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If the Beatles had a ‘gospel,’
it presupposes that they believed that something was wrong
with the world. You don’t go around dispensing ‘good
news’ if you think everything’s fine. The Christian
gospel was meant to be good news to people who were enslaved
to wrong desires and heading for hell. It offered them peace
(with God), freedom (from guilt) and forgiveness (for sin).
. . . The central concern of the Beatles is harder to pin
down because they didn’t believe in a cataclysmic event
such as the fall or in a definitive redemptive act such as
the atonement. However, a good case can be made for saying
that their central concern was always freedom of one sort
or another. The human problem, in their eyes, was one of constraint.
We couldn’t reach our full potential if we were inhibited.
“One thing I can tell you,” John sang in “Come
Together,” “is you got to be free.”
-from The Gospel according to the Beatles
Renowned British music journalist and author
Steve Turner surveys the religious and spiritual influence
of the Beatles, the band that changed the history of music
forever. With new interviews, never-before-published material,
and fresh insights, Turner helps the reader understand the
religious and spiritual ideas and ideals that influenced the
music and lives of the Beatles and helps us see how the Fab
Four influenced our own lives and culture.
Chapters include the religious upbringing
of John, Paul, George, and Ringo; the backlash in the United
States after John Lennon’s “The Beatles
are more popular than Jesus” comment; the dabbling
in Eastern religion; the use of drugs to attempt to enter
a higher level of consciousness; and the overall legacy that
the Beatles and their music have left. While there is no religious
system that permanently anchored the Beatles or their music,
they did leave a gospel, Turner concludes: one of love, peace,
personal freedom, and the search for transcendence.
Steve Turner has covered the rock
music scene for more than thirty years, interviewing many
of the most famous musicians, including John Lennon, Eric
Clapton, and Bono. His articles have appeared in numerous
magazines, including Rolling Stone and New Musical
Express. Since being invited by Bono to write a book about
U2’s Rattle and Hum tour in 1988, he has concentrated
on writing books, including The Man Called Cash, the
authorized biography of Johnny Cash, and A Hard Day’s
Write: The Stories behind the Songs of the Beatles.
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