I'm not going to pretend to you that as a precocious one year old I have any recollection of the Beatles playing Ed Sullivan.
Nope. The Beatles didn't really hit my radar until I was about 3 years old, when every car ride involving a radio involved the Beatles.
When I was five years old, my sister, who was then all of seven, bought her first 45 - Get Back. Which I think is probably the coolest first 45 purchase ever. Much better than my Bellamy Brothers 45 a few years later...
We would sit on her bed and watch that apple go around and around the turntable, laughing hysterically about JoJo. You know - he was a man who thought he was a woman - what up with that? Really, the Beatles were hysterical to me then, and every TV interview I saw only cemented that perspective. They were great musicians, but they were side-splittingly funny, too. It was infectious, joyous fun in the beginning.
I remember the day it was announced they'd split. No one thought the split would stick, that somehow, at some later date, they'd get back together.
Oh, and they blamed it on the wives. How misogynistic that seems now...
By the time I got into high school in the late 1970s, the Beatles were long split up, but we followed their music, poured over the meaning of the lyrics, as if we were the first to discover them. Other generations of angst-ridden and musically obsessed teenagers have done so every decade since.
We all had our favourites. Most of my friends were Team John or Team Paul, but my friend Dawn and I were Team George all the way...
And then the unthinkable. I woke up to the news on the radio. They were already playing his music, the tributes were pouring in and I was devastated. I remember that I had an exam that day, and as we all waited for it to begin, we huddled in masses, our hearts broken.
There would be no reunions.
Fast forward twenty years to the fall of 2001. The twin towers go down. My mother dies on November 11th and two weeks later, George is gone. A VERY bad fall.
So you will forgive me if I cling to Paul and Ringo like I used to cling to my dad after my mom died.
Last week at the Grammys, they played together, but they pointedly did not play Beatles music.
That music has been kept for, to quote Ed Sullivan, "The Really Big Shew" this coming Sunday night on CBS. When those of us who love The Beatles, or those of us who simply love history, will stop and pay homage to four lads who just wanted to play music and have fun.
There is a rumour of an appearance later that night with David Letterman at the Old Ed Sullivan Theatre. And I for one am hoping that this is true and that they will play together again, perhaps backed by some of their kids and especially John's boys Julian and Sean and George's son Dhani. These crazy boys who look so much like their dads and who are forever in their shadows, whether they wish to be or not...
Of course that is the rampant sentimentalist in me.
And I recognize that not everyone is a Beatles fan. Music speaks to a person, or it does not.
But the profound impact that the Fab Four had on their contemporaries and on those who followed, cannot be overstated.
Can there be a spring without Here Comes the Sun? A broken heart without Eleanor Rigby or Let it Be? A cooler song than Come Together? A better sing-along than Yellow Submarine? We all want to put our arms around Julian Lennon when we hear Hey Jude.
As I age, the song that returns to me again and again is Lennon's In My Life:
There are places I remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends
I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all
With lovers and friends
I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more
For me the Beatles are Dawn and Susan and Heather and Frances and Anne and Maureen and Joyce. They are James, who looked just like John, and Mark and David and Ian, who were inconsolable that morning. They are the parties we threw, the songs we sang, the hearts we broke. They are Brian and Greg and Rob and Glenn and Teddy and Spaghetti Soirees. Wings, Bond Movies, Travelling Wilburys, beloved ones lost to cancer. You can find a song that speaks to all of your loves and life moments.
And it all began, in earnest, 50 years ago. And I apologize for the length of this post, but it is only a smidgen of what these men have meant to me in my life. I've loved them all.
I would love to hear your Beatles Memories!
I don't really get them - nice music and all but I don't see how women fancied them. Tip for you though Wendy - if you ever come to London go to the Richoux cafe in St Johns wood - he is usually there ( if in town) with either a friend or his youngest daughter. But he absolutely refuses to sign autographs which is odd because the only time anyone does is if a tourist recognizes him but otherwise people leave him alone.
ReplyDeleteNaomi - I will be right over and you can take me round... I don't need an autograph...
DeleteI love the older Beatles stuff. I've never thought of myself as a big Beatles fan (I'm the Rolling Stones) until I went to the show in Vegas this summer which was so incredible and gave me such a new appreciation of them. The 10,000 hours books (name escapes me) has also a great chapter in it about how the Beatles played together all day and all night for three years in a Berlin nightclub and that's how they went from average to great. Agree - how mysogynistic looking back about the Yoko Ono thing!
