Hunter Davies on his new Beatles lyrics book

Hunter Davies, who penned the only authorized biography of the Beatles way back in 1967, has a new book out collecting, and analyzing, the original manuscripts of Beatles lyrics.

You can read some excerpts from the book in today's Independent.

Help!

Pete Shotton, [John Lennon's] boyhood friend, who in 1965 spent many weekends with John at his home, and later became his PA and worked for Apple, says that the line about “appreciate you being round” referred to him – which could be true, as he rekindled memories of the laughs and pranks and daft times they’d had together as boys.

The manuscript of “Help!”, which John gave me, is in bold, large handwriting, with quite a few changes. “Would appreciate” became “do appreciate”, as it did in the final version. The first line of the verse has been crossed out. It’s hard to read, but it appears to be a first attempt at the next line, “When I was younger”. He has also written the first three lines of the recorded song at the end, as the last three lines of this version.