Beatles books you own | Page 9 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

I borrowed the book from the library and couldn’t get through it all. I’ll have another go eventually, but it’s very low on my list. I’ve written elsewhere – I think the best Beatles book thread – that he often embellishes events for which he wasn’t present. I don’t think it’s just the McCartneys’ reaction that’s sullied the book’s reputation; over the years, far less sensational memoirs from insiders have been published, making Brown’s book seem all the more tawdry in retrospect.

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Brown did embellish quite a bit – “transcribing” dialogue for scenes at which he wasn’t present, as if he could even recall people’s exact words so many years later even if he WAS there – but that’s not really the same as inventing incidents that never happened at all. As it is, I can’t really remember what parts of the book are proven out-and-out vicious lies, but it’s been at least 25 years since I read it. Of the stuff that I’ve never read anywhere else (and may or may not be true), all I really recall are a few odd wtf? moments, like Paul treating a case of the crabs with sheep dip.

I guess I can’t help having a soft spot for this book – it was the first Beatles bio I read, and I learned so much (Hamburg, Dylan, White Album fighting)

DrBeatle said
Also, his account of Paul spending a weekend with two hookers in LA in ’68 (I believe)…that book is the only place I’ve *ever* read that story so I immediately discount it. Something as salacious as that (if you don’t know what I mean, read the book) would surely be reported elsewhere were it true?

Not to defend Brown, but I have read that story elsewhere – it’s the weekend at the Beverly Hills Hotel that was later dubbed “The Dirty Weekend” (by Linda, perhaps). If you google Paul and that phrase, you’ll find other references, and even Paul’s official bio by Barry Miles mentions it.

I think the only detail that might be wrong is the claim that both women were hookers. The white woman he was with was reportedly a call girl, but the other was an African American actress named Winona Williams (the weekend was referenced rather disgustingly by a friend of Paul’s as “The Paul McCartney Black and White Minstrel Show”). This was the weekend Paul kind of went insane with his libido, trying to juggle those two women in addition to inviting Peggy Lipton over *and* having Linda fly out from New York. 

On a less salacious note, this is where those cool photos of Paul sitting in a chair with a red velvet jacket come from, such as the  one where he covers all of his face except his eyes. Oh… here are some photos.

Again, not defending Brown. I just happen to favor photos of Paul from ’67 and ’68, so I’m more familiar with that period than any other in Beatle history. And I don’t think Brown was actually there.

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DrBeatle said
^ah, thanks for clearing that up for me, I stand corrected!

And Brown also used the “minstrel show” name for it in his book, *THAT* I remember 100%

Okay, that’s where that phrase originated. *shudder*

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