John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs

Music journalist Leslie (Born Liars) delivers an ardent exploration of the intimate relationship between the Beatles’ primary songwriters. Tracing Paul McCartney and John Lennon’s bond through the tracks they collaborated on, Leslie spotlights 1963’s “She Loves You,” written during the group’s early touring days as the pair’s “songwriting partnership caught fire”; 1965’s “Ticket to Ride,” a closely collaborative effort (the idea was Lennon’s but many of the production decisions McCartney’s) that signaled a shifting power dynamic as Lennon came to suspect that McCartney was less reliant on him than vice versa; and 1968’s anguished “Yer Blues,” which Lennon wrote in the grip of a deep depression during the band’s retreat in India, from which he emerged “edgy, paranoid,” and determined to “smash up” his life, foreshadowing the band’s demise. The author’s unbridled enthusiasm fuels analyses that can be perceptive and often touching (“She Loves You”—narrated by a third party who wants to bring two lovers together—is as much about a romantic relationship as it is a love between friends, Leslie argues, reflecting McCartney’s later efforts to play mediator in Lennon and Yoko Ono’s relationship), mostly compensating for moments of overblown praise elsewhere. Beatles fans will be eager to add this to their shelves. (Apr.)