I must admit that there are some topics I just can’t talk to people about, one came up the other day and as much as I try to avoid the discussion, these folks decided to drag me into it, I’m pretty sure they regretted when I was done. The topic was the Beatles as a commercial for the “Get Back” video came on the TV.
Now, to put this in context, I was having lunch at a bar with a friend and some other folks who my friend knew came into the establishment. These folks were a lot younger than me and when