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Toronto Sun
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Let's talk about the Beatles: The records, the friendships and why they endure
Published May 28, 2025 • Last updated 0 minutes ago • 6 minute read The Beatles address the media in the press room of Kennedy International Airport on their arrival, Feb. 7, 1964 in New York. Photo by Uncredited / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS John Lennon once defined himself as a 'record man' – he preferred listening to records over attending live performances. Though I saw the Beatles live in Ed Sullivan's studio, I have to agree with John: Records provide a repeatable pleasure that's often exclusively personal, a romance between the singer's voice and the listener's ear. Records are material, tangible and portable; they enter history in a way live performances can't. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account For fans of recorded music – and the Beatles – 'Ribbons of Rust: The Beatles' Recording History in Context' delivers a fascinating look at how the group's record-making dream became a reality. This detail-heavy history by Robert Rodriguez and Jerry Hammack showcases the postwar Liverpool environment that fostered the Beatles' first No. 1 record, 'Please Please Me': the 45s the Beatles listened to; the technology available to them, such as house studios and portable tape recorders (the book's title is a reference to the recording tape the band used). The book also examines how British publications such as Mersey Beat magazine and New Musical Express, along with Radio Luxembourg, which played American rock-and-roll, helped create an audience for youth-focused music. Finally, it explores the role of certain important people, most notably Brian Epstein and George Martin, but also small-time impresarios such as Allan Williams, the man who brought the band to Hamburg, in 1960. And we shouldn't forget the unnamed man who sold John his 1958 Rickenbacker guitar while there. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Rodriguez, author of multiple books about the Beatles and host of the podcast 'Something About the Beatles,' writes expertly about the group and indulges in information that I suspect only Beatles superfans know, such as the name of the man who requested 'My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean,' a record the Beatles cut while in Germany, from Brian Epstein, then the owner of a record store. Hammack, an authority on recording techniques, is the author of the five-volume series 'The Beatles Recording Reference Manuals.' The structure of 'Ribbons' has the feel of a deeply informed scrapbook. It is full of historical facts and photographs; it also includes QR codes that allow readers to connect to additional online content, such as performances by the Coasters, Chuck Berry and the pre-Beatles skiffle band the Quarrymen. Included, too, are playlists of old Beatles gigs and in-depth technical information about studio recordings and their instrumentation. I haven't any idea what a 'modified … connection on a Leak Point One preamplifier to accept McCartney's bass … then combined to a Tannoy Dual Concentric 15-inch speaker' means, but I'm glad it facilitated the recording of 'Please Please Me.' More tech information will appear in the second volume of 'Ribbons,' covering the band's recording years after 1963. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. This extratextual information invites readers to step inside history and imagine what it was like to live and create as the Beatles did. After seeing the staid album covers featured in the book and listening to some of the songs on Top 10 lists, younger Beatles fans might have to recalibrate their perceptions of the early years of rock-and-roll. Older fans, such as myself, will remember how various popular music actually was, and that radio playlists often included both wild man Little Richard and the soporific Perry Como. The immersive facts and visuals of 'Ribbons' demonstrate how profoundly the Beatles changed specific aspects of culture that might be easily overlooked. For example, album covers were relatively tame until 1965, when the Beatles chose their own distorted photograph for 'Rubber Soul.' The iconic 'Sgt. Pepper' cover appeared two years later. The exceptions to this album cover decorum were the fabulously dynamic and often abstract covers from the Blue Note jazz label beginning in the mid-1950s. The Beatles didn't listen to modern jazz, but their musical and visual stands against the status quo were widely felt across the culture. Today, eruptions of visual excitement are common, ditto for advances in recording technology, but Rodriguez and Hammack remind us that even with primitive equipment, the Beatles created magic. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Ribbons of Rust' draws a map of the cultural environment in which the Beatles discovered their ambitions and displayed their talents. As readers, we can pick and choose where to stop and linger on this map – to look, listen or simply contemplate how four young men changed how we think about a record, that thin piece of vinyl that spins around and around, bringing us joy. Ribbons of Rust Photo by Bemis Publishing Group / Bemis Publishing Group Reading Ian Leslie's 'John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs' after 'Ribbons of Rust' is a bit of a jolt. Hoisted out of the material history of the Beatles' first hit records, we're plunged into a psychological portrait of two men who, according to Leslie, fell in love, platonically, with each other. The evidence for this, he argues, is in the songs they wrote and co-wrote. