Two of Us: The Passionate Partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney (Penguin Studio Books) [Paperback]

Geoffrey Giuliano (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1999 | Series: Penguin Studio Books

The relationship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney was the dynamic centre of all that the Beatles did, of all they achieved as musicians and as cultural icons. Noted rock biographer Geoffrey Giuliano delves into the little-known details of John and Paul's friendship to reveal how what was happening in their lives influenced their songs. He analyzes the songs and the albums, addressing each musician's respective contributions in writing and recording. In addition, Giuliano provides a discography, a chronology, and information on songs written for other artists that were never released commercially.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This nuts-and-bolts account of the fabled John Lennon/Paul McCartney collaboration underscores how two very different personalities meshed to create the Beatles sound. Lennon (clearly the author's favorite) was the word man, the rebel, the experimenter who didn't really care how people reacted to his music; McCartney was the crowd pleaser, the melody man with a gift for pleasing tunes, the traditionalist with one foot in Tin Pan Alley. Together they made magic; separately, after the Beatles broke up in 1970, Lennon was preachy and screechy, McCartney was trite and trivial. Longtime Beatles chronicler and rock-music biographer Geoffrey Giuliano (The Lost Lennon Interviews, Rod Stewart: Vagabond Heart) doesn't come up with any staggeringly new information in his otherwise solid examination of the day-to-day specifics involved in creating songs from early pop classics like "Please Please Me" to such mature masterpieces as "A Day in the Life," but he does extract some fab quotes about the Fab Four. (Drummer Pete Thomas on getting his first Beatles album at age 9: "A drum, a cymbal, and With the Beatles. Has the world really come much further?") A must for fans, and critical enough to interest more detached followers of 1960s pop as well. --Wendy Smith

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Studio (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140234608
• ISBN-13: 978-0140234602
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,210,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly researched & badly written., March 11, 1999

By 

Marion Higgins (Rocky Mount, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Two of Us: The Passionate Partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney (Penguin Studio Books) (Paperback)

This book was a major disappointment to me. There was nothing new at all; no new material, no new insight--even the pictures have all been published before.

The author contradicts himself from one page to the other; he also seemed to have problems with the timeframe, covering a happening, then going to something that occurred prior to that happening, basically skipping back & forth.

He quoted other authors and other accounts, old interviews, etc. His quotes seemed rather inexact.

I am truly sorry I bought the book and then wasted time reading it. The author's bias against Paul McCartney was amazingly obvious; sniping away, he took every opportunity to attempt to undercut McCartney's abilities, character and personality.

Instead of a truly insightful account of an amazing partnership, I felt subjected to one person's unjustified attack on Sir Paul McCartney.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievably bad, October 29, 2002

By 

Melissa Garland "melissag915" (O'Fallon, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Two of Us: The Passionate Partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney (Penguin Studio Books) (Paperback)

Lennon's a genius, McCartney is boring and pretenious, Starr is a no talent hack and Harrison merely a brat... riiiiiiiiiiiiight.

The writing is amatuerish in nature, with an overabundance of exclamation points where none are necessary; a clear bias towards one of his subject matters over the other; and inaccurate information even the most casual Beatle fan would be quick to point out.

Author doesn't stay on the topic implied from the title of the book, that being the relationship between the two men. The subject quickly mushrooms to a boring, shallow book on the Beatles.

Avoid.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your money!, May 11, 2002

By 

Deborah Halsten (Sisters, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Two of Us: The Passionate Partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney (Penguin Studio Books) (Paperback)

The author is plainly prejudiced against Paul and plainly biased in favor of John. He doesn't even attempt to be objective and says such outrageous things as, " Paul was just biding his time" to be in control of the Beatles, etc. He doesn't have a clue and this book is going in the garbage where it belongs.