Below the beat: The truth behind the story of the Beatles

The Stones were bolder. The Who was louder. But the Beatles simply ruled, from their first single in ’62 until their breakup eight years later. The argument can still be made that they ruled.

Everyone knew them, or thought they did.

As Craig Brown’s “150 Glimpses of the Beatles” suggests, to understand them, you must push past the publicity, the myths, the lies. His doorstop of a book digs deep to try to uncover the truth.

It was July 6, 1957, when the Beatles began. John Lennon, surly and nearly 17, was performing at a school event with his band, the Quarrymen. Paul McCartney, just 15, watched nervously. “I wouldn’t look at him too hard, in case he hit me,” McCartney said later.

Afterward, McCartney worked up the nerve to introduce himself. He played a few songs, including “Be-Bop-a-Lula.”

“He was as good as me,” Lennon marveled. “It went through my head that I’d have to keep him in line if I let him join. But he was good, so he was worth having. He also looked like Elvis.”

Source: Jacqueline Cutler/nydailynews.com

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