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. This is a bold argument but one that incites curiosity. Leslie, a British journalist whose previous books focus on human psychology and creativity, is interested in other nonsexual but compelling aspects of romantic coupling: jealousy, fear of abandonment, competition, belittlement, private modes of communication, disappointment and grief. Examples of these emotions are found in the songs Leslie analyzes, and his explications, bolstered by historical and biographical information, make his book readable but also troubling. John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs Photo by Celadon / Celadon The foundation of John and Paul's friendship is well-known. As teenagers, both lost their mothers. Both loved rock-and-roll, played guitars and secretly wrote songs. Both were good singers, and both hated authority. Most important, both recognized the other's talent, which turned out to be a blessing and a curse. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Leslie is keen to demonstrate how certain songs deviate from standard songwriting practices in ways that yield psychological significance. Yes, the narrative of 'She Loves You' revolves around a 'friendship between boys,' but does that mean the singer is in love with the 'you' he is addressing? It's hard to say. Leslie is more astute regarding the use of 'you' in 'Help.' Given Paul's ability to calm John through difficult times, when John sings, 'Help me if you can,' it's plausible to think the 'you' he's calling out to is Paul instead of a female lover. But when Leslie asserts that Paul's behavior is the cause of John's anguished phrase 'I'm crying' in his song 'I Am the Walrus,' he strays too far. Too often Leslie makes interpretations to suit his own inclinations. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. No one would contest the psychological duel apparent in some of John's and Paul's post-Beatles songs. John's 'How Do You Sleep,' what Leslie calls a 'musical nail bomb,' is answered by Paul's 'Dear Friend,' an offering of truce. Leslie's later chapters grow in complexity and insight, just as John and Paul's songs did. 'Eleanor Rigby,' 'Strawberry Fields Forever,' 'Hey Jude,' 'Two of Us,' 'Get Back,' 'Jealous Guy' and 'Here Today' reflect how Paul and John's maturing friendship evolved both personally and creatively after 1965. The legal and personal difficulties during the Beatles' slow demise are also clearly represented. Leslie offers examples of unlikable qualities in both musicians. (I was astounded to learn, for instance, that in 1976, Paul, while touring with Wings, chose not to attend his father's funeral.) This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Though the band dissolved, friendship between John and Paul, however truncated, remained. 'Ribbons of Rust' and 'John and Paul' remind us how rare a deeply personal and loving friendship between talented songwriters-singers is. The only other pair that comes to my mind is Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, a.k.a. Steely Dan. Now that I think about it, a book about Fagen and Becker as told through their songs was published recently, but perhaps sometimes it's best to just let it be. Sometimes a song is just a song. Sometimes a really good one can change the world. – – – Sibbie O'Sullivan, a former teacher in the Honors College at the University of Maryland, is the author of 'My Private Lennon: Explorations From a Fan Who Never Screamed.' – – – Ribbons of Rust The Beatles' Recording History In Context: Volume 1 – July 1954 Through January 1963 By Robert Rodriguez and Jerry Hammack. Bemis Publishing Group. 254 pp. $39.95, paperback – – – John & Paul A Love Story in Songs By Ian Leslie. Celadon. 448 pp. $32 Love concerts, but can't make it to the venue? Stream live shows and events from your couch with VEEPS, a music-first streaming service now operating in Canada. Click here for an introductory offer of 30% off. Explore upcoming concerts and the extensive archive of past performances! Toronto & GTA Canada Tennis Canada Toronto & GTA
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Something I'll always cherish' Cardiff record shop closing down after 30 years
A Cardiff record store is closing its doors this weekend after more than 30 years of serving music lovers. D'Vinyl in Roath has built a reputation stretching well beyond the city, attracting visitors from all over the globe with its vast collection of vinyl records, CDs, DVDs, and music memorabilia. Owner Steve Collins, who has spent decades curating the shop's impressive collection, will be saying goodbye to the business that became a staple for local music fans. Steve, a Cardiff native, opened D'Vinyl in 1994 alongside his brother Nigel. Before starting the shop, Steve had a 20-year career as a DJ in Cardiff's club scene. Reflecting on his decision to switch careers, he said: "I had enough of the late nights! It felt like a natural progression and it kept me connected to music – a bit of a selfish reason really!" READ MORE: Bodybuilder and Netflix star dies on treadmill at the gym READ MORE: Luke Littler threatens Roy Keane row after furious outburst as Ian Wright steps in Though the shop is small in size, it's known for its "TARDIS" effect—deceptively small on the outside but brimming