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Growing Up With the Beatles Paperback – January 1, 1980

by Ron Schaumburg (Author)

19

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1980 1st Ed. Perigree

Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Putnam~trade
Publication date

January 1, 1980
ISBN-10

0399505504
ISBN-13

978-0399505508
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Putnam~trade; First Edition (January 1, 1980)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0399505504
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0399505508
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces

Best Sellers Rank: #1,798,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews:
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4.4 out of 5

19 global ratings

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R. thomas

praise for the book

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2009

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Growing up with the Beatles: An illustrated tribute
you wanna stroll down memery lane with the beatles,then this is you book.so many rare pitures and stories it's the ultimate book for light reading that was fun for me and my brother back in our school days.I would rank this book right up there with any other fan perspective of any other group or singer .

3 people found this helpful

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Arthur Lenert

Good book.

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2019

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This is a 40 year old book, but it is in excellent condition. Great reading.

One person found this helpful

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Ralph DeMattia

Excellent book

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2013

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I got this copy to replace an old original, and it has stood the test of time very well. Mr. Schaumburg has a great writing style for a first effort, and it is very, VERY readable and interesting.

4 people found this helpful

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Neil Parille

When I was growing up this was one of the ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2016

When I was growing up this was one of the few books on the Beatles. I don't remember much about it, but I remember the writer going through various phases of life with the Beatles. I think it ended around '76. He talked about McCartney's tour with Wings in '76. Anyway, I'd read it again, if I can find it after three or four moves.

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2014

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I've never considered myself a Beatles fan, per se. I like many of their songs--both from when they were a band, and after they embarked on their solo careers. But I've never owned a Beatles album, or listened to one from start to end to get the theme of it.

Maybe that's because when the Beatles exploded onto the American scene in 1964, I was only two years old. When I got old enough to notice the popular music my older sisters were playing, the Beatles were already so ingrained into the fabric of American culture that they were everywhere on radio and TV. They were like the clouds or the grass--I just didn't notice them.

Not so with Ron Schaumburg, growing up outside Kansas City in the '60s. He was eight years older than I, and already developing a pre-teen's sensitivity to music and pop culture, so the discovery of the Beatles was to him a life-altering event. In this book, he carefully chronicles every Beatles album, TV appearance, concert, and film, along with events like marriages or badly worded press conferences that had an influence on the band's popularity. But far from being just a standard history of the Beatles, Ron skillfully weaves in the events of his own life at the time, and how his interactions with Beatles music influenced those events or his reactions to them.

I identified heavily with Schaumburg as I read along, because despite our age difference, his childhood and teen years seems to have paralleled my own in many ways. Like me, he was an introvert who found solace and companionship in books, and through reading gained a love of writing as well. He was a science fiction fan, and a movie aficionado. He was involved in Scouting, and developed a few but very close friends. In many ways our lives were so similar it was eerie reading about his, but fascinating to see how perhaps mine could have been different if I had not taken until the 1980s to really develop an interest in current pop and rock music (for me, it was bands like Pink Floyd, the Eagles, Rush, etc).

I have to really credit Schaumburg with the quality of writing in this book. He's detached and frank when describing his own failures or shortcomings (in his perception, at least) just as he is with his successes and accomplishments. He takes the same approach with the Beatles, whom he obviously admires, collectively and individually. He is eloquent in describing the emotions their music evoked in him, as well as the disappointments brought about by their all-too-human failings.

What I didn't expect from this volume was the wonderful dissection of almost all of the songs and albums in the Beatles catalog. Schaumburg uses his musical background and training to discuss the technical merits and flaws of the various compositions, the emotions or atmosphere they touch, and how well each song fits into the album it's in, and into the Beatles corpus as a whole. Honestly, the thing his song descriptions reminded me of most was good whisky tasting notes: you may not get the same flavors as the reviewer every time, but there's no doubting his enjoyment of the subject and his qualifications to speak on it. This is all the more remarkable when you consider that Schaumburg would have only been in his early 20s when he wrote this book!

Perhaps the most poignant aspect of <i>Growing Up With the Beatles</i> is the fact that it was published in 1976, six years after the band broke up. At the end of the book Schaumburg includes a sort of "where are they now" section, with several pages devoted to the solo career of each of the Fab Four. He ends each one with a personal note from himself to the artist, like "Bless you, George," after discussing Harrison's emerging spirituality, and "Be ever so, Paul!" when referring to McCartney's quote, "My ambition now is just to be happy." To John Lennon, Schaumburg wrote: "Survive well, John." Painful, in light of what was to happen four short years later.

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paperbackriter

A Unique Perspective -- A Fan's Point of View

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2001

Among the hundreds of Beatle books ever published only a few truly stand out. Ron Schaumburg's "Growing Up With the Beatles" is indeed one of those rare jewels. Schaumburg's tribute to the Fab Four features two unique angles: 1) the author's sincere, and often humorous, first-person account which portrays the important role the Beatles played during his awkward adolescence. 2) rare reviews of out-of-print American albums such as Beatles'65, Yesterday and Today and the abridged versions of Rubber Soul and Revolver.
Schaumburg, a self-admitted geeky Midwestern teen, fills the pages with his most personal, and often embarassing, feelings. It's all classic wince-inducing material-- a disastrous first date, the dreaded father-son sex talk, etc. -- which can be appreciated by all who survived such adolescent horrors. Somehow, the good 'ole Beatles always manage to bail young Mr. Schamburg out of whatever crisis he endures. Indeed, the universal healing-power of Beatle music is the author's recurring theme. It is a theme to which most Beatle fans will immediately relate. However, things are not always rosy between the author and the Fab Four. Schaumburg admits to briefly disliking the group for becoming too hip and his reviews are occasionally scathing.(He can't stand Strawberry Fields Forever!) But, agree or disagree, he's always brutally honest and that is the book's greatest appeal. Long out-of-print, "Growing Up" was originally published in 1976 when Schaumburg --and the rest of the world-- desperately hoped for a Beatle reunion. An overall well-written book, Schaumburg's unique tribute is truly a labor of love from one Beatle fan to thousands of others. Great stuff!

17 people found this helpful

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Charles Wilson

Boy I Can Relate To GUWTB!

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2008

I bought this book in early 77 and after reading it brought back alot of memories. I was this much obsessed with the Beatles when I was a kid. My friends and I used to put on shows for the local girls pretending we were the Beatles { playing to Beatles records]. All in all a very good book> Im now 53 and what I wouldnt give to relive those days back in the sixties!

2 people found this helpful

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Paul S.

An Entertaining Read

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2011

I first read this book back in 1978, while still in high school. Back then, there was nowhere near the volume of Beatle related books, or information, that is available now. I was still learning about the influences that The Beatles had in America and this is a refreshing look at Midwestern culture and the changes happening because of them. There are no revelations about the group; just a man reflecting on his youth and the effects that The Beatles had on it. An entertaining read.

6 people found this helpful

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Dean J LaCaprara

Highly recommended for Beatle fans

Reviewed in Canada on December 29, 2020

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Item arrived promptly in good condition: thanks! If only Americans were this humble + sincere, along with knowing enough about music to judge material without embarrassing themselves (Robert Christgau, Dave Marsh).

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