A Ticket to Ride
Inside the Beatles' 1964 Tour That Changed the World
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4.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
It was 40 years ago today--more or less--that a 22-year-old broadcast journalist from Florida was invited by manager Brian Epstein to travel with the Beatles to every stop on their first North American tours. The only American reporter in the official press party, Larry Kane obtained exclusive, revealing interviews with John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Fortunately, Kane saved his original notes and tapes, and shares them here for the first time. That material provides the basis for his intimate look back at the phenomenon of the Fab Four, and insights into the humor and personality of each group member. Ticket to Ride, illustrated with more than 30 photographs, captures a rare time in history, gracefully melding the story of the Beatles revolution with the changing tenor of the country. Hear John Lennon's early public criticism of the Vietnam War, and learn about the night the Beatles met Bob Dylan. "We had a crazy party the night we met Dylan , " Paul recounts. "I thought I got the meaning to life that night."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
John Lennon once said that the Beatles on tour were as debauched as the ancient Romans in Fellini's Satyricon. Outside of a description of a "happy" Lennon urging his band mates to "take your pick" from a group of hookers provided by an Atlantic City concert promoter, this highly entertaining account by broadcast journalist Kane, who covered the tour at the time, is as discreet about the Fab Four's sexual adventures as they were, although Kane notes that "women came and went from the Beatles' floor in most hotels." But in all other respects, from fiery airplanes and rioting fans to encounters with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Jayne Mansfield (the latter two seem to spend "quality" time with Lennon), this is a fantastic insider's look at the cultural explosion that was Beatlemania. It helps that Kane was only 21 at the time (the same age as Paul McCartney); unlike "dull-witted" reporters whom the Beatles came to disdain, Kane quickly noted "their indisputable naturalness and, to varying degrees, the depth of their humanity and their lack of phoniness." In turn, the Beatles rewarded Kane with many in-depth interviews through the tour (60 minutes of which are included on an accompanying CD), which Kane skillfully uses throughout provide the Beatles' own insightful view of the ongoing craziness surrounding them, as they travel from one chaotic hotel and concert scene to another. This is the most detailed description yet of the Beatles' American tours, and one of the few books on the band written in the past decade that can be considered indispensable.
