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Dreaming the Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World

Rob Sheffield

4.08 · Rating details · 2,672 ratings · 419 reviews

“This is the best book about the Beatles ever written” —Mashable

Rob Sheffield, the Rolling Stone columnist and bestselling author of Love Is a Mix Tape offers an entertaining, unconventional look at the most popular band in history, the Beatles, exploring what they mean today and why they still matter so intensely to a generation that has never known a world without them. ...more

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ebook, 368 pages

Published April 25th 2017 by Dey Street Books

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Jun 18, 2017 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Subtitled, “The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World,” this is something unusual – a different book about the Beatles. Author Rob Sheffield is an editor at Rolling Stones, a music critic and a Beatles fan. Sheffield’s parents were amused, and slightly confused, about the obsession that he, and his sisters, had for the Beatles. Didn’t they know that this band had split up? In fact, Sheffield’s real argument, in this extremely personal love letter to the band, is that the fact the band split Subtitled, “The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World,” this is something unusual – a different book about the Beatles. Author Rob Sheffield is an editor at Rolling Stones, a music critic and a Beatles fan. Sheffield’s parents were amused, and slightly confused, about the obsession that he, and his sisters, had for the Beatles. Didn’t they know that this band had split up? In fact, Sheffield’s real argument, in this extremely personal love letter to the band, is that the fact the band split up made no difference at all to how people felt about them. I first came to the Beatles in the Seventies, via Wings, and that was the decade in which the ex-Beatles themselves were pretty disgruntled about people raking up the never ending stories of reunions. However, as it now clear, every era claims the Beatles as their own discovery. They sit, virtually unchallenged, as the ‘Greatest Group of all Time’ and look set to remain there.

When the Beatles broke up, even they thought there was a time limit to their success. The more they raged about not looking backwards, became embroiled in lawsuits and personal arguments, writing songs that were definitely about each other, others that were probably about each other and unable to cut those ties (John Lennon was always a Beatle and unable to hide his obsession with Paul throughout his entire life), the more the public simply refused to allow them not to be Beatles anymore. If the four ex-members of the band refused to play the game and get back together, they would simply invent new ways to enjoy being fans – enter tribute bands, movies about them, plays, Beatles conventions, endless podcasts, even ‘Beatles historians’ such as Mark Lewisohn, to really treat the Fabs as seriously as we feel they should be treated…

Rob Sheffield muses about what the Beatles mean to him, and to so many of us, in this book. Yes, it is opinionated and that means that you will not agree with everything he writes. I am sure he would not expect us to. Still, he says a lot that you may well agree with and lots that you can get either enthusiastic, or enraged, about. He snipes a little at Paul, but, sadly, I feel that only time will show how there is, literally, nobody who is as multi-talented and central to the Beatles as Paul was. If George and Ringo were, in George’s only half-joking words, the ‘economy Beatles’ then it was John and Paul who led the way and created the bulk of the music that much of the world still sings. Whatever my doubts about some of Sheffield’s views, I really did enjoy this book and I applaud him for writing something beyond the usual biography. For those of us to whom the Beatles are not only important, but so important that we need to consider every aspect of their career in mind-numbing detail, this is a book you should probably read.
...more

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Aug 04, 2019 Lisa rated it liked it · review of another edition

[2.5] Although I've loved the Beatles most of my life (since a babysitter introduced me to "I Want to Hold Your Hand") I am not obsessed enough to appreciate this book. I do own every album - but that just means I love the music! This book had too much detail about their songs and lives that didn't interest me or that I already knew. I ended up skimming many of the chapters. ...more

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Apr 24, 2017 Meg rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I preordered this book back in October. I've read hundreds of books about the Beatles, and am always actively looking for books about the Beatles that are new, refreshing, and different. I'd had high hopes that this would be one of them. It wasn't.

Dreaming the Beatles felt more like a personal attack on Paul McCartney and a love letter to John Lennon (with very average opinions of Ringo and George sprinkled in) with no new anecdotes, stories; or musings. It was recycled material, as many Beatle ...more

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Jul 03, 2022 cameron rated it it was amazing

what i really liked it that although he has his opinions, and he makes little jabs at some of my favorite songs ….. , he isn’t trying to convince you he is right. he is just having a conversation with the reader, about how much the Beatles mean to us, and that the fact that we are still arguing over them is proof enough in its self of their impact. whether you already have an appreciation for them or not, i think anyone would enjoy this. so so nice.

