The Beatles Come to America

by Martin Goldsmith

Book Overview

When the Beatles touched down in New York on February 7, 1964 for their first visit to America, they brought with them a sound that hadn't been heard before. By the time they returned to England two weeks later, major changes in music, fashion, the record industry, and the image of an entire generation had been set into motion. Coming less than three months after the assassination of President Kennedy, the Beatles' visit helped rouse the country...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471469645
• ISBN13: 9780471469643
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Beatles 101

This book describes the earthshaking phenomenon of Beatlemania and the banner Year of the Beatles, 1964 when the band arrived in America. Extensive coverage of the Beatles' 1964 appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show is given as well as the background of each Beatle. The pre-Ringo years in Hamburg (1960-62) also receive fairly good coverage. Although this book offers nothing new to inveterate fans, people just coming into the Beatles will undoubtedly find this book to be a good teaching tool.

Sheer Poetry!

First of all, it must be stated emphatically that carioca04 (see below) is both vicious and wrong. Goldsmith never states that the Beatles wore Edwardian suits on Ed Sullivan, never states that Sullivan didn't witness the Beatles at Heathrow on October 31, 1963, and never states that the Beatles' concerts in America were bigger than earlier concerts in London. As to Sid Bernstein, respected Beatle historians from Hunter Davies to Alan Cozinn point to Bernstein's importance in the story. Carioca04 obviously has an axe to grind or an agenda to advance (quite possibly in support of other Beatle books that haven't achieved Goldsmith's popularity) and it's pretty sad to witness.That said, Martin Goldsmith offers a superb short history of the band and his writing is marvelous. He evokes or quotes from such poets as Wordsworth, Shelley, Eliot, Housman, and Frost, and quotes the soaring rhetoric of President Kennedy, all to great effect. And his own prose frequently approaches the poetic. This is a book that will stay with you long after you close it ... it's well worth its modest price tag.

So good it made me cry!

I thought I knew a fair amount about the Beatles but this wonderful book filled in so many gaps in my knowledge of the band's early years. The story of those magical two weeks in February '64 is told compellingly and with fine detail but also with deep emotion. And the book's concluding pages, with the author sitting in the churchyard in Liverpool where it all began, moved me to tears. A great book worthy of its subject!

The Beatles Come to America

I loved this book. It's a cool look at the Beatles' musical and cultural influence on America in the 60's, and how their magic is still appreciated today. The author does a great job of picking out fun anecodotes and details about the band, inspiring me to pull out and listen to all of my Beatles' CDs.

Can It Really Be 40 Years?

Although generally known for his encyclopedic knowledge of classical music (as host of NPR's "Performance Today" and now of XM Radio's Classics channel), Martin Goldsmith seems equally knowledgeable in the world of rock music -- as Washington, D.C. fans of his "Songs for Aging Children" radio program already recognize. Combining this broad, cross-genre musical perspective with a wonderful gift for storytelling (compellingly demonstrated in his first book, "The Inextinguishable Symphony"), Goldsmith's highly readable account of the Beatles' early years and their coming to America is both journalistic in style and insightful cultural commentary."The Beatles Come to America" is part of the publisher's "Turning Points in History" series -- which includes such other seminal events as Columbus discovering America, the Louisiana Purchase, the Declaration of Independence, D-Day, Jackie Robinson's integrating major league baseball, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall (by William F. Buckley). Reasonable minds may well differ as to whether the Fab Four's arrival in America belongs in the same league as those other events, but Goldsmith does an excellent job relating this event's impact not only on American *cultural* history, but on our history generally. Few would dispute, of course, that President Kennedy's assassination was a watershed event in U.S. history; and Goldsmith observes persuasively how America's multi-faceted reaction to the Beatles -- less than three months after the assassination -- was not only part of our emergence from national mourning, but also the first evidence of a new generational/cultural "Berlin Wall." But don't let the publisher's "turning point" designation turn you off. This isn't some stodgy exegesis on "I Wanna Hold Your Hand." Above all, it's a fun read -- reminding us of those days when we stayed glued to the radio, eagerly awaited each new Beatles single, and got exasperated with our parents and the press for talking only about their haircuts! Still, as much as I enjoyed the book's by-now familiar stories of the Beatles' appearances here in Washington, D.C. and on the Ed Sullivan Show, my favorite parts of "The Beatles Come to America" are in Goldsmith's telling of the Beatles' pre-stardom gigs in Germany where, under miserable conditions, they truly honed their music and performance skills -- and John and Paul really learned how to create wonderful music together. There may not be a great deal that's new here for the rabidly devoted and knowledgeable Beatlemaniac, but for the rest of us mere then-and-now Beatle fans, this is a book that will bring warm smiles of remembrance and recognition. Not to mention shock and awe that it really has been 40 years.