ReplyDeleteI like the Stones, but was always The Beatles. I read Gladwell's take on that too and it was interesting and quite a safe place to incubate genius!
DeleteMe too, About Last Weekend. It's the Stones all the way! I much prefer Aerosmith's version of "Come Together" as well.
DeleteI can appreciate what they mean to you Wendy but when I hear the Beatles it would be on the radio and I can change that station faster than you can say "Rocky Raccoon". LOL
ha! I always love sentences that say I can appreciate, but....
Deletenah I love rocky raccoon too...
Hi Wendy, lovely post about your life as a Beatles fan. I don't really remember when I first heard them - I guess I must have seen them on Top of the Pops. I do remember where I was when John died. I was on my year abroad, getting ready to go to the school where I was a teaching assistant. My German penpal had lent me a radio and I used to listen to BBC Radio One with my breakfast - and that's how I found out. At school that day all the younger teachers were literally in mourning.
ReplyDeleteThis past weekend my husband and I watched a show on CNN about The Beatles and the other groups of the British Invasion, it was really interesting. Will definitely be watching the show on Sunday, thanks for the heads-up.
interesting story Patricia!
DeleteI do love their music but did not really discover them until the Sgt. Pepper movie came out..with the Bee Gees. Saw The Beatles in Vegas a few years back and had to yell at my husband to quit singing...the other patrons came to enjoy the show not here a dog dying.
ReplyDeleteyou send hunter over to me!
DeleteBeautifully written Wendy and my earliest Beatles memory is my father playing the Let It Be album on Saturday mornings before he left to play golf. It felt magical because the music was wonderful and our father was very seldom home and there was nothing sad about it (as we didn't know anything else) but it forever after gave the Beatles an aura of being special.
ReplyDeleteThe misogyny charge (which I've always thought meant hatred of women not a woman you think has been unfairly maligned) seems over the top. I know people disliked Yoko Ono and I suppose there are those that would argue xenophobia should be put in front of misogyny and if those disliking Yoko Ono for breaking up the Beatles were women then what? It was always pretty clear to me that those 4 wonderkinds grew apart as artists and men which would also likely include romantic relationships being a part of that different direction.
I love the story about your dad!
Deleteactually I stand by my comment, because it was Yoko and Linda who were blamed and there was lots of hatred of Linda in the early 70s as well, especially when she joined Wings. I agree with you that that's what would have happened regardless,but the media was looking for villains and they nabbed the women.
Then the women who hated Yoko and Linda are misogynists?
Deleteagree completely! ;-)
DeleteOne of the few star encounters I have in NYC was in a restaurant with Yoko and her daughter from a previous marriage. It wasn't a fancy restaurant at all. What struck me was Yoko's little girl voice and her luminous skin. My favorite songs from them are Let It Be, A Day in the Life and While My Guitar Gently Weeps (my wallow song).
DeleteOh no one could wallow like George! How great Yoko has luminous skin!
DeleteLovely post -- I love the Beatles and am so moved by the lyrics you posted. One of my favorites, whose lyrics are a little out there but I nevertheless find the song really speaks to me, is Across the Universe. Our first dance at our wedding was a Beatles song -- Michelle! Which now that I think about it is maybe a little weird!
ReplyDeletewell I love that you played michelle! I love across the universe too! we played Bowie at our wedding - Wild is The Wind.
DeleteLovely tribute. Get Back is a very good first 45 choice indeed (I'm pretty sure mine was Olivia Newton John's Physical - gah!) I remember spending hours in my friend's room playing her older brother's copy of the white album. My favourite song remains Norwegian Wood but as my 8 year old is crazy about Strawberry Fields, it's growing on me! Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
ReplyDeleteHi Jen- Love Norwegian Wood! That album was such a departure!
DeleteLike most people here my life has been underscored by the Beatles. I love singing along with them, enjoy the lyrics and wordplay immensely.
ReplyDeleteFor me the most poetic is Accross the Universe. It speaks to me of last words, final moments, enlightenment before becoming part of everything in the universe once more. Deeply emotional, ending with contentment, knowledge and oneness...the final journey. Is this what it will be like?
Curator - I sure hope so!!!!
DeleteThe Beatles always are associated in my mind with my mother. She loved them and I grew up listening to them. She used to break into the twist whenever she heard twist and shout, which would embarrass us terribly! She chose Let it Be for her funeral. I can't listen to it now- a sad song before, but even sadder now for me.