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Jan 21, 2019 Karen O rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: music, 2019-challenge, lives-of-artists

I fear this book is going to send me on a serious Beatles bender...

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May 15, 2017 M. Sarki rated it really liked it · review of another edition

https://msarki.tumblr.com/post/160690...

It was never a pressing need for me to read any book about the Beatles. Born in northern Michigan in a small fishing town back in 1953, I grew up with them. It feels like only yesterday when as a thirteen year-old boy I made my way downtown to Loeffler’s Electronics to pick up my pre-ordered copy of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It felt like precious cargo walking home with that LP tucked under my arm. When I placed it on the turntable in the base https://msarki.tumblr.com/post/160690...

It was never a pressing need for me to read any book about the Beatles. Born in northern Michigan in a small fishing town back in 1953, I grew up with them. It feels like only yesterday when as a thirteen year-old boy I made my way downtown to Loeffler’s Electronics to pick up my pre-ordered copy of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It felt like precious cargo walking home with that LP tucked under my arm. When I placed it on the turntable in the basement a new world opened up for me. I had never heard anything like what my ears were now experiencing. These British pop stars had turned a new corner, one that was in some ways expected based on where their music had been going. But change is slow coming to a little town up north on Lake Huron. And I would never again be the same after my entire Beatle experience.

Dreaming the Beatles is a collection of essays telling the story of what this band means to a generation who grew up with the Beatles music on their parents’ stereos and their faces on T-shirts. I cannot imagine what that might have been like. I grew up in a home where even the mention of the Beatles was prohibited. The band’s first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show was cause for the future downfall of our country’s youth. My father was the president of our local School Board and the Iosco County News headlines one day soon after the first British Invasion abhorrently read, “Sarki says there will be no Beatles haircuts in Tawas Area Schools.” For years my three brothers and I were marshaled down to the basement for our customary two-week butch haircut. There we would squirm as our father cut away with his motorized shears, nicking our necks until they bled with regularity. But by the time Sgt. Pepper’s was issued there was no longer much that old Dad could do. Bangs were in and his boys were defiantly wearing them. Of course, I had a cowlick that prohibited a proper look. My style was more in tune with today’s spiked hair, except mine scrambled anywhere it wanted to except straight down.

As was predicted, mind-expanding drugs were introduced into my small town and the destruction of our youth became imminent. The Vietnam War certainly had something to do with it. Some of us survived. The Beatles for us were an everyday occurrence. Nothing existed without the Beatles’ mark upon it. Everything they said or did was reported and discussed. Hence the need for no further reading in a book about them. But now, so many years later, this title interested me. And the memories it brought forth were worth my time in reading it. The generations that came after ours have, and will have, their own set of experiences. But they will never be like our moments were back then, when British pop exploded in our bodies. And then it expanded and morphed into a world of psychedelic music, changing our minds forever, and opening us lucky ones to something bigger, more promising, and positively brighter. So come bless these boys in the band, and their passing that now-eternal audition. ...more

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May 18, 2017 Traci rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, ugh

This book should have been called "Mansplaining the Beatles: A Love Story of One Band and Rob Sheffield". I think it's supposed to feel like a conversation. Unfortunately, it's the one you're stuck in with the guy you just met at a party who loves the sound of his own voice and uses every topic to prove what an expert he is in, oh, everything, and if you have the nerve to disagree he proceeds to explain that it's simply because you haven't thought about in the way he is about to enlighten you on This book should have been called "Mansplaining the Beatles: A Love Story of One Band and Rob Sheffield". I think it's supposed to feel like a conversation. Unfortunately, it's the one you're stuck in with the guy you just met at a party who loves the sound of his own voice and uses every topic to prove what an expert he is in, oh, everything, and if you have the nerve to disagree he proceeds to explain that it's simply because you haven't thought about in the way he is about to enlighten you on yet. Ugh.

