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In Music Blogs
Beatles trivia for die-hards
John, Paul, George and Bernard Purdie ... not!  
By Bobby Tanzilo RSS Feed
Managing Editor

E-mail author | Author bio
More articles by Bobby Tanzilo

What is a blog?  For us it is a short blurb that we write when the mood strikes us.  It can be first person, funny or informative. In short, a blog is whatever we want it to be. Published Aug. 2, 2007 at 11:01 a.m.
Tags: beatles, hal leonard, trivia, ringo

After all that's been written about the Beatles, what can be left to say about the Fab Four? There have been books focusing solely on their recording sessions, on their musical instruments, on their lyrics; there have been multiple biographies as well as individual bios of John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Most every insider has told their own Beatles-related story, too.

So, it makes sense that pretty much everything from here on out will be of interest mostly to die-hard fans. And that's the case with "Fab Four FAQ," by Stuart Shea and Robert Rodriguez.

The hefty paperback, published by Milwaukee-based Hal Leonard, is subtitled, "Everything Left to Know About the Beatles ... and More!"

This is a trivia book that covers the minutiae of every facet of the existence of Liverpool's greatest contribution to modern culture (sorry Reds fans).

Did you know that there are 78s of Beatles music? It's true, in India where the 78 didn't die off until the mid-1960s!

Did you know that Joe Orton wrote a screenplay for the Beatles -- "Up Against It" -- shortly before his death in 1967? The band opted to make "Magical Mystery Tour" instead. Oops.

Did you know that legendary soul session drummer Bernard Purdie overdubbed tracks to replace Pete Best's drumming on four songs the Beatles recorded with singer Tony Sheridan? Purdie later claimed -- and perhaps believed, errantly -- that he was paid to overdub Ringo performances.

So, you get the idea of "Fab Four FAQ." If you're a Beatles fan, there are 500 pages of this stuff, which can be fascinating. If you're not a dedicated JPGR fanatic, you might just toss it aside and huff, "get a life!"

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