13 “I’d either sit down with a guitar or at the piano”: Robin Hilton and Bob Boilen, “All Songs +1: A Conversation with Paul McCartney,” All Songs Considered, NPR.org, June 10, 2016.

14 “I’ve got a mate who can play ‘Raunchy’”: Lewisohn, Tune In, 150.

14 Little George is cool: Lewisohn, Tune In, 158.

14 “Cocky”: Lewisohn, Tune In, 158.

14 “George was just too young”: The Beatles, The Beatles Anthology (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000), 13.

14 “I didn’t dig him on first sight”: Hunter Davies, The Beatles: The Authorized Biography (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968), 158.

14 “George looked even younger than Paul”: Ray Connolly, Being John Lennon: A Restless Life (New York: Pegasus Books, 2018), 52.

14 the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group: Lewisohn, Tune In, 157.

14 “John said if I could play like that, I could join them”: Davies, The Beatles, 44.

15 “Go on, George, show him!”: Lewisohn, Tune In, 158.

15 “I played ‘Ranchee’ [sic] for them”: Davies, The Beatles, 44.

15 “knew more chords, a lot more”: Connolly, Being John Lennon, 52.

15 “Now there were three of us”: Davies, The Beatles, 45.

Chapter 5

16 “Are you Julia Dykins’s son?”: Mark Lewisohn, Tune In, vol. 1, The Beatles: All These Years (New York: Crown Archetype, 2013), 182.

17 We’d caught up so much, me and Julia: Hunter Davies, The Beatles: The Authorized Biography (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968), 52.

17 Mimi looks at Clague and shouts, “Killer!”: Ray Connolly, Being John Lennon: A Restless Life (New York: Pegasus Books, 2018), 61.

—

18 only $16.50 a night: Pete Hamill, “The Death and Life of John Lennon,” New York, March 18, 2008.

18 Mr. Lennon was “out of town”: Keith Badman, The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up, 1970–2001 (London: Omnibus Press, 2001), 267.

19 I’m coming home: CNN Special Report: Killing John Lennon, CNN.com, December 8, 2015.

19 Come home: James McMahon, “The Shooting of John Lennon: Will Mark David Chapman Ever Be Released?” The Independent, March 2, 2020.

19 a .38-caliber Charter Arms: Bill Prochnau, “A Strange Young Man Who Stopped the Music,” Washington Post, December 10, 1980.

20 He told us to imagine no possessions: McMahon, “The Shooting of John Lennon.”

20 Lennon admitted as much: Olivia B. Waxman, “Behind the Photo: How John Lennon and Yoko Ono Came Up with the Idea of Their Bed-In for Peace,” Time, March 25, 2019.

21 signed out as “John Lennon”: McMahon, “The Shooting of John Lennon.”

21 Practices withdrawing the weapon: McMahon, “The Shooting of John Lennon.”

21 “Mr. Lennon?”: Badman, The Beatles Diary, 272.

22 his cop friend, Dana: Jack Jones, Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman, the Man Who Killed John Lennon (New York: Villard Books, 1992), 197–98.

Chapter 6

23 Jacaranda Club: Mark Lewisohn, Tune In, vol. 1, The Beatles: All These Years (New York: Crown Archetype: 2013), 225–26.

23 “why don’t you do something for us?”: Lewisohn, Tune In, 299.

23 John’s inspiration comes from the Crickets, Buddy Holly’s band: Lewisohn, Tune In, 292.

24 “What’s your group’s lineup?”: Lewisohn, Tune In, 299.

24 painted the murals in the basement: Michael Braun, “Love Me Do!”: The Beatles’ Progress (Los Angeles and New York: Graymalkin Media, 2019), 71–72.

24 a Hofner 333 four-string bass: Lewisohn, Tune In, 276.