But he doesn't even come close to even trying to answer the question that the book supposedly sets out answer. Why, after 50 years, are the Beatles still the world's most popular band? What draws listeners who were born in the 80s, 20 years after they broke up, to listen to them? The book is so thoroughly rooted in the author's perspective that the idea that the experience is different for everyone is completely lost on him. He makes a lot of assumptions about the knowledge and experience of the reader, and of all Beatles fans. "Everyone knows this..." or "Every Beatles fan that...". No, my experience with the Beatles is clearly vastly different from the author's.

So was is it their innovation and experimentation? Is it that the canon of music offers something for everyone? Is it just really great melody and harmony that will always endure, like great classical composers? Or is it simply genius marketing? Sheffield barely mentions (if at all) the 2009 box set, which was the first time I ever had every album from the Beatles in my hands. My experience before that was with songs, not albums. The author doesn't bother to interview, well, anyone, but especially young musicians who cite the Beatles as an major influence on their music. Or DJs who still include the Beatles on daily playlists. Heck, here in Chicago, Terri Hemmert has been hosting "Breakfast with the Beatles" every Sunday morning for the last twenty years. It would have been great to get a perspective of someone like her. But no interviews of that nature took place.

A real disappointment. At least it was a quick read. ...more

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Jul 02, 2017 Randee rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: rock-roll-saved-my-soul

When I was in middle school, we used to pass around 'slam' books (notebooks that a classmate asked a question at the top of each page, passed it around and everyone in class answered each question, as well as attaching our name to the answer...eventually making its way back to the questioner/owner.) I think every single book had as one of the questions: Beatles or Stones? You had to identify yourself as a Beatles or Stones fan. I don't remember many people answering: both. I was a Stone's "girl. When I was in middle school, we used to pass around 'slam' books (notebooks that a classmate asked a question at the top of each page, passed it around and everyone in class answered each question, as well as attaching our name to the answer...eventually making its way back to the questioner/owner.) I think every single book had as one of the questions: Beatles or Stones? You had to identify yourself as a Beatles or Stones fan. I don't remember many people answering: both. I was a Stone's "girl." Still am. They're edgier, more rock and roll, sexier bad boys with all the trimmings. I must have been in my late teens/early twenties when I truly began to appreciate the Beatles and their classic music. If I were signing a slam book today, I would answer both to the Beatles or Stones question.

Rob Sheffield is a writer for Rolling Stone, an author of several books, a hard core music fan and critic. I have always read him. He's someone whose next book or piece I look forward to reading. He is an encyclopedia of knowledge about music, bands, songwriters, musicians, and has opinions about all of them. I always urge people to read his first book, 'Love is a Mix Tape,' his first book and a beautiful homage to his wife, Renee, who unexpectedly died from a pulmonary embolism at 32, leaving him a widower in his early 30's. It is sad, of course, for both of them, but it also is a beautiful rendering of being in love with your best friend.

This book is another love of Rob's. His passion for the Beatles is lifelong. The enthusiasm and emotional gamut he has gone through being a rabid fan of their's is what the book is about. I learned more about the Beatles than I've ever known, but that is secondary. Listening to anyone talk about their passion for whatever is always a pleasure for me. Many, many days of my life, I feel like I am living in a colorless world filled with dead air and people who want it that way. They would choose to remain silent and wear gray, instead of expressing an opinion or wearing a wild, paisley print in bold, primary colors. I find this so depressing that I won't even comment further. So, I thank the Gods for Mr. Sheffield and all the others like him. People who can't wait to express their opinion about any and everything, paint their homes, their lives, their clothes in the colors of the rainbow and believe with all their heart that everyone should be themselves and let their freak flag fly.