with treasures inside. Once you step through the door, you're immersed in a world of media: from Star Wars memorabilia to albums by ABBA, ZZ Top and everything in between. The store is especially renowned for its collection of prog-rock, jazz, blues, folk and disco as well as rare 12-inch singles, live tracks, and demos. One standout item is the £300 signed CD of the Manic Street Preachers' 1992 single Little Baby Nothing, signed by the entire band, including Richey Edwards. "I don't specialise in anything in particular," Steve explained. "But we've always had a great variety of music here—across every genre—and the goal has always been to make people happy." One of his most memorable sales was a rare copy of Please Please Me by The Beatles on the Gold Label, which sold for £900. "I am a big Beatles fan," he said. "The Double White album stands to be one of my favourite albums ever." Never miss a Cardiff story by signing up to our daily newsletter here Over the years, Steve has seen a steady stream of customers pass through his doors, forging lasting friendships along the way. "We've been lucky to build such great relationships with our customers," Steve said. "I've had former students come back with their families over the years, and the shop has become a bit of a tradition for them." Thanks to word-of-mouth, D'Vinyl has drawn visitors from around the world, making it not just a record shop but a community hub. "In the music scene, people talk and this place has been recommended to others from across the world. The connections we've made here, with people from all over, have been very special and are something I'll always cherish." Reflecting on the trends he's witnessed over the years, Steve noted the resurgence of vinyl. "I wasn't surprised when vinyl came back," he said. "We've always had them, and people love the sound. It's such a unique experience." He also mentioned the way the death of icons like David Bowie and Freddie Mercury led to a surge of interest in their music. "It's sad, though," he remarked. 'Why not buy it while they're still around making music?' Now, at 74, Steve is ready to retire. "I've done my time," he said with a laugh. "I need a holiday! I want to spend more time with my family and enjoy life a little." To announce his retirement Steve took to social media to thank his loyal customers, adding: "I've had so many messages from people wanting to say goodbye, but who couldn't make it last week. So, I decided to open for a few final days this week—Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday—while I wrap things up. Thanks again to everyone for an incredible 31 years." His post was met with much love from former customers, with one reminiscing: "Used to go here all the time when I lived in Roath. Got so many bargains here, but more than that, the personal service was always amazing. I was always blown away by asking Steve if he had a particular item, and he had his entire, immense stock all catalogued in his head. In the wall was a CD copy of the JEEP album, signed by Stereophonics. Always wanted it, but never got round to buying it. All the best for your retirement Steve, will definitely pop in for one last look around on Saturday!" Another added: "Hi Steve, big HELLOS from Miroslav (peace celebrator) from The Czech Republic, your 2009-2019 regular customer. All the best to you and your family! You were one of the two people because of whom I was coming back to Cardiff." Steve's last day of trading will officially be Saturday, April 5.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Beatles Audition Tape Discovered in Vancouver Record Store
A rare piece of Beatles history has resurfaced in an unexpected place: a small record store in Vancouver. Rob Frith, owner of Neptoon Records, recently stumbled upon what he believed was a run-of-the-mill bootleg labeled Beatles 60s Demos. But after finally playing the reel-to-reel tape—years after acquiring it—Frith realized he may have uncovered a direct copy of the band's original 1962 Decca audition tape. More from Billboard For the 'Win': Tamela Mann Scores Record 12th No. 1 on Gospel Airplay Chart Lady Gaga Announces Dates For North American, International 2025 Mayhem Ball Tour Selena Gomez Hates Feeling a 'Tad Bitter' About Trolls Commenting on Her Weight While 'Nobody Cares' About Those Things With Men 'I just figured it was a tape off a bootleg record,' Frith posted on social media. 'After hearing it last night for the first time, it sounds like a master tape. The quality is unreal. How is this even possible to have what sounds like a Beatles 15-song Decca tapes master?' The tape is believed to be a copy of the infamous Jan. 1, 1962 audition session The Beatles recorded at Decca Studios in London. The label famously passed on signing the group—who would instead join Parlophone under George Martin and release their debut album Please Please Me in 1963. Frith, speaking to CBC, said the sound quality was so pristine 'it seemed like the Beatles were in the room.' The tape, wound in what's known as 'leader tape' (used to separate tracks on master recordings), was identified by music preservationist Larry Hennessey as something far more than just a fan-made compilation. Further intrigue came when Frith tracked down the man who brought the tape to Canada: Jack Herschorn, a former Vancouver label executive. According to Herschorn, the tape was given to him by a producer in London during the 1970s with the suggestion to sell copies in North America. But he refused, saying, 'It didn't feel like the moral thing to do. These guys are famous and they deserve to have the right royalties on it… it deserves to come out properly.' Now, more than 60 years after the original session, fans can hear a snippet of the first track—'Money (That's What I Want)'—via Frith's Instagram, where it's quickly gone viral among Beatles devotees. Frith says he has no intention of selling the tape but would gladly offer a copy to Decca or, as he joked, personally hand it to Sir Paul McCartney if he ever stopped by Neptoon Records. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Beatles Audition Tape Discovered in Vancouver Record Store