ReplyDeleteLoved reading all your memories associated with them xxx
Thanks Heidi - I love that she chose Let it Be. At my dad's funeral we did Over The Rainbow and it gives me comfort now, though not at the time!
DeleteI like the Beatles but not in a play them often kind of way. They weren't really the thing when/where I grew up. I think I'm close to you in age, but for me it was the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen. Still, I had the White Album on cassette tapes, and I knew their oldest music too. I know it enough to be able to sing along to almost all of their songs, so maybe I liked it more than I remember. My favorite song is I Am The Walrus lol, not for sentimental reasons but because it's fun to sing.
ReplyDeleteCate - I am with you - I love to sing along to I am the Walrus!
DeleteI was in the fourth when the Ed S show played. We were allowed to watch and had no idea what this was, this music. Even so young, we knew this was special. I can't recall swooning over any of them, just loved them as a whole. Sgt Pepper in Linda's basement on her LP player, oh wow.
ReplyDeleteI like Paul's current band a lot-- check out the Back to the USA concert he did after 9.11; Abe the human mountain drummer is jut awesome. Long Winding Road.
Seeing Paul is on my priority list for the next year! I love the latest stuff!
DeleteMy memories of the Beatles is the Ed Sullivan version as an adolescent living with a sister who was absolutely besotted with Paul. She was the same about Pierre Trudeau. We laughed at her mostly sad to say. I am a fan of their earlier music as I stopped paying attention when I left home and her influence I guess.
ReplyDeleteThat is so interesting - Paul and Pierre. A certain symmetry there!
DeletePAN AM FLIGHT 101 Well, I am a George (Cloud 9) gal. I think in part because Macca is too famous and Wings (which was bigger when I was a child) kind of annoyed me. Wendy, this post made me a bit verklempt, sign of a goodie.
ReplyDeleteMy best Beatles related memory is working on promoting the John & Yoko related bed-in Suite Story at Fairmont QE in Montreal.
I couldn't begin to pick a single song. But I still have the "White Album" my mother acquired not long before my birthdate. And I think Elvis Costello said it best in his Rolling Stone essay (paraphrasing): one of the the reasons the Beatles had to stop performing is that the songs weren't theirs anymore. They belong to the world.
Oh Elvis - there is a reason why I love you!!!
DeleteWMM, when you get to ON sometime, should do a jaunt down to Cleveland for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, great Beatles section. One of most poignant pieces of memorabilia I have seen there is Lennon's early NHS eyeglasses. The way they are displayed with some of his words, very moving even if not a major fan.
DeleteGreat idea GF - adding that to the list! Wonder if I have a blog friend in Cleveland? I still plan to do my "coffee with blog friends" tour!
DeleteWell, a good mag. writer friend of mine is there so can always e-troduce you. When we were there last, lucky enough to run into chef Michael Symon (Iron Chef America) - almost literally. And there is a Mexican place Momocho you would really like
Deletewww.momocho.com
Quite a surprising restaurant and foodie, market, bakery scene.
great!
DeleteMy parents were not big Beatles fans (they preferred Nat King Cole and The Platters) so I didn't grow up listening to their music, but my husband is a big fan. I do enjoy some of their songs, like "Yellow Submarine", which my kids love listening to.
ReplyDeleteMy parents came of age in the late 40s and 50s, so it was all Nat King Cole, the Lettermen, Judy Garland. I love Nat and the Platters! Yellow Submarine is pretty fun!
DeleteI am always pleased when a young person shows appreciation for the Beatles - their music shaped my youth! I saw them on the Ed Sullivan show, and that same year, went to their concert in September, 1964. I was 13. It amazes me that I am almost 63, and I can still remember the words to all of their songs. They truly changed popular music forever.
ReplyDeleteBisbee - you are one lucky person!!! What city did you see them in? Could you even hear them over the screaming?
DeleteI loved this post from you. It seems I too can remember my life through the Beatles. My mother quietly crying at the kitchen counter as we sat at the breakfast table listening to the radio announcer tell us the Beatles were done. Howard Cossell on Monday Night Football saying John was gone. Smoking in the basement, listening to The White Album. Abbey Road does it for me. The entire second side of the album is just an operatic masterpiece. Golden Slumbers slays me everytime. I love all kinds of music and artists. Say what you will, but they were four young lads who truly changed OUR world. And for the better in my opinion. "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make"
DeleteLove this! What great and moving images!
Delete