...more

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May 24, 2017 Gretchen Alice rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I mean, it's Rob Sheffield plus The Beatles. Hello, wheelhouse. There have been lots of books written on the Fab Four, but the premise of this one seeks to understand exactly why we love them so much. (The answer mostly comes down to...we just do.) Dreaming the Beatles goes in mostly chronological order, following the band from the early days through its several attempted dissolutions to the massive hit of the 1 album, which got a WHOLE lot of a play in my house.
Here's the thing about The Beatle I mean, it's Rob Sheffield plus The Beatles. Hello, wheelhouse. There have been lots of books written on the Fab Four, but the premise of this one seeks to understand exactly why we love them so much. (The answer mostly comes down to...we just do.) Dreaming the Beatles goes in mostly chronological order, following the band from the early days through its several attempted dissolutions to the massive hit of the 1 album, which got a WHOLE lot of a play in my house.
Here's the thing about The Beatles--they're intensely personal. Everybody feels like they have some sort of ownership in them. And if you don't like The Beatles, I'm also not particularly interested in hearing what you have to say. *sticks out tongue*
Sheffield writes for Rolling Stone and I'm a huge fan of his memoirs--his incredible music catalog knowledge combined with his deep feelings for the band made for a really interesting read. (I also happen to agree very strongly with him about the one-two punch of "Martha, My Dear" and "Julia" on the first half of the White Album. He claims that nobody else shares this love, but I do. I do.) The thing is chock-full of references and jokes and quips like "nowhere-mansplaining" and "it was too late to put that splattered eggman back together again." One of my only complaints is that while he writes a lot about how The Beatles were obsessed with girls, he doesn't get into a lot of the internalized misogyny that also defined the band. I listen to some of their songs as an adult woman and think to myself, "Yiiiiikes." Even the ones that are parody-level, like "Run for Your Life." (Full disclosure: I do think John was The Worst.)
This is gonna sound weird, but I was more physically engaged with this book than with anything else I've read this year...it made me laugh, swoon, and cry. I got worked up and depressed and giddy in the space of about 300 pages. This is what The Beatles do to people and that, I think, is why they've lasted so long.
I'm gonna finish by playing a game of favorites. Share yours in the comments if you'd like.
Beatle: I'm a George girl.
Album: Abbey Road forever and ever, amen.
Song: For a long time it was "Something," but it's been "Martha, My Dear" for a few years now. ...more

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Jun 09, 2019 Quinn rated it it was amazing

Honestly, I have never been a Beatles fan. Not sure why- they’re right in my sweet spot of sound, era, and interpersonal angst. But something has just never clicked for me. I’ve often said that my favourite Beatles album is the Across the Universe soundtrack. But trust Rob Sheffield to make me care about them anyways. His writing is definitely filtered through his lifelong obsession with the Beatles, but he manages to avoid the kind of grating reverence that so often surrounds dialogue about the ...more

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Jul 31, 2019 Leslye Davidson rated it it was ok

Shelves: audiobook

The book jumps all over the place, from the Beatles to the bands they influenced to the bands they competed with... yet never answers the premise: Why are the Beatles still so beloved and popular? Perhaps I am discontented because I did not know this was going to be a book of essays... and I generally don't like books of essays. Perhaps it is because Rob Sheffield clearly is not a Macca fan and made more of a case for why McCartney would not still be popular. I found myself often thinking the au ...more

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Mar 09, 2018 Deacon Tom F rated it it was ok

I have read many books and articles about the Beatles and this one offers very little new. It is boring and very ordinary. His use of song titles is, however, creative.

He handles relationships very lightly. John and Paul as young boys were very complicated. They deserved more than a few paragraphs.

Save your book money for another book. If you must review this, go to the library or borrow it — you will thank me.

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May 31, 2017 J Earl rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads, won

Dreaming the Beatles from Rob Sheffield is a major disappointment. Not because I expect quality or insightful observations from Sheffield, far from it, he delivered the self-absorbed nonsense I expected, but because it is always disappointing to read sophomoric drivel about artists who have inspired so much quality writing and thought. But, lets not forget, Sheffield represents the direction Rolling Stone took when they quit even trying to be serious and went fully fluff in the late 90s.

Parts of Dreaming the Beatles from Rob Sheffield is a major disappointment. Not because I expect quality or insightful observations from Sheffield, far from it, he delivered the self-absorbed nonsense I expected, but because it is always disappointing to read sophomoric drivel about artists who have inspired so much quality writing and thought. But, lets not forget, Sheffield represents the direction Rolling Stone took when they quit even trying to be serious and went fully fluff in the late 90s.

Parts of the book are okay, nothing new in the way of facts and Beatles stories but it is always fun for a fan to read about those they admire. Even Sheffield's writing is passable when he is just regurgitating what he has read and heard elsewhere. The outline of the book had great potential and would have made for an interesting book in the hands of a quality thinker and writer. Alas, Sheffield falls far far below that standard.

