Planet Introvertian Logic
Before June, my friend Lee Child had been interviewed hundreds of times. Maybe even thousands. A quick Google search of his name turned up 299,000,000 hits in 0.19 seconds. An almost equally quick Google search seeking “Lee Child’s favorite songs” turned up 150,000,000 results in .30 seconds. But “What is Lee Child’s favorite Beatle Song?” returned no answer. (Although there’s a good playlist back in 2009 for Gone Tomorrow.)
Was it possible that no one had ever asked Lee the question before?
Unlikely. He is, after all, a man of a certain age. Born in Coventry, England, he was the right age at the right time in the right place to have experienced adolescence saturated with Beatle songs. The Beatles are the best selling band in history. Surely, I figured, he’d have a favorite or ten. That’s how Planet Introvertians think.
His answer was swift and certain. No hesitation at all. I asked. He answered.
He said he actually had two favorites, “Nostalgically and musically.”
But why did I ask?
While I’ve been writing Get Back Jack, which uses Lee’s Back Luck and Trouble as a launching off point, FBI Agents Otto & Gaspar refer to Reacher’s old army buddies as The Fab Four. (You remember who the four surviving members of Reacher’s Special Investigations Unit are, right?)
Naturally, Reacher’s Fab Four led to the Beatles, or maybe the other way around. Which then led to me asking Lee about his favorite Beatle song. Then I asked you. And here we are.
You submitted your best guesses. Some even told me what Lee’s favorites should be! One reader searched all over the net to find whether Lee had answered this question before. She came up empty.
So let’s try this again. Can you guess one of Lee’s two favorites?
I’ll give you one hint: One song is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year.
Okay, a second hint: The same one remains The Beatles biggest selling UK Single.
Give up?
Now, you can find one answer online. Go ahead. Search. And post your answer in the comments below. While you’re there, tell me what your favorite Beatle song is, too. We’ll have a random drawing.
One lucky commenter will get an Advance Readers Copy of Get Back Jack. Is it you?
As always, thank you for reading!
She Loves You and I Wanna Hold Your Hand
These are the two you think are Lee’s favorite? Or yours?
Answer: I wanna hold your hand. (By far their biggest selling single)
My answer: Hey Jude
The hint was “Best selling UK single,” Adrian. And Rolling Stone says I wanna hold your hand is not it. Could they be wrong?
Do you have a nostalgic reason for choosing Hey Jude? Just wondering…
Please, please me
From me to you
Diane, is it Please Please Me?
Hi, Annie. Thanks for the comment and your entry. I’ll announce the answers and the winners on Thursday!
One of Lee Child’s favorite Beatles songs is From Me to You. Haven’t got a clue what the other one is, but my favorite is P.S. I Love You which was the B side of their debut single in the US (the A side was Love, Love Me Do). It was the first 45 I ever bought with my allowance and my first Beatles record. I played that thing to death!!
Maybe that would be great trivia question next time, Barbara. “What was on the B side of…. ?” Most folks today would have no clue what we’re even talking about. Downloadable tracks from iTunes and CDs don’t have “B-sides”!! 😀
…or what IS a 45 and what does RPM even mean? 🙂
Maybe we should also ask what Jack Reacher’s favorite Beatles song was. 🙂
I think the one you’re hinting at is She Loves You.
Funny, Darcia, that’s where I started thinking about this question: What is Jack Reacher’s favorite Beatles song? But then I wondered whether he would have one….Maybe that’s another great question to ask Lee. 😀
She Loves You is the best selling single in UK history and it was published 50 years ago.
And by the way, my favorite is Hey Jude, although a close second is a bunch of tunes too long for a lazy guy to list.
Hey Jude seems like a favorite for a few folks here, Paul. I like Yellow Submarine. But the reasons have very little to do with the music and a lot to do with the boy I was dating who liked it. 😀
Yellow submarine is one of the bunch. It was real hard picking a favorite. I wasn’t really into popular music at that time, but their tunes are so fascinating.
And enduring, apparently, Paul. It’s amazing to me how long they’ve lasted. Which is a good thing as far as I’m concerned. So many music groups are a quick flash and then they’re gone. Not many endure.
I’m guessing Lee’s favorite Beatles song is ‘Love Me Do’ and probably should be ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’
My favorites are ‘Hey Jude’ — ‘Let It Be’ — and ‘Revolution’
I enjoy ALL Lee Child’s books — and LOVE his character, Jack Reacher!!
Your favorites are good ones, Joy. Revolution is a great work out song on the iPod. Who doesn’t love Reacher? I mean, that’d be almost suicidal, don’tchathink? 😀
Thanks to your latest hints, I think one of Lee’s favorite songs is She Loves You. My favorite is Can’t Buy Me Love, especially after seeing the movie of the same name. 🙂
Beatles movies haven’t endured as well as the music, Roseanne, but they were fun for sure! 😉
Lee obviously has “She Loves You” as one of his ( 50 yrs ago and top selling UK single)
I rank “Yesterday” as top and suspect LEE may also
Why do you like Yesterday the best, Graham? And why do you think Lee does?
Yesterday is a haunting melancholy number. It was written by Paul McCartney (alone) and performed by him. It is about the breakup of a relationship and its simplicity tugs at the heartstrings.
A a loner I think it would appeal to Lee (and Jack).
In addition Lee has shown a predilection in his book series to change the time setting back to earlier times on occasions rather than a staightforward chronlogical time scale which may indicate he thinks back a lot too!
Ok, after that hint, the one with the 50th anniversary is “Love me Do”. Still have no idea what his ‘other’ favorite is.
That sounds like a good favorite for Jack Reacher, Donna. 😉
Hi Diane,
The Beatles were a generation or two before mine, but vinyls and B-sides were still around for a bit before it all went digital. I still remember the Walkman craze akin to today’s iPod one. Still, if I had a Beatles fave, it would be All You Need Is Love.
The hints point to She Loves You.
Hope you had an amazing Labor Day Weekend!
His = She loves me and I . Wanna hold your hand
Mine= Hey Jude