The Vinyl Word: The Complete Beatles Songs by Steve Turner

The Beatles. Photo / Supplied

I don't mind admitting I am a Beatles nut.

I love the band and have done since the day I heard their first single, Love Me Do, which was released in 1962.

From that day on I began collecting Beatles records.

As you know back then the four lads out of Liverpool created a music revolution and from then until they broke up in 1970 they took us on an amazing musical journey.

As well as owning every Beatles album and a number of 45s and EPs, I collect books on the band.

One of my recent purchases was a book by Steve Turner called The Complete Beatles Songs, the stories behind every track written by the Fab Four.

The book includes the full lyrics and details how, why and where the songs were created. How many songs did they write? Wikipedia lists 237 songs, but I believe there are many more that are lying around in attics somewhere that have not been published.

Many of the songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney introduced us to some crazy imaginary characters, none more so than the John Lennon song I Am the Walrus which was the B side to their big hit Hello Goodbye, released in November of 1967.

I Am the Walrus was actually an amalgamation of at least three song ideas John had been working on at the time. Walrus ended up being part tongue in cheek and part psychedelic poem, and was pieced together in part by John to confuse some literature students at his old school in Liverpool who were analysing the lyrics of Beatles songs.

It amused John that students were analysing Beatles music so he decided to write a song comprised of words he made up, like Semolina Pilchards, Elementary Penguins and Crabalocker just to name a few.

According to Steve Turner's book, Semolina Pilchard was a reference to a London police detective at the time, Norman Pilchard, who had a reputation for targeting pop stars for drug possession.

The line, "I am The Egg Man" supposedly refers to the lead singer of The Animals, Eric Burdon, who had an unusual practice of breaking eggs over his female conquests while making love and so, became known as the Egg Man.

The Walrus came from Lewis Carroll's poem, The Walrus and The Carpenter for which John had drawn an illustration in an exercise book as a school boy in Liverpool.

There is even an extract from Shakespeare's King Lear, Act IV, Scene VI, in the song that John taped from the radio.

If you love the music of the Beatles, you should look out for this book.