The Beatles and Philosophy – Michael Baur & Steven Baur (eds.)

For years, The Beatles and Philosophy was my white whale book. I saw a copy of it in the window of my local secondhand bookstore many years ago, but they were closed at the time. When I got back there later that day to buy it, it had already been snapped up by some other lucky customer. I checked every bookstore, every op shop book section, and every library book sale after that – you can’t imagine my glee when I finally, finally, secured a copy. Never mind that I knew nothing about it beyond what the cover and the subtitle (“nothing you can think that can’t be thunk”) suggested…

It turns out The Beatles and Philosophy is part of a much bigger series: Popular Culture and Philosophy, and there’s some 134 books (and counting!). I’d imagine it’s a very rare person who wouldn’t spot at least one subject in the archives that interests them. Seinfield and Philosophy, Stranger Things and Philosophy, the Red Sox and Philosophy, Harry Potter and Philosophy, the Atkins Diet and Philosophy, Steve Jobs and Philosophy… this series really has something for everyone.

But this is the one that piqued my interest, so here we go. It’s a collection of essays by various writers, philosophers, and academics, using Beatles songs and cultural significance as a vehicle to introduce and illuminate philosophical positions – from Aristotle, to Nietzsche, to Marx.

The Beatles and Philosophy falls at the more academic end of the spectrum, despite its pop culture focus. It’s written for someone who’s already across the basics of philosophical thought, and an intimate knowledge of the Beatles catalogue is pretty much essential. Luckily, I came equipped with both. However, a deep understanding of musical composition and songwriting isn’t really necessary, as it’s only really interrogated in the final essay (Four play with a difference).

I particularly enjoyed the essay She’s a woman, exploring the feminine and the ethic of care in the Beatles’ music. I found myself thinking and talking to others most about You say that you’ve got everything you want (a critique of consumer culture), and You say you want a revolution (a Marxist analysis of the Beatles’ career and intellectual property). All that said, every single essay in The Beatles and Philosophy has something interesting to say – not a single skip in the collection, which is unusual and impressive.

If you’re looking to refresh your memories with a playlist of Beatles songs prior to sitting down with The Beatles and Philosophy (or you’ve just finished it and you’re in the mood to re-listen with your new philosophical insights), I can tell you now that the song Tomorrow Never Knows is the one referenced most often – in almost every essay, if I recall correctly. Also popular:

• A Day In The Life
• Within You Without You
• Nowhere Man
• The Fool On The Hill
• Strawberry Fields Forever
• Revolution (#1 and #9)
• She Said, She Said
• I Am The Walrus
• Glass Onion

It’s no surprise, really, that these more experimental efforts from later albums offer more philosophical fodder than She Loves You or Love Me Do.

Oh, and don’t skip the end pages – there’s a fun list of all the supposed ‘clues’ in the Paul is dead conspiracy.

All told, it was worth the wait (and the persistent search) for The Beatles and Philosophy.