Part of the rest of the title of the book is The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World. Oh if only the book had tried to even remotely resemble that part of the title. It is more about Sheffield's alleged love of the group. There are more asinine comments about his failures and weaknesses as a youngster and young adult and from those he tries to make broad universal conclusions. Simplifications can certainly work if they are grounded in something actual but Sheffield apparently subscribes to the idea his thoughts and how he grouped his miserable lot of friends is indeed how the "whole world" is grouped and thinks.

His asides and, I am guessing, attempts at analogies are simply pointless. They fall apart if looked at through any lens other than his. I don't mean his generation's but his personal lens. He has the Trumpian sense of being at the center of the world when he is so far out that he doesn't make sense. And frankly, I don't care about his (alleged) girlfriends and how he related the songs to them. If this was his memoir then it might have meant something but otherwise, who cares?

There are some people I would recommend this to, even a few who aren't enemies. After all, it is about (mostly) the Beatles. On the whole, I can't recommend this to most readers. If you still think Rolling Stone is cutting edge and insightful in their music and popular culture coverage, then you may very well like this. If you prefer some thought slightly above juvenile in making broad generalizations about types of people and who likes who, find any of the many better books about either the group or the fans through the years.

Reviewed from a copy made available through Goodreads' First Reads. ...more

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Jan 07, 2020 Alan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, beatles-books-pop

Fan fiction almost, a new twist on the familiar story, after all the Beatles belong to every one and every one has their own version of the band. Well after they have split and 2 of them have died the story keeps getting added to and adjusted. The joy of this book is its modern perspective (2018), and Sheffield cites songs that carry the fab 4's influence directly or subtly, including Kendrick Lamar (Control) and Rae Sremmurd's 2016 Black Beatles. McCartney's still at it of course, hanging out w ...more

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Jun 05, 2017 Amy rated it really liked it

Shelves: biography, for-me

I have tried to read countless biographies on musical figures I am interested in knowing more about. Rarely do I finish one. They typically don't hold my interest or the writing style is difficult to follow. Neither is true for "Dreaming." Having checked this out from the Library, "Dreaming" is a book that I would treat myself to again at some point. My only qualm is that Rob Sheffield can get a little corny at times, trying to insert lines from various Beatle songs into his own paragraphs...wit ...more

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Jan 23, 2022 Kate rated it it was ok

This book epitomized everything I dislike about Rolling Stone magazine writers. Just endless baseless assertions of opinion as fact. I knew we were off to a rough start when Rob confidently declared that George’s worst song ever was “Piggies”. Has he listened to Extra Texture?!
While this book receives a hard pass from me, I at least give it points for a) not Yoko-hating and b) some genuinely sweet passages about what the Beatles’ music means to people.

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Jul 10, 2017 Don Gorman rated it it was ok · review of another edition

(1 1/2) Unless you are a truly hardcore Beatles fan, do not bother cracking this book. The information is fascinating, dull, overwhelming and interestingly engaging all at the same time. The stories behind individual songs, like who was trying to up one another between Dylan, the Stones, the Beach Boys and the Beatles is out there, but it resonates. The exploration of the personality conflicts within the group are nothing new, but Sheffield does seem to put a new spin on it and his perspective s ...more

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Dec 27, 2017 Jeff Jackson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: punk-rock-etc

Surely the best book about the Beatles, this does the impossible and finds something new to say about them. It's a funny, insightful, and provocative exploration of the varieties of fandom they've inspired over the decades, hopscotching between topics like how the band was created inside the roar of "girl noise," John's plan to have them live together on a Greek island, significant cover versions, and 'Paul is a concept by which we measure our pain.' Sheffield is also great on their post-breakup ...more

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May 29, 2017 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

total delight for anyone who went through Beatles phase or never left one...will make you fall in love again but with a sharp critical eye

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Dec 22, 2017 Michael rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historicity, art, aa-europelit, comic-satire, nonfiction, aa-englandlit, zz2017

got this for Christmas for a friend musician though Beatles are a bit before my time, struck by how incredibly young they were! he liked it, he knew the songs, he knew the history, i liked this vision of earlier pop... i always tell him, yeah the Beatles were pretty good, but they weren't The Clash... ...more

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Jul 27, 2022 Gesine rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: beatles

