The Beatles

Topics/tags: Autobiographical [1]

I was intending to post a rant today. I even wrote a fairly substantial draft. But yesterday, as I was posting musing #909, my muse informed me that the one after that would have to be about the Beatles. Why? I’ll leave that for you to figure out [2]. But what can one write about the Beatles that hasn’t already been said? And what can I write, as someone who likes the Beatles, but does not have deep musical knowledge [3]? Sometimes my muse pushes me in strange directions. I guess what seems best to me is to just post some vignettes of my memories of experiences related to the Beatles.

My earliest memory of the Beatles is being at one of my best friends’ house in 1970 and hearing that the Beatles had broken up. The scary part is that I can’t remember his name. I think it was Eric. I do know that his house was across the street and down the road from Lynn’s, although she didn’t live there in 1970.

My next memory is inheriting a bunch of Beatles records that one of my mom’s students was getting rid of. Capitol rainbow label, if I remember correctly. I’m pretty sure that I still have all of them, too. I also remember playing all of them on my old KLH stereo [4]. I think I have that, too. It’s probably in Jonathan’s room.

I remember sitting in a room in summer camp, I think in the church across from Underwood [5], and talking to friends about how one could put together a replacement for the Beatles, given that it was pretty clear that they were not getting back together.

Skip forward a few years. I remember playing Wings Over America, Band on the Run, and and Venus and Mars on my record player. I can still visualize where in my room it was, on the stereo cabinet, underneath the wall shelves we’d gotten from my grandfather. I wish we’d been able to take the shelves from that room when mom sold the house, but the realtor said that since the shelves were installed on the wall, they had to stay. I’m sure that the buyers just tore them down and threw them away. I’m sure they did the same with the amazing wall unit that my father built, too. At least I have memories.

I remember buying the Who’s Meaty, Beaty, Big, and Bouncy and deciding that even though it was a greatest hits album, it wasn’t as good as any single Beatles album. I’m not sure that I still have that opinion. Both The Who Sell Out and Who’s Next are definitely among my favorite albums.

I recall enjoying stupid collectors editions of the albums; the red album on red vinyl, the blue album on blue vinyl, the white album on white vinyl. I wonder if I still have those.

I remember sitting in the Village [6] in my junior year of high school and hearing that John Lennon had been shot. Everyone was in shock.

One of the side effects of that was that I didn’t really feel able to enjoy the Beatles for the next five years or so. It’s not because it made me sad. Rather, it’s that the amount of Beatles music that was played that month put me in overload.

Skip forward a few more years, and I recall singing I saw him standing there to William when he was just born [7]. I sang it to him in the room with Michelle. I also sang it to him in the apartment in Waterville.

I think that’s enough for now. I hope my muse is satisfied [8]. I also hope she’ll rethink her choices the next time she decides to force me to impose random memories on you and myself [9]. At least she got to make her joke, and there would not be an opportunity to do so.

[1] No, I’m not one of the Beatles.

[2] I assume David Feldman knows.

[3] Or writing chops, for that matter.

[4] Were KLH stereos ever good? I’m not sure. I still enjoyed it.

[5] Underwood elementary school, not Underwood Deviled Ham.

[6] The Village was a school-within-a-school in my too-large high school. For some reason, I recall that Summerhill principles were at play, but I could be wrong.

[7] Sorry William; I hope that my singing voice didn’t scar you.

[8] She seems to be.

[9] I’m not sure.

Version 1.0 of 2019-10-05.