A rare piece of Beatles history has resurfaced in an unexpected place: a small record store in Vancouver. Rob Frith, owner of Neptoon Records, recently stumbled upon what he believed was a run-of-the-mill bootleg labeled Beatles 60s Demos. But after finally playing the reel-to-reel tape—years after acquiring it—Frith realized he may have uncovered a direct copy of the band's original 1962 Decca audition tape. More from Billboard Kenny Chesney, June Carter Cash & Tony Brown Named to Country Music Hall of Fame Zach Bryan's 'Oklahoma Smokeshow' Rules Top TV Songs Chart With 'Tracker' Synch Metro Boomin, Machine Gun Kelly & More to Headline WWE's WrestleMania After Dark 'I just figured it was a tape off a bootleg record,' Frith posted on social media. 'After hearing it last night for the first time, it sounds like a master tape. The quality is unreal. How is this even possible to have what sounds like a Beatles 15-song Decca tapes master?' The tape is believed to be a copy of the infamous Jan. 1, 1962 audition session The Beatles recorded at Decca Studios in London. The label famously passed on signing the group—who would instead join Parlophone under George Martin and release their debut album Please Please Me in 1963. Frith, speaking to CBC, said the sound quality was so pristine 'it seemed like the Beatles were in the room.' The tape, wound in what's known as 'leader tape' (used to separate tracks on master recordings), was identified by music preservationist Larry Hennessey as something far more than just a fan-made compilation. Further intrigue came when Frith tracked down the man who brought the tape to Canada: Jack Herschorn, a former Vancouver label executive. According to Herschorn, the tape was given to him by a producer in London during the 1970s with the suggestion to sell copies in North America. But he refused, saying, 'It didn't feel like the moral thing to do. These guys are famous and they deserve to have the right royalties on it… it deserves to come out properly.' Now, more than 60 years after the original session, fans can hear a snippet of the first track—'Money (That's What I Want)'—via Frith's Instagram, where it's quickly gone viral among Beatles devotees. Frith says he has no intention of selling the tape but would gladly offer a copy to Decca or, as he joked, personally hand it to Sir Paul McCartney if he ever stopped by Neptoon Records. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
The Guardian
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie review – let it be the new gold standard in Beatles studies
It is a strange and beguiling experience to find music you have had in your head since childhood reveal new and unsuspected shades of meaning 50 years later. Beatles songs aren't like most pop songs; instead of fading, they take on a richer colour and nuance, not least because new generations of fans inquire more deeply into what previous listeners might have overlooked or simply misunderstood. One twist of the kaleidoscope and a song we thought we knew suddenly sounds even better than it did the first 100 times we heard it. This is the effect of reading Ian Leslie's brilliant study of the Beatles' music, a book that offers not only a lesson in listening (again) but an enthralling narrative of friendship, creative genius and loss. At its centre is the songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and the unprecedented peaks the two of them scaled in remaking English popular music. You may find it impossible not to be awed by their achievement all over again. But Leslie also wants to challenge a myth about the pair. After the Beatles finally disbanded, a consensus formed that Paul was the straight man to John's rebel bohemian – vanilla against brimstone – which hardened into holy writ on Lennon's murder in 1980. McCartney's inadequate off-the-cuff response to the news ('it's a drag') took some living down. Leslie lays to rest this old opposition, arguing that there was 'no John without Paul, and vice versa'. Their collaboration was as tight and co-dependent as two climbers roped together on a mountain face. The two boys who met in 1957 at a summer fete in Woolton village were bonded by talent and by family tragedy. Both had lost their mothers when they were teenagers, a spiritual wound that was borne in silence but linked them in understanding. 