"On the subject of coloured landscapes, I was the last in the group to take LSD. John and George had urged me to do it so that I could be on the same level as them. I was very reluctant because I'm actually quite straitlaced, and I'd heard that if you took LSD you would never be the same again. I wasn't sure I wanted that. I wasn't sure that was such a terrific idea. So I was very resistant. In the end I did give in and take LSD one night with John. I was pretty lucky on the LSD front, in that it didn't screw things up too badly. There was a scary element to it, of course. The really scary element was that when you wanted it to stop, it wouldn't. You'd say, 'Okay, that's enough, party's over,' and it would say, 'No it isn't.' So you would have to go to bed seeing things." - Paul McCartney, The Lyrics, 2021
I've never seen anyone collect different Beatles resources all in one place, so I thought it would be nice to create a masterpost for newer or less research savvy Beatles fans looking for where to find them and learn more
Included below are Beatles movies, autobiographies, biographies, magazines, miscellaneous files, archive sites, and much more
This is by no means a comprehensive list of Beatles resources, as there is an often overwhelming amount of sources relating to and informative about the Beatles; this is simply a post to gather more important, prominent, and larger Beatle related texts and media together, as I would love for the online Beatles fan community to be more organized in its research and archive efforts
This is an extremely long post, enjoy!
*PLEASE READ DISCLAIMERS*
This post does not include links to Beatles music videos or where to listen to their music; however, I highly recommend listening to the updated remasters of The Beatles' albums done by Giles Martin, George Martin's son (the remasters done AFTER 2009) instead of the 2009 remasters when possible
There is a plethora of misinformation online about The Beatles so PLEASE do your own research, using reliable sources
Some sources have disclaimers attached, in case I believe they may to any degree be misleading or require additional context
All sources have been listed within sections chronologically, not in order of importance
If at any point any of the hyperlinks are broken or are not working, let me know and I’ll try my best to fix or update them
Some of the literary sources here are no longer being published, which is why I’m happy to supply the links here to read them online. However, if they are still in print and you’re able, please go borrow them from your local public library! Some of the movies and documentaries linked below can also be found on streaming or bought online; they are linked below for those unable to easily access them or for whatever other reason
There are some other important sources I could not find reuploads or scans of, but are still listed below in case someone is looking for more important sources
If I come across links to said sources I will edit this post and add them as hyperlinks. Additionally, if someone finds a working, safe link for anything listed without a link or for something they believe should be listed, they can message me and I'd be happy to add it
Movies Starring The Beatles as a Group
A Hard Day's Night (1964) dir. Richard Lester
Help! (1965) dir. Richard Lester
Magical Mystery Tour (1967) dir. The Beatles, Bernard Knowles
Yellow Submarine (1968) dir. George Dunning (The Beatles themselves do not voice their cartoon selves in this film)
Fictional/Partially Fictional Movies made by and/or Starring Beatles (A short selection of the films most often mentioned by Beatles fans)
How I Won the War (1967) dir. Richard Lester
Two Virgins (1968) dir. John Lennon, Yoko Ono
Candy (1968) dir. Christian Marquand
The Magic Christian (1969) dir. Joseph McGrath
Imagine (1972) dir. John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Steve Gebhardt (Some of the aspects in this film are fictional, and some are akin to a documentary)
Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984) dir. Peter Webb
Documentaries/Docuseries
Bed Peace (1969) dir. John Lennon, Yoko Ono (Yoko Ono has since said in 2020 she and John were naïve to think that doing the Bed-Ins would change the world)
Let It Be (1970 Original) dir. Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Let It Be (2024 Remaster) dir. Michael Lindsay-Hogg
The Concert for Bangladesh (1972) dir. Saul Swimmer
Imagine: John Lennon (1988) dir. Andrew Solt
The Beatles Anthology (1995) dir. Geoff Wonfor, Kevin Godley, Bob Smeaton (Focuses mainly on pre-1966 Beatles history and does not cover post-breakup events)
ep. 1 ep.2 George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011) dir. Martin Scorsese
The True History of the Traveling Wilburys (2007) dir. Willy Smax
