seemed destined to be distinguished only because of its banality. It would probably be lunacy to declare the tale is related from God's vantage point-- but a reader could have a tough time ignoring the smugness of retrospective omniscience as the day unfolds with the world giving off nary a ripple as our rock and roll heroes mingle amongst the beings of an unsuspecting world.

O'Donnell takes artistic liberties as he portrays what might have been going through the minds of Lennon and McCartney--understandably so, as this precisely underscores the point that even the two protagonists were not caught up in any notion that it was anything but the day of a church fete in a depressed city in the north of England. Why would two British schoolboys recognize the birth date of a musical revolution within the first utterances of "h'llo"?

Few would argue God's involvement in the formation of rock bands. But, Boy Howsy!, he was having quite the day, what with two more blokes named John and Paul set in motion to go into all the world...

In addition to having delightful photographs, this book is about the Cradle of Anglo Rock History, the inception of the Beatles. The cover photo was taken on Saturday, July 6, 1957 (just seven years to the day before the Beatles' first movie "A Hard Day's Night" hit the theaters, Monday, July 6, 1964) of the then-nearly 17-year-old John Lennon with his band, the Quarrymen. The Quarrymen took their name after their school, Quarry Bank High. Paul McCartney, then 15, was one of the boys in the audience who met John during this period and their musical union proved to be quite cataclysmic, indeed.

This author has researched the subject well. Not only are dates and places accurate, but so are the historical descriptions of Liverpool, a sea port town in the North of England. Readers get a sense of England and the world at large in the late 1950s when skiffle bands captured the hearts and ears of the young British audiences and how these skiffle bands would, in turn, influence the world's greatest band, the Beatles!

This is a must-have for all avid Beatle fans and historians in general will appreciate this book for its richly detailed, well reseached history of the times and place.

Simply put, among the most entertaining Beatle books ever written. The author has dilegently researched this extraordinarly day, in a minute by minute account, when John literaly met Paul. A must read for any true Beatle fan. Enjoy.

Very interesting concept. But the book isn't really what it claims - "an hour by hour" account.

What it does do is go over July 6, 1957 in excruciating detail - the weather, the local business scene, the history of the Woolton Garden Fete, and more. That very much was interesting. The author also talks about what was going on in London, America and elsewhere, and I felt that was just filler.

The book also hits upon the importance in the Beatles story of the late Ivan Vaughan, a sometimes member of the Quarry Men who invited his friend Paul McCartney to see his friend John Lennon's band. From that, the seeds of The Beatles were planted.