'In music they could say what they felt without having to say it.' As they practised at home, they taught each other the art of songwriting and intuitively felt their way into a partnership. Leslie conveys the excitement and pace of this self-discovery, from the fledgling years of Hamburg and the Cavern through the 'ecstatic bounce' of Please Please Me to the end of 1963, when they had four No 1 singles and two No 1 albums. He is also alert to the way their songs reverberate between eras. The first song McCartney ever wrote, I Lost My Little Girl, just after the death of his mother, is captured again when the band play it together during the Get Back sessions at Savile Row in January 1969. He spots another proleptic link from the unusual dynamic dramatised in She Loves You, 'a boy-girl love song about friendship between boys': 11 years later, McCartney was a real-life go-between for Lennon during a crisis with Yoko Ono. But Leslie scores highest in his penetrating analysis of the differences that drove their creative alchemy. As the songwriting grew in complexity, their characters emerged more distinctively: Lennon being sardonic, self-critical, volatile; McCartney romantic, joyous and inquisitive. In time, a rivalry flared up, and yet far from stalling the partnership, it inspired them to greater heights of inventiveness and daring. Two pairs of songs, close upon one another, illustrate this duelling spirit. In early 1966 Lennon wrote Tomorrow Never Knows after hearing McCartney play Eleanor Rigby, disparate in mood and effect yet both built on an alternation between two chords. Leslie's musical ear picks up the odd consonances between the pair and 'the sounds of words as connecting fibres', the mirroring of phrases and gaze-of-eternity perspective. Counterintuitively, the Lennon song is emollient in its message, the McCartney cheerless and unforgiving, yet 'the two songs speak to one another'. In another great cadenza, Leslie considers the double vision of the single Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever, obverse sides of the same golden coin; this time Lennon's fugue-like journey into the unconscious set against McCartney's jaunty 'toytown diorama' with its everyday characters made strange – 'McCartney's Magritte', as Leslie calls it. Of all the songs featured here, these are the two that flame brightest in the author's close interpretation, and I felt I was understanding them properly for the first time. In Penny Lane we hear 'the singer-narrator has a child's enthusiasm and an adult's experience'; in Strawberry Fields Forever we hear anew its 'gauzy ambiguity' between dream and nightmare: 'The listener is oriented just enough to take pleasure in being lost.' This takes us into 1967, 'the year when John and Paul were most in sync', to the point where their actual voices were sometimes hard to tell apart. They even dreamed the same dreams. But their different personalities were becoming marked, partly under the influence of drugs, partly through Lennon's increasing fragility and neediness. 'Only when he was working with Paul did he feel like a genius.' Leslie has previously written books on human psychology, and here he gets thoroughly stuck into the crosscurrents of dependence and resentment that roiled beneath the surface. At times, he sounds like a couples therapist, and indeed when Ono enters the scene, he identifies Lennon's new alliance as a 'triangulation', the possibly unconscious undermining of a partner through befriending a third party. Woah, heavy!, you think, and yet it might make perfect sense. It doesn't require a psychologist, of course, to hear deep strains of depression and paranoia in a lament such as Yer Blues, but Leslie's occasional overegging of the psychodrama tips the mood towards daytime soap: 'John thought Paul understood how insecure he felt… and sought emotional reassurance. Paul thought John needed to feel he was the most important person in the group: hence his insistence that John is the boss. But John didn't want power, not any more. He wanted love.' The book's subtitle is nonetheless pertinent, since it really is a love story, and in Lennon's mind might have been something more. During the Get Back sessions, he says to McCartney, only half-joking: 'It's like you and me are lovers.' When their partnership was sundered at last, the fallout was commensurately intense, with Lennon vituperating McCartney as bitterly as any scorned ex. His rancorous denunciation of McCartney in How Do You Sleep? on the Imagine album shocked at the time, but now sounds 'preposterous' ('The only thing you done was Yesterday'), as did a lot of the interviews he gave in the aftermath of the split. The relationship eventually recovered, albeit hedged around by Lennon's enthralment to Ono. What came as a surprise to me – one of several here – was the story of Lennon being galvanised to make music again on hearing McCartney's Coming Up on the radio ('It's driving me crackers'). I had up to now considered the gold standard of Beatles books to be Ian MacDonald's formative Revolution in the Head, published more than 30 years ago. John & Paul is its equal in passionate engagement with the songs and possibly its superior in originality. But is it too late to register a regret that one vital song has been overlooked? And Your Bird Can Sing is a sour-sweet blast of energy that perfectly fits Leslie's argument about the two writers talking to each other, a song of misunderstanding that both airs a grievance ('You can't hear me') and offers reconciliation ('Look in my direction, I'll be round'). There's an outtake of the song on The Beatles Anthology when McCartney starts giggling, which sets off Lennon, and they both laugh helplessly through to the end. It reminds you what fun, aside from everything else, genius could be. The Mouthless Dead by Anthony Quinn is published by Abacus (£20) John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie is published by Faber (£25). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at Delivery charges may apply
