Alan W Pollack

Alan W. Pollack is a musicologist. He is best known for having musically analysed every Beatles song released. He started the task in 1989 and finished in 2000, with 187 original songs and 25 cover songs. The analyses have come to be known as the "Notes on ..." series, as each is entitled "Notes on 'Love Me Do'", "Notes on 'Help!'" and so on. The notes were released weekly, usually on Wednesdays, on the rec.music.beatles usenet group. Pollack's individual song analyses and comments on unifying themes in the Beatles' work were later incorporated by musicologist Walter Everett in his two-volume study The Beatles as Musicians. The "Notes on …" series is also among the "Recommended Resources" in author and critic Kenneth Womack's 2014 book The Beatles Encyclopedia.

Pollack holds a B.A. in Music from Brooklyn College and both an M.A. and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in Music Theory and Composition. He was an instructor of music theory and composition at Yale University from 1975 to 1977. Since 1979 he has pursued a career in software engineering.