ep.1 ep.2 ep.3 Get Back (2021) dir. Peter Jackson
Yoko's Films (including films that list John Lennon as a co-director)
Rape (1969) dir. Yoko Ono, John Lennon
Fly (1970) dir. Yoko Ono, John Lennon
Up Your Legs Forever (1971) dir. Yoko Ono, John Lennon
Movies Made about The Beatles
The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978) dir. Eric Idle, Gary Weis (Beatles parody)
I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) dir. Robert Zemeckis
The Hours and Times (1991) dir. Christopher Munch (This film is speculative)
Two of Us (2000) dir. Michael Lindsay-Hogg (This film is speculative)
The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2003) dir. Eric Idle (Beatles parody)
Books Written by The Beatles
In His Own Write (1964) by John Lennon
A Spainard in the Works (1965) by John Lennon
I Me Mine (1980) by George Harrison
Skywriting by Word of Mouth (posthumous, 1986) by John Lennon (Partially autobiographical and partially fictional)
The Beatles Anthology (2000) by The Beatles (Book version of the docuseries)
Postcards from the Boys (2004) by Ringo Starr
The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present (2021) by Paul McCartney
Books Written about The Beatles
A Cellarful of Noise (1964) by Brian Epstein
Yellow Submarine Comic (1968) by Paul S. Newman
The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics (1969) ed. Alan Aldridge
The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics 2 (1971) ed. Alan Aldridge
A Twist of Lennon (1978) by Cynthia Lennon
Loving John (1983) by May Pang
Rock 'N' Roll Times: The Style and Spirit of the Early Beatles and Their First Fans (1983) by Jürgen Vollmer
John (2005) by Cynthia Lennon
Wonderful Today (2007) by Pattie Boyd with Penny Junor
Miss O'Dell: my hard days and long nights with the Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the women they loved (2009) by Chris O'Dell
George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011) by Olivia Harrison
George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door (2013) by Graeme Thomson
NOTE: Many beginner Beatles fans tend to read books written by authors Mark Lewisohn and Philip Norman as introductions to the Beatles; however, both of these authors can be incredibly biased for and against certain figures in Beatle history and require often hefty amounts of context to properly analyze them in an accurate manner, Norman in particular.
Magazines
The Beatles Book (Only Original 77 Issues) (1963-1969)
Paul McCartney Playgirl (1982)
Paul McCartney Playgirl (1985)
Archive and Timeline Sites
Meet The Beatles For Real (A site with mostly paparazzi, fan, and personal photos of the Beatles and their associates, along with some transcribed interviews, fan stories, and much more)
Beatles Bible (Primarily useful for basic information surrounding The Beatles' music together and solo can be found here, such as album/single release dates, in addition to pictures, a fan forum, and other basic info; not cumulative)
DM Beatles (Basic outlined timelines for 1963-1970 and album/single releases; not cumulative)
The Beatles On Film (A collection of almost every publicly available filmed video of The Beatles, together and solo, logged for reference purposes)
Beatles Interviews Database (Not cumulative)
Harrison Archive (Actively updating archive of interviews, fan encounters, quotes, and stories from or surrounding George Harrison; fun fact: Olivia Harrison, George's widow, follows the Instagram version of this archive)
The Paul McCartney Project (Archive of Paul McCartney interviews, dates for concerts, and more)
Misc. Documents/Videos
Around the Beatles (1964) dir. Rita Gillespie
The Beatles in Rishikesh Home Videos (1968)
The Beatles in Rishikesh Archival Footage and Home Videos (1968)
The John Lennon and Yoko Ono Playboy Interviews Transcript (1980)
The John Lennon and Yoko Ono Playboy Interviews Audio (1980)
John Lennon FBI Files
The Beatles FBI File
The Beatles Accepting Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction (1988)
The Beatles/Threetles Reunion at Friar Park (1994)
The Beatles/Threetles Studio Footage (1995)
Paul and George Anthology 3 Studio Interviews for VH1 (1997)
Concert for George (2002)
Animatics and Test Footage for Scrapped Motion Capture Yellow Submarine Remake (2009)
Audio Files
Beatles Christmas Records 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969
The Beatles Artifacts (Different takes/demos of songs along with studio chatter; the link supplied simply lines out what is on all of these Artifacts, as many of them are currently unavailable on Internet Archive)
John Lennon Last Interview (1980)
The Beatles' first pet: George Harrison's vomit. ㅡ From the book "One, Two, Three, Four: The Beatles In Time" by Craig Brown.
