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Rock News, Views, and Interviews
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"A superb re-creation of a moment in music history based on detailed research and imaginative insight. Jim O'Donnell has a reporter's curiosity,
a rock 'n' roller's heart, and he writes like a lyrical Irish poet."
--Michael Lydon, A Founding Editor of ROLLING STONE
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THE NEW EDITION Over two dozen well-chosen photographs add an enriching visual dimension to a newly revised edition of The Day John Met Paul, a critically-acclaimed nonfiction Beatles book. “The photos make this a brand new book,” said author Jim O’Donnell, who spent eight years doing research and interviews. “They draw the reader into the story and enliven the text.” The book has just been released by Routledge, a division of 150-year-old London publisher Taylor and Francis. It had previously been published by Penguin and translated into several languages. The Day John Met Paul is the factual, hour-by-hour account of the day in 1957 that John Lennon met Paul McCartney in Liverpool, England. The book has been widely praised—even by John Lennon’s bandmates—for its blend of accurate reporting and colorful storytelling. The photos in the new edition enhance the atmospheric narrative with period-piece images from the Liverpool of the mid-1950s. The images include Strawberry Field and Penny Lane but also portray the overall cultural life of the city and the country. “These mood-catching pictures really make this edition a different reading experience than the first edition,” said O’Donnell, who not only wrote the book but took some of the pictures. “The images dovetail very well with the writing on the facing pages and that makes the story even more vivid and more memorable. The reader becomes involved on a visual level as well as an intellectual one.” Added O’Donnell: “What I’m especially pleased about is how the pictures actually show the truth of the text. They prove the text. “For example, they show that Liverpool kids really were going crazy over rock ‘n’ roll in 1957. They were as crazy over early rock music as early 1960’s kids were crazy over the Beatles."
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"I remember when we first met in Woolton, at the village fete. It was a beautiful summer day. I walked in there and I saw you on the stage and you were singing 'Come Go With Me' by the Del Vikings. But you didn't know the words. So you made them up." --PAUL MCCARTNEY at John Lennon's 1994 Induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Journal Jim O'Donnell Les Paul THE DAY JOHN MET PAUL has been published in several languages, ranging from Japanese to Czech to French, and is available on an audiotape read by Rod Davis, a personal friend of John Lennon.
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THE REVIEWS "Minutely detailed. . ."
--Los Angeles Times
"Meticulously researched. . ."
--Washington Post
"THE DAY JOHN MET PAUL is one of the best Beatles books ever written. It's a crucial text to understanding the Beatles story. Extraordinary research, fresh approach, entertaining tone, deep insight . . . The writing itself is a kind of music. It belongs on every Beatles bookshelf, large or small, old or young."
--Ray Coleman, John Lennon's
Authorized Biographer
"Once I started reading this book, I couldn't stop. This is a realistic portrayal of Lennon as a teenager. O'Donnell gets it right."
--Pete Shotton, John Lennon's
Best Friend.
"A good read with a musical twist."
--VH-1
"THE DAY JOHN MET PAUL is brilliant. I can't fault it."
--Colin Hanton, a Member of
John Lennon's Band,
The Quarry Men
"It reads like a drama, a thriller even . . . You won't be able to put the bloody book down!"
-Andy Davis,
RECORD COLLECTOR
Magazine
"Incredible research . . . By the time John meets Paul, the book just explodes!"
--BBC Radio
"It was absolutely incredible to have the day brought back so perfectly. I couldn't have told the story more accurately myself."
--Bob Molyneux, Who Taped
John Lennon Playing
On the Day He Met
Paul McCartney
The book was included in the bibliography of Paul McCartney's autobiography.
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The Story
Everyone knows how the band called the Beatles finished is career by crossing ABBEY Road. But few know how the ultra-famous group began its career: by crossing CHURCH Road, Liverpool, on July 6, 1957.
On that scorching summer Saturday in northwest England, soon-to-be seventeen John Lennon met just-turned-fifteen Paul McCartney. It was a day that would change a music that would change a world. It is also a day mysteriously muddled in history--the missing link in the Beatle story.
But now the mystery Chapter One that seemed lost in time has been retrieved--in pristine condition. Jim O'Donnell, a rock music author and journalist, goes further back than even the Cavern and Hamburg days to unearth, dust off and shine a flashlight on this amazing close-up portrait.
Employing a dramatic you-are-there style, O'Donnell reconstructs the events of that single July day, from pre-dawn to near-midnight, with each chapter containing a group of hours.
During his eight years of wide-ranging research and interviewing, the author gained the unprecedented cooperation of many of the day's participants, including all of John Lennon's band, the Quarry Men Skiffle group.
Scores of colorful, ironic, interesting and little-known details contribute to the unique approach that makes this a new kind of Beatle book. For a richly sketched look at a very special day, don't miss a minute of this remarkable story!
The Author
Jim O'Donnell, a veteran author and journalist, received his first professional newspaper byline with a sports story in 1969. Since that time, his articles and books have focused mostly on rock 'n' roll.
Along with The Day John Met Paul, he is the author of three other books: Wonderful Tonight, Born to Rock, and The Rock Book.
Whether sitting front-row-center at an Eric Clapton concert in New York City, or standing front-row-center at the gates of Strawberry Field in Liverpool, O'Donnell has traveled the globe as a journalist for over 30 years, searching out stories.
He holds a Master's Degree from St. Peter's College and studied journalism under New Journalism pioneer Richard Goldstein at New York University. He has also completed courses in Creative Writing and The Teaching of Writing at Harvard University.
O'Donnell is a member of the Authors Guild, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and the Society of Professional Journalists. He lives with his wife and three children at the Jersey Shore, where he likes to surf, take pictures, play sports, and watch the sun rise over the ocean.
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