Rubber Soul by Greg Kihn
Greg Kihn is a rock star, seasoned radio host and author. Rubber Soul, his latest novel is inspired by intimate interviews that he conducted with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Pete Best, Yoko Ono and Patti Harrison. Though Rubber Soul is fiction, as Greg says it is “100% historically accurate” and an candid glimpse of the phenomenon that is The Beatles.
Rubber Soul is a an innovation in the Rock Thriller genre, taking readers on a rollicking ride through The Beatles legacy from the early days in Liverpool to six sold out shows per night in Hamburg and full-fledged Beatlemania.
Dust Bin Bob runs into some lads from Liverpool at his second hand shop on Penny Lane. The lads: John, Paul, George and Ringo and Dust Bin Bob become firm friends, sharing vinyl that will spark a revolution. Murder, mystery and Beatlemania mayhem ensues—with the boys narrowly avoiding an international incident and an attempted assassination. It’s the ultimate Beatles story that could have happened!
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Praise
“There’s no one more qualified to write a rock-and-roll novel than Greg Kihn. He’s the real deal and at his Kihntillating best in this book.” – Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist of Apple
“Rubber Soul is a magical mystery tour de force by Greg Kihn, a rocker who obviously has a way with words as well as music. His imagined story about the Beatles is fast-moving, full of twists and tension, and musical nuggets and insights. Great story-telling set to a Fab-four beat.” – Ben Fong Torres
“Rubber Soul captures what Rock-n-Roll is all about – and Greg Kihn would certainly know! This nearly-true story of the Beatles is pure magic and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.” – Eddie Money
“Greg Kihn is the most compelling author who ever had a top five singing career. Rubber Soul is a fantastic story by Greg, with an historical back beat. I urge you not to miss this.” – Joan Jett
“I’m happy to report that Rubber Soul, the latest work by my pal Greg Kihn, has correct punctuation, complete sentences, even full paragraphs – some of the exact same literary devices that can be found in the greatest novels our culture has ever produced! It’s also written in English, which happens to be one of my very favorite languages.” – “Weird Al” Yankovic
“While the RIAA may not be able to certify Kihn’s work with a gold disc, fans of Kihn and The Beatles, as well as those who long for the simpler yet magical time of the 1960’s will thoroughly enjoy and fall in love with Rubber Soul. They certainly don’t write ‘em like this anymore.” – Chris Shapiro, RetroPulse
Author Greg Kihn
NBC called Greg Kihn “Rock’s True Renaissance Man” and for good reason. As part of the eponymous band he has: toured the globe, had hit records, been inducted into the San Jose Rock Hall Of Fame, opened for the Rolling Stones and jammed with Bruce Springsteen. You may have heard of his smash worldwide #1 hit “Jeopardy” and “The Breakup Song”, not to mention the parody written by Weird Al Yankovic.
Being a famous and successful rock star is only one part of the mosaic that is Greg’s story. In the 90s Greg poured his passion for lyrics into writing fiction—publishing four novels, one of which “Horror Show” was nominated for the prestigious Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel.
In this vein, Greg merged his love of writing with Rock and Roll and wrote “Rubber Soul”—a unique rock murder mystery featuring The Beatles. The inspiration for this novel came from Greg’s interviews with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Pete Best, Yoko Ono and Patti Harrison. In this way Greg gained exclusive access to the biggest band ever to exist. “Rubber Soul” is a work of fiction, but it is 100% historically accurate and a story that only rock veteran Greg Kihn could have written.
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The Ed Sullivan Theater on West 53rd Street only held seven
hundred people but the show had received about fifty thousand
applications for tickets. Cops lined the street in front.
Bobby thought the Beatles were keeping remarkably calm.
Ed Sullivan himself greeted the band, waving a telegram
from Elvis Presley.
“He wishes you luck,” Ed said proudly. “Elvis and the
Colonel both wish you success in America.”
All four band members nodded, impressed that the King of
Rock and roll would acknowledge their presence.
