cover image The Beatles and Me on Tour

The Beatles and Me on Tour

Ivor Davis. Cockney Kid, $15.99 trade paper (338p) ISBN 978-0-9903710-7-6

Davis, a British journalist transplanted to Los Angeles, was commissioned to go with on a tour of the U.S. the Beatles in the summer of 1964, mostly to be a ghostwriter for George Harrison’s column in the London Daily Express. He got to know “the boys” and the intricacies of their relationships, witnessed their sexual peccadilloes on the road, and became close to their manager, Brian Epstein. He was present when the Beatles met Elvis and when they smoked pot with Bob Dylan for the first time. Fans of the Beatles will absolutely delight in Davis’s insider account of a frenetic tour, and there are several stories that enthusiasts have heard before. While Davis has a legitimacy that other authors do not, he clearly straddles the line between journalist and fan. That doesn’t make him shy away from the Beatles’ less attractive traits (John Lennon’s anti-Semitism and mocking of the disabled, for example), but it does put a glossier patina on his tale. (BookLife)