" we sort of conned my way out of hospital so i didn't have to be there for my 15th birthday. we went down to romford, where my stepdad's family lived. his dad was great, and he knew london like the back of his hand. we went walking all over london and saw the sights, the british museum and the searchlight tattoo.
it was a great day out, but it was a bit long for someone who'd just come out of hospital. "
- ringo starr, PHOTOGRAPH (2013)
JAY LENO: Who was the best cuddler?
RINGO: Ohhh. Georgie loved a hug.
“We’d walk down Lilly Lane which was like a lovers’ lane and kiss and cuddle.” - Iris Caldwell
“He was just standing there. Little George, all lost. I gave him a big bag of sweets and some apples. He threw his arms around me and Stu, which was the sort of demonstrative thing they never did.’" - Astrid Kirchherr
“George giving me a bear hugggg. My first time in London and…what a welcome!!! ‘It’s Klaus!’ George Harrison called, setting his guitar aside and walking toward me to give me a firm hug.” - Klaus Voormann
“I was surprised to see how affectionate he was with Olivia, holding hands, heads touching as they talked, snuggling up next to her at every opportunity…” - Chris O’Dell
“Olivia was in the room and asked Madeleine her name. The next thing [Madeleine] knew, George was walking across the room directly to her, and as if they were old friends, put his arms around her! She was so overwhelmed and she automatically put her arms around him and hugged him back.” - A fan
“Even hugging George was a psychedelic experience, what a gem of a man. Love him forever.” - Dave Stewart
“George was the kind of guy who wasn’t going to leave until he hugged you for five minutes and told you how much he loved you.” - Tom Petty
“Just a few months after his death, I was in Bungalow 8, a New York club that Paul Shaffer dragged me to, when I noticed a skinny fellow who was the spitting image of George - only young George - coming right toward me. Before I could say anything this young man embraced me in a tender hug and then pulled back to explain himself. ‘I’m Dhani Harrison,’ he said. ‘One of the last things my father told me was that if I ever come across people who were important to him, I should give them a hug.’” - Martin Short
Clip from The Today Show, 1986; interview conducted by Rona Elliot.
Rona Elliot: “How have you managed not to be stuck in time, to just keep your life going?” George Harrison: “I don’t know… there’s no other thing to do except, as the man said, The only thing I knew how to do was to keep on keeping on like a bird that flew. Anyway, you just keep going and past, you know, the past is gone — that’s another thing this guy that built my house [Friar Park] said: 'Past is gone, thou canst not that recall, future is not, may not be at all. Present is, improve the flying hour, present only is within thy power.' So I mean, that’s all there is to it, there isn’t anything — nothing exists except now. You know, the past is gone and the future doesn’t exist until you get to it and it’s the now. So you just have to be here now, and do your best.” -The Today Show, 1986 “‘One of [George’s] favorite things to say was, “Be here now,”’ [Olivia] says. His song by that title, from his 1973 album ‘Living in the Material World,’ remains one of her favorites, and it’s one she plays any time she feels in need of a booster shot of moral support. ‘Sometimes he and Dhani would be talking and Dhani would ask, “Well what if this happens?” or “What if that happens?”’ she says. ‘George would say, “Be here now. Be here now.”’” - The Los Angeles Times, March 9, 2005 “‘Be here now because it’s not like it was before.’ Occasionally it’s nice to have somebody tell you that. He offered advice about living. He didn’t preach, he would just say, Oh don’t let that get to you. Be here now, the past is gone. I listen to that on purpose so I can remind myself.” - Olivia Harrison, The Times, September 24, 2014
Paul Gambaccini, 1975
Ed Sullivan gives The Beatles a message from Richard Rodgers on The Ed Sullivan Show in Miami, 16th February 1964