Bobby stayed out of the way and accompanied George’s
sister Louise to her seat. Bobby saw a dense crowd of teenage
girls squirming in their seats. The atmosphere crackled with
electricity. TV cameras waited.
At last the stiff, uncomfortable image of Ed Sullivan
appeared. After a rehearsal John had said Ed walked like he
had a pole up his ass. Bobby could now corroborate this
although no pole was visible. The red lights above each camera
flickered on; the time was at hand.
Ed welcomed the viewers, made a few remarks, then
introduced a brief commercial. A minute later he returned to a
breathless audience. He must have known his words would go
down in history, yet he rushed through them in the excitement
of the moment.
“Now, yesterday and today, our theater has been jammed
with newspapermen and hundreds of photographers from all over
the nation, and these veterans agree with me that the city has
never witnessed the excitement stirred by these youngsters
from Liverpool who call themselves the Beatles. Now, tonight
you’ll be twice entertained by them, right now, and in the
second half of our show. Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles!”
Paul counted off the song and went into the first line of
All My Lovin’. As soon as the band joined in, shrill keening
filled the air. The sound shook the theater walls, echoing
across America and raised the hair on the back of Bobby’s
neck. Hysterical screaming drowned out the music washing over
them like a sonic tsunami. Louise clutched Bobby’s arm.
The response to the Beatles was thunderous. The manic
behavior of the audience frightened Bobby. Faces around him
seemed twisted and desperate. The screaming rang in his ears.
Tears rolled down the cheeks of the female audience members.
Bobby found himself swept up in it and realized he too was
shouting at the top of his lungs.
The Beatles seemed above it all, delivering their music
to the frenzied masses in a thoroughly professional manner.
The harmonies in All My Lovin’ were perfect; the vocal blend
was as natural and smooth as the Everly Brothers. Bobby was
impressed that the group could play that flawlessly with
relentless screaming in their ears.
All My Lovin’ ended and Till There Was You started with
another Paul vocal. Bobby thought it odd that they would
follow All My Lovin’ with another ballad sung by Paul but
realized it was probably a group decision with Brian Epstein
and Ed Sullivan approving the choice.
The third song, She Loves You, galvanized the audience
and caused the greatest reaction of the set. Bobby considered
She Loves You the ultimate Beatles song. Its “yeah, yeah,
yeah” chorus and high pitched “whooo” at the end of the verses
made it instantly recognizable.
When it ended the theater seemed to deflate. When the
Beatles left the stage a huge vacuum sucked up the atmosphere.
Bobby looked at Louise. She blinked unbelieving.
“Good Lord. I don’t believe it.”
“It’s beyond anything we could imagine,” Bobby said.
They hardly noticed the next act, a man in a tuxedo doing
card tricks.
Bobby’s mind went back to the Beatles. He wondered what
they thought of it. They were used to British Beatlemania, but
this was… well, this was out of control. Bobby wondered where
it would all lead.
The cast of the Broadway show Oliver followed, but Bobby
couldn’t focus on the song. Frank Gorshin did impersonations
of celebrities Bobby never heard of, but Bobby enjoyed the
man’s elastic face and wild body language. Tessie O’Shea stood
larger than life, strumming her banjo and belting out show
tunes, but it seemed boring and ordinary to Bobby. The Beatles
made everybody sound boring and ordinary.
An odd comedic team did a skit about a boss and his
secretary, and Bobby found himself glancing at the clock,
counting the minutes before the Beatles returned. At last they
were back, and the screaming began anew.
“One! Two! Three! Fah!” Paul barked the count and Bobby
instantly recognized the guitar intro to I Saw Her Standing
There.
George played his dark brown Gretsch Country Gentleman
guitar held high, picking the notes to the solo with a
flourish. Bobby wondered why he wasn’t using the black
Rickenbacker he’d bought in St. Louis. John was playing his.
Bobby imagined the matching black guitars would have looked
cool on television. I Want To Hold Your Hand finished the set
and caused the audience to expend what little