I have mixed feelings about this book. It had some interesting nuggets (yeah, I didn't know about George and Maureen or even the Esher demos) and Sheffield's enthusiasm felt contagious at times (as a mega Beatles fan myself), but for my liking he didn't provide enough footnotes where some of his information came from and he played fast and loose with some facts. John's mum didn't "abandon" or "reject" him. I nearly put the book down when I read that. And maybe a rewrite is in order now that we k ...more

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Jul 18, 2017 Craig rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Not an essential book

I bought this based on the recommendation of a friend who proclaimed that he learned so much new information about the Beatles (first chapter, according to him). I didn’t learn much I didn’t know already. The Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da story was new to me and I was happy to learn that one. I’m still not sure it was worth the price.

While I can’t say I regret reading the book, I do kind of regret buying it. There’s not much new here. While it’s interesting to read another super fan’s Not an essential book

I bought this based on the recommendation of a friend who proclaimed that he learned so much new information about the Beatles (first chapter, according to him). I didn’t learn much I didn’t know already. The Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da story was new to me and I was happy to learn that one. I’m still not sure it was worth the price.

While I can’t say I regret reading the book, I do kind of regret buying it. There’s not much new here. While it’s interesting to read another super fan’s opinions, he sometimes misquotes lyrics or proclaim’s a song’s meaning. For example, “Yes, It Is” has never been confirmed to be about a woman’s death. Neither Lennon nor McCartney have said that. It was merely some other author’s opinion). He dedicates several paragraphs though to that premise stating more or less unequivocally that is what they song is about.

He pointlessly devotes an entire chapter to songs about the Beatles which is a complete waste of time since it includes such musical luminaries as The Muppets and Weird Al. Many of the songs are not about the Beatles at all and are simply songs the author seems to like.

He also devotes an entire chapter for the tired Beatles versus the Rolling Stones debate. He proclaims Mick Jagger as an authentically dangerous, rebellious figure while Lennon (and the Beatles) were happy go lucky moptops. He conveniently ignores Mick’s public school education (7 O-levels, 3 A-levels) and phony working class accent (find old interviews to hear his real accent). John didn’t fake any of that (failing all his O-levels) rebellion. John was actually violent (even Ringo was in a gang). The Stones had an image, played up by their brilliant management. But John was right, every thing the Beatles did the Stones tried to copy musically up until they figured out they were better by just being the Stones. I love both bands, but it’s a tiresome argument that even a little research should dispel.

Something other reviewers have mentioned is his annoying (cloying) habit of constantly quoting Beatles lyrics throughout every single chapter. Often several times in a paragraph. It got old in the first chapter. It never stopped. It’s throughout the book and is maddening.

I did find his take on why the Beatles seem to go from peak to peak, even years after their breakup, to be interesting and insightful.

Give it a pass. There are much better books out there. There are better fan sites out there. There are better Reddit posts out there. ...more

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Apr 29, 2020 Keely rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

In Dreaming the Beatles, music writer Rob Sheffield offers a loving appreciation of the Fab Four and their enduring legacy. In the opening essay, “Prelude: Thanks, Mo,” he lays down the claim that when the Beatles broke up in 1970, it was anything but an ending. On the contrary, it was only the beginning of a supercharged afterlife that shows no signs of winding down even fifty years later. He then proceeds with his examination, Beatle by Beatle, album by album, and decade by decade of fandom. S ...more

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Dec 23, 2017 Susan rated it liked it

Shelves: music-tv-movies

Sheffield is always an entertaining writer, but I feel like I was sold a bit of goods in that the book promises to examine the Beatles' relationship to the world, and it's really more about the Beatles' relationship to Rob Sheffield. Which is okay, but not quite what I was expecting. Sheffield takes some well known Beatles history, adds his own conjecture and a lot of Beatles puns, and winds up with a quick read that sheds very little new light on the Fab Four. And although he spends a whole cha ...more

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Feb 23, 2020 Susann rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

4.5 stars. Rounding up to 5 because of how much fun it was to read and discuss this with my husband. Sheffield doesn't hide any of his personal opinions from us and disagreeing with him is half the delight. (He's so wrong about She's Leaving Home.) For true Beatles fans, I recommend buying your own copy, because you will want to return to your dog-eared pages. ...more

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Jan 23, 2018 Natalia rated it did not like it

another journalist fails to explain Paul. not the first, not the last.

