cover image We're Going to See the Beatles!: An Oral History of Beatlemania as Told by the Fans Who Were There

We're Going to See the Beatles!: An Oral History of Beatlemania as Told by the Fans Who Were There

Garry Berman. Santa Monica Press, $16.95 (284pp) ISBN 978-1-59580-032-9

Almost 45 years after Beatlemania swept the U.S., memories of the Beatles' legendary U.S. invasion during the mid-1960s remain fresh in the minds of those who were there. In this remarkably personal oral history of the Beatles in America, author and fan Berman (Best of the Britcoms: From Fawlty Towers to Absolutely Fabulous) tracked down 42 individuals from all over the country who cheered the Beatles at New York's JFK airport when they first landed in America, sat in The Ed Sullivan Show audience for the Beatles' live television debut, waited in line for hours (repeatedly) to see A Hard Day's Night, and attended concerts during the group's three chaotic U.S. tours. Bridging their tales with breezy narration, Berman succinctly recounts the Beatles' entire history, from 1963 through the solo years and the deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison. Though some of them have lapsed in their Beatle fanaticism, all of Berman's subjects realize the significance of their experiences and relate them with gusto. As put by Dale Ford, who saw the Beatles three times in San Francisco, including their final gig, ""I was thinking to myself, 'Dale, savor this moment. This is gonna go down in history.' And it did.""