I Met the Walrus

I went into this thinking it was a book about the Beatles, and that's not really true - it's more a book about Jerry Levitan that discusses the role the Beatles played in his life, and how one experience can become the defining moment of a person's childhood. True to that, the book's presented as a multi-media scrapbook, with the text being supplemented by photos from the time and a DVD, as well as some funky drawings and font choices. It's a very well put together book.

The main body of the book is taken up with young Jerry's interview with John Lennon, and how as a fourteen-year-old he managed to bluff his way into Lennon's hotel room to conduct the interview. That's an amazing story in itself, before you even worry about the content of the interview, which is pure Lennon - it's naive yet jaded, hopeful and energetic yet tinged with the sadness of realism.

Also enjoyable, for me at least, was the fact that the entire thing's set in Toronto - hearing Jerry recount taking the TTC to Sam's to buy records, and things like that, give it a personal touch that I felt made it easier to connect to.

One quibble I had, though? The title. Everybody knows the walrus was Paul.

I don't know. It's enjoyable in the way of walking through memory lane, remembering your favourite beatles songs and stories.

I went through a Beatles phase myself, don't think I'll ever get out of it actually, I was that friend who'd put the beatles on and tell anyone around about the story behind each song and each recording session. I still take it personally when someone doesn't enjoy the beatles, but really it's only music and the beatles were only people after all. So now I just enjoy the songs.

But reading this book, I couldn't forget that I'm in the head of a very self-centered teenager, thinking they're some kind of chosen prophet because he “understood” John. That somehow he's superior or special, because he's got good music taste, and I truly dislike music snobs. First half of the the book was about Jerry's experience discovering the Beatles, and the second was about his story sneaking into John and Yoko's hotel room, and getting an interview. It could've worked as an article, it's a nice story, but I'm pretty sure that guy has been talking about that day for the past 50 years, retelling it to anyone he sees, cause he was chosen by John and that makes him special. And all I kept thinking was “get over it already”.