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Dec 22, 2021 Andrew Epperson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I feared I wouldn’t get to 40 books this year, but the “Get Back” documentary series on Disney+ gave me a brilliant idea: why don’t I read about my favorite band? Unsurprisingly, I learned a lot AND finished No. 40 within four days.
Reading this book gave me a new appreciation for each of the Beatles. Also, the comparisons to other groups and movements further cements something I’ve known for years: the Beatles are the greatest band in world history, and their impact will only grow. They are a ...more

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Dec 05, 2018 Christopher Renberg rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: music

Read most of what he has written, so I reckon I am a fan. Picked this up because I figured it would read as a fella's thoughts on the Beatles. It was, and I responded to his thoughts (sometimes out loud) as I read through it. A little snippet on "It's All Too Much" was great as I just discovered that song last year. Having never ever heard it before despite years of listening to the Beatles, it is now on fairly constant rotation. His references to the 70s compilations: Rock and Roll Music and th ...more

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Sep 21, 2022 Luiza rated it it was amazing

"that's the courage ringo gave john, the courage all four beatles gave each other. and it's the courage they keep giving the world they left behind. boys in a room, making noise forever."

as someone who doesn't know how life without the beatles looks like, reading about them through the perspective of another fan, one who loves their music as fiercely as i and many others do, this book was a communal experience, it was seeing myself in the stories of a world of people whose lives were also touche ...more

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Sep 08, 2020 Gary Anderson rated it really liked it

I never figured out exactly what this book's angle is, but that's OK; I liked it anyway. Rock critic Rob Sheffield offers his opinions on all kinds of Beatles phenomena, including a decade by decade look at how John, Paul, George, and Ringo have been regarded since breaking up. Everything you know about The Beatles is in here somewhere, analyzed and juxtaposed in ways you may not have previously considered, along with information and insights that, to me at least, were fresh. ...more

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About Rob Sheffield

Rob Sheffield

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Rob Sheffield is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine. In addition to writing music reviews and profile stories, Sheffield also writes the Pop Life column in the Mixed Media section of the magazine. His work has also been featured in The Village Voice and Spin. A native of Boston, Sheffield attended Yale and the University of Virginia, and is six foot five.

His first book, Love is a Mix ...more

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Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time

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"In Bed" with Rob Sheffield

His Favorite Books About Music: Sheffield shares five books that will be in sync with music lovers.

Quotes from Dreaming the Beat...

“PAUL IS SOMEBODY WHO DOES THINGS WITH ENTHUSIASM, which makes people feel appalled and insulted at things he chooses to do. If you’re under thirty, you have never heard of a song called “Spies Like Us,” and I am a horrible person for being the one to tell you. It was the theme for a big-budget Hollywood spy comedy starring Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd. Nobody saw the movie, but Paul’s theme was worse than the movie could have been. MTV played it constantly during the 1985 holiday season, though radio wouldn’t touch it. Paul does a rap that goes something like, “Oooh oooh, no one can dance like you.” In the video he plays multiple roles as members of a studio band, mugging and biting his lower lip. The drumming is where his cheeky-chappy act gets profoundly upsetting. You see this video, you’re going to be depressed for at least ten minutes about the existential condition of Paul-dom. His enthusiasm makes you doubt the sincerity of his other public displays. It makes you doubt yourself. You might think it’s a cheap laugh but it will cost you something.” — 3 likes

“The world couldn’t have been hungrier for Anthology, with a ten-hour documentary and three huge-selling volumes of outtakes, turning into a joyous global celebration. The Anthology double-CD packages might have been more purchased than played (everybody back then bought more music than they had time to listen to). They included two new songs, Lennon tape fragments that the others finished: “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.” The flaw was Jeff Lynne’s production—George Martin wasn’t invited, because Harrison flatly refused to work with him. It’s ironic that when you watch Anthology, the only music that sounds dated is from 1995. But no matter how blasphemous the idea seemed, both songs were disarmingly beautiful, as was the documentary, to the point where you could drop in on any random hour (or binge all ten) and enjoy. One of the wisest decisions of Anthology was” — 3 likes

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Dreaming the Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World

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