The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics
 Cover, volume 1 (1969) | |
| Author | The Beatles Alan Aldridge (editor) |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Alan Aldridge |
| Subject | song lyrics |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin Macdonald Unit 75 |
Publication date | 1969, 1971 |
The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics is a set of two books combining the lyrics of songs by The Beatles with accompanying illustrations and photographs, many by leading artists of the period. Comments from The Beatles on the origins of the songs are also included.[1] The book was edited by Alan Aldridge, who also provided many of the illustrations.[2] The books were published in the UK by Macdonald Unit 75 (later Macdonald & Co) in 1969 and 1971,[3] and in the US by Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence. The book was reprinted as one volume in 1999 by Black Dog & Leventhal, and in a signed limited edition in 2012.[4] Some of the illustrations were fan art solicited by Aldridge.
The book focuses almost exclusively on the lyrics to songs written by Lennon-McCartney and for reasons unclear, not all of the songs written by George Harrison are included, let alone the two songs written by Richard Starkey (AKA Ringo Starr). The book doesn't include the lyrics to the many cover versions of songs recorded for EMI.
Artists
Artists and photographers featured in the book include:
- John Alcorn ("Eight Days a Week")
- David Bailey ("Lovely Rita")
- R. O. Blechman ("No Reply")
- Charles Bragg ("I Call Your Name")
- Mel Calman ("Only a Northern Song")
- Seymour Chwast ("The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill")
- Alan E. Cober ("From Me to You")
- John Deakin ("P.S. I Love You")
- Etienne Delessert ("Bad to Me")
- Heinz Edelmann (numerous)
- Erté ("Goodnight")
- Michael English ("Another Girl")
- Michael Foreman ("And I Love Her")
- Milton Glaser ("A Day in the Life")
- John Glashan ("Can't Buy Me Love")
- Rick Griffin ("Why Don't We Do It in the Road?")
- Robert Grossman ("Back in the U.S.S.R.")
- Rudolf Hausner ("Magical Mystery Tour")
- David Hockney ("I'm So Tired")
- Nigel Holmes ("Her Majesty")
- Allen Jones ("Girl")
- Art Kane ("Eleanor Rigby")
- Jan Lenica ("All My Loving")
- James Marsh ("Michelle")
- Peter Max ("Glass Onion"), ("The Word")
- James McMullan ("I Feel Fine")
- Tony Meeuwissen ("Hello, Little Girl")
- Philippe Mora ("Carry that Weight")
- Victor Moscoso ("Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da")
- Stanley Mouse ("The Inner Light")
- Barbara Nessim ("I'll Be Back")
- Eduardo Paolozzi ("Let It Be")
- Ethan Russell ("Got to Get You into My Life")
- Ronald Searle ("Help!")
- Jean Loup Sieff ("Good Day Sunshine")
- Ralph Steadman ("Oh! Darling")
- Tiger Takeishi ("That Means a Lot"), ("Wait")
- Roland Topor ("Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band")
- Tomi Ungerer ("All I've Got to Do"), ("Fixing a Hole")
- David Vaughan ("Because")
- Tadanori Yokoo ("I'll Cry Instead")
References
- The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics, edited by Alan Aldridge. Black Dog & Leventhal/Workman (1999) ISBN 1-57912-058-x
- ^ "Lyrics Explained in Book on Beatles", Paul Smurthwaite, Los Angeles Times, Oct 29, 1969
- ^ "The Talk: Ink-Stained Wretch", Alan Aldridge, New York Times, September 17, 2006
- ^ Visuals: Cover to Cover, Steven Heller, New York Times, May 28, 2009
- ^ Omnibus Press edition announcement, at the 2013 London Book Fair website
