Tim Hatfield's book is titled The Beatles: All their songs with encouraging words for challenging times. It's a rewarding read for any Beatles fan, not only because of the insights Hatfield serves, but because it speaks volumes about dealing with difficult times.
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| Tim Hatfield |
The evolution of his project from concept to finished book is a great story. The Beatles music serves as Ariadne's thread, leading us through the labyrinth of emotions we experienced during the first wave of the pandemic.
Here's one of the lines he wrote that jumped out at me: "When times are challenging we have to be intentional about being hopeful." The book is awash with encouragement and wisdom for those traveling through tough times.When the pandemic kicked in, when things were most uncertain, Hatfield set about to write uplifting words of comfort and encouragement to his circle of friends to help them get through these difficult times. His background as a counselor prompted him to think of others who might be feeling the uncertainty he was feeling. To give them hope he began writing one email a day using Beatles songs as the seed for each daily message.
In this interview he related that time period and talks about his longtime love of the Beatles music since seeing them twice in the Sixties.
EN: There's a sense in which your song summaries are a bit like Aesop's Fables. Fable is a story and that ends with a moral to the story. Was Aesop trying to help his community the way you're striving to help your tribe? Does this analogy work to describe your book?
Tim Hatfield: What a cool question! It’s very kind of you, but I think my stories fall short of Aesop’s large life lessons. Structurally, his fables and my stories are the same. But I would have had to research Aesop to be able to speak to his motivation, which I haven’t. I have to believe that Aesop had an interest in helping people to make good decisions or else he wouldn’t have bothered, right? He was trying to help people be wise and responsible, a way to help his community. I think if there is a parallel with my essays, it is that I was hoping to be helpful in a more concrete way by simply being supportive and encouraging of folks who had to be in basic survival mode because of the uncharted territory of the pandemic.
EN: I like the way you dig into the roots of the Beatles' influences, especially when writing about the artists whose work they covered like Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly. Were there any especially big surprises for you in that early part of their catalog?
TH: I knew that the Beatles had been voracious consumers of as many American r & b, soul, and rock artists as they could find (mostly in manager Brian Epstein’s record store), but I was so impressed that throughout their career the Beatles were such students of every imaginable genre of music, as well as students of the culture at large. They were creative sponges of it all, and genius integrative transformers. They changed music, which changed the culture, which changed us. I feel very fortunate to have come of age with the Beatles.
EN: Very cool that you had a chance to see the Beatles. How old were you and what was it like to be there?
TH: I saw the Beatles twice in person in Cincinnati, first in the summer of 1964, after my first year of college when I was 18, then again two years later. The first time was at the Cincinnati Gardens, an indoor arena that was the home of the NBA’s Cincinnati Royals. It was packed with 10,000 or so very loud fans, and unforgettable. The 1966 concert, when John Lennon had been vilified because of the “more popular than Jesus” statement, they performed at the Cincinnati Reds baseball stadium, Crosley Field. It wasn’t nearly a sellout because of that, but they played great. And in retrospect, there was no way to know how momentous a time this was to be a part of – they gave up the road shortly thereafter.
EN: There were lots of groups forming and re-forming during the Sixties. What was the magic that made the Beatles stand out from the rest?
TH: Their exponential growth, their impeccable harmonies, their remarkable eclecticism, and their astounding resilience through their meteoric rise and success. So many books have spoken to this in great detail that it seems pretty presumptuous to boil it down to just a few phrases, but I think every Beatles fan could benefit from the chance to identify their personal take on the essence of the Beatles.
EN: I know it's impossible, but which three albums would you call their most significant? Do you have a favorite?
EN: Your motivation for writing these stories seems fairly self-evident. What prompted you to compile all this in book form?
TH: That’s easy. As you know, my initial strong motivation back in March of 2020 was to send my family and a few friends something, anything, that would help sustain them during those very dark, confusing, frightening early days of the pandemic. The President was lying on TV every day about the seriousness of the virus, even while the most astute public health officials were saying otherwise. It was a scary time. So, as a lifelong Beatles fan, it was an easy decision to send a song along with a little back story and some connection between the song and encouragement that my intimates could and would persevere.
From the very beginning, I received grateful, affirming responses (e.g., “this is the best I’ve felt in weeks”; “do this again!”) that took on a life of their own (e.g., “I have my first cup of coffee every morning with the Beatles and you. Thank you!”; “I look forward to these so much; keep ‘em coming.”). The initial mailing list of 20-some people grew organically through word of mouth to over 200, and along the way the responses from a good number of people – 10? A couple dozen? I wasn’t keeping a scoreboard, but these were people close to me, and whose opinions I trusted – began to include statements like “Have you ever considered that these ‘uplifts’ of yours could be of help to a lot of people?” and, frequently, “These should be a book, Tim!” I’d thank them, of course, but basically demurred. I was basically keeping my head above water a day at a time.
For quite a while, I was rolling out of bed at 5:30 or so to spend the hour or two researching and writing up the song of the day so that it would arrive in Eastern time zone people’s inboxes by 8:00 a.m. My astute wife eventually pointed out that it would be possible to do my research and writing the night before (ha! A Beatles title!), then send whenever I wanted. I can be a slow learner sometimes. I sent the last of the 260 essays out early in December, decided “Well, this is it,” but within a couple of months was thinking about transforming the whole body of work into a book.
EN: Have you ever published an eBook before? Did someone assist you on the "publishing" part or did you figure things out on your own using a guide of some sort?
TH: I never had published an ebook before, so I spent several weeks researching and networking with people to help me understand and navigate the process. I got advice from several people, and ultimately hired attorney Len Rubin for advice about copyright issues and Bill Bonney of Last Mile Publishing to format and prepare my manuscript for publication as an ebook. I’ve written both of these guys to thank them for making the book a reality.
EN: What advice would you offer others who feel motivated to publish eBooks?
TH: If you’re passionate about the project, go for it, with the understanding that there may be way more nuanced complexity to seeing the project through than you might expect. Without the pre-publication formatting help of an expert, I don’t know if the ebook ever would have happened. And my own experience is that unless you have some serious promotional advocates and strategies in place, keeping your expectations modest about sales on the Amazon site will be helpful. I still am very glad I wrote this book, and think it’s a good read for Beatles fans, but have been disappointed that it seems to be languishing, buried in the amazon site.
EN: What other music do you enjoy listening to?
TH: Classic rock and Motown have always been go-to for me, but I listen to all kinds of music, including classical. In fact, I’ve told friends over the years that I think the most important course I took in college was a year-long history of music from Gregorian chant to electronic music. If I started naming all the groups and individual artists I have loved over the years – and still do – there would be a huge list here.
EN: What was your fave BOOK about the Beatles from all your readings and research?
TH: It has to be The Beatles Anthology, the massive compilation of primary source material from all four of the guys. In a sense, almost everything in my book was present in or alluded to there. The Beatles Bible website also was a terrific resource. I am a huge fan of many other Beatles authors/scholars, some of whom I’ve emailed with and/or spoken personally with at the 2022 Chicago Beatles Fest, where I presented about the book. I owe all of them for their expertise and generosity.
Related Links
Hatfield, Tim. The Beatles: All their songs with encouraging words for challenging times. Kindle Edition
Remembering Phil Fitzpatrick
The Beatles' "Flying"--A Pocketful of Insights by Tim Hatfield
As he shared these, many of his friends shared them with other friends so that it became an ever-expanding circle. In the end, it became an eBook, with links to every song. Today is is now itself a book that you can hold in your hands, titled When We Find Ourselves in Times of Trouble: The Beatles (All their songs with encouraging words for challenging times)
