How The Beatles Knew

Book excerpt: This well-researched book explains how Paul McCartney's artistic process led The Beatles. The author analyzes the Beatles' songs showing how they used ideas from the fields of psychology and the social sciences. McCartney's songs began incorporating these ideas and language when he arrived at the Asher's in 1963 which led the group to worldwide fame and guided the "counterculture." The group continued to use these subtexts as a way to write songs through their final album release. A ground-breaking literary analysis of The Beatles' songs and why they were compelling. Discusses the 1959 Macy Conference on LSD and Psychotherapy, the theories of Frank Fremont-Smith, Dr. Carl Van Rhijn, Dr. Sidney Cohen and cyberneticist Gregory Bateson. Analysis of R.D. Laing's general anti-psychiatry approach, David Cooper's writings, and Maxwell Jones's concept of the "therapeutic society." The last place one would think to find such ideas was in Beatles songs, but the author shows them influencing the structure of most of their output, including from the early "She Loves You," on to "Yellow Submarine," "Hey Jude" and "Going Home," and explains their integration with McCartney's artistic process. "Changing the fashions and lifestyles of youth throughout the world didn't happen by accident. We knew what we were doing." - John Lennon"An entertaining deep dive into the lyrics of Paul McCartney. A must-read for Beatlemaniacs." - Ken Goffman, author of Counterculture Through the AgesIncludes Appendices, Reference Notes and Index. 446 pages.