It Was Fifty Years Ago Today

I read the news today, oh boy….

…..no, actually I was watching television. That’s how I heard the news.

Today, while watching a morning news program/talk show, I found out that 2013 is the 50 year mark of the music group the Beatles. Their first album, Please Please Me, was released in March of 1963.

I was shocked and surprised when I heard this fact. I am in my early 40s. The group was formed and had broken up before I was born. I wrote a poem about how I first found out about the Beatles:

http://letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2012/12/where-were-you.html

I was eight years old when John Lennon died. His death began my search for knowledge on the Beatles. I would later learn their names: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr.

I once heard a quote that said the Beatles music in our DNA. If you are a fan of the Beatles music, I would agree with that statement. Their music has such an iconic sound. If you hear the inner chords to “I Saw Her Standing There”, or any other of their famous, chart topping songs, you immediately know what group is playing and what the song is.

For years I have wondered what it is about the Beatles music that made them the most popular band on the planet. Was it the music and lyrics of Lennon and McCartney? Was it their writing style? Was it a unique sound they created? Was it their message of peace and love? Was it the four individuals coming together to make music? Was it their unique voices in harmony? Was it their own, individual, unique talents? Was it a clever marketing campaign? Was it their use of film, in “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help”? Was it because they created the music video? (People today think of the first music video as “Video Killed the Radio Star”, by Buggles. That was the first music video played on MTV. Actually, the very first music videos were made as short films to accompany songs. The first band to ever do this was the Beatles.) Whatever it was that set them apart, made them different, it changed the music industry, film, the world forever.

A friend of mine recently had the extreme good fortune of seeing Sir Paul McCartney live on his latest tour. I would have loved to have seen him. I do not have a “bucket list” (a list of things I want to do before I die); however, if I did have such a list, seeing McCartney live would be on it. The closest I have come to any of the Beatles was on the Everyone Matters website. Everyone Matters is a campaign to promote tolerance and acceptance of others. They have many celebrities that act as spokespeople for the cause. One of the celebrities is Sir Paul McCartney. In October of last year, Everyone Matters featured me and my work. There was a story about me on Facebook, which was also shown on the Everyone Matters page. So for a day, I was on the same website as Sir Paul McCartney. I remember calling my mother, shouting, “I’m on the same web page as a BEATLE!”

http://everyonematters2012.com/

If you asked me to make a list of my top ten favorite Beatles songs, that would be difficult. I have way more than ten favorites. I will say that my favorite song, of all time, of any group or singer, is “Yesterday.” My favorite album, of any group or artist, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” If I hear another person singing a Beatles song, I cringe. Their music is sacred. It can be celebrated but never duplicated.

Their music has been used in movies, referenced in movies and pop culture; movies have been created about the Beatles, and their music. There is even a Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas, called LOVE, which is a Beatles music experience. The characters of their songs are represented by actors on the stage. (Seeing that show would be on a list of things
I would love to do before I die as well.)

If you were to ask me if the Beatles music is in my DNA, I am not sure of my answer. I was not alive when the band was formed, or when they broke up. I do not know every song they have ever done; I do not know all the words. I do not know all the trivia about the Beatles, or about the men in the group. That being said, I am definitely a fan of their music.
I know many of their songs, many of the words. I have a poster in my home that shows every Beatles album cover, with every song listed.

The Beatles were and are a global phenomenon. In the days before the internet, before social media, before YouTube, their music reached around the world, across barriers of cultures and languages. To this day their music is part of a global lexicon. Their music transcends time and space. In recent history, four mini planets, were found in space. They were named John, Paul, George Ringo. Their music literally resounds across the universe.

If you are a Beatles fan, you will notice some of their lyrics in this blog entry. Some were intentional, some were not.
I will leave you with some videos of Beatles music, some of my favorite Beatles songs.