Despite these flights of fictional fancy, I did find the rest of Who Could Ask to be an interesting read. Gregory analyzes the Beatles’ music, album-by-album, song by song. He writes about the major musical influences felt by the Beatles, deconstructing each song to provide intelligent details of song structure and harmony. We learn how certain songs played to the vocal strength of the lead singer as well as some of the reasoning behind the rhythms and complex vocal harmonies heard in the background.

Gregory also shows us how American country music, rhythm & blues, and early rock and roll helped the Beatles form their unique sound. He points out on which songs we can hear the influence of Motown, or Stax Records, Chuck Berry, Hank Williams, the Everly Brothers, the Beach Boys and especially Bob Dylan. We even see how the Beatles and Dylan’s music changed over time, drawing parallels between these two power acts.

I especially liked how Gregory points out the genius of George Martin as the Beatles’ producer. Coming from a background producing classical music as well as the comedy albums of Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers of The Goon Show, Martin was the perfect man for the Beatles, being the ‘parental’ figure who helped them utilize the full potential of the recording studio in new and exciting ways. Martin’s contributions to the music of the Beatles came as a revelation to me, and his influence on their music is one that should never be overlooked.

Not only does Gregory analyze songs for their musical components, he looks at the Beatles’ styles, themes, and lyrics in what feels like deep, psychological analysis. Although some of what Gregory reveals felt uncomfortable to me, I did not hate it, like I did with the fictional passages of the book. I understand that music appreciation is a subjective process, always defined within the parameters of the listener’s knowledge base and experience. And I could not help but wonder how much of Gregory’s analysis was simply him projecting his own viewpoints onto the music.

Gregory calls the early Beatles songs “ecstatic” and asserts that their high-pitched harmonies represented male sexuality embracing female qualities. He writes that “The main concern in the 'ecstatic songs' is to build up a feeling of impassioned, bursting energy which overspills into a thrilling climax.” He goes on to write how the early songs with their oohs and yeah, yeah, yeahs are representative of female ecstasy, but the songs transcend sex and become cries of liberation from the repressive society created by the older generation. This is pretty heady stuff, and while I can objectively see how one could come to this conclusion, I highly doubt that is what Lennon and McCartney were trying to achieve when they sat down to write. This almost Freudian analysis is applied throughout the entire Beatles songbook, embracing notions of the psychedelic aspects of their songs after the Beatles discovered marijuana and LSD, and spiritual and mystical aspects with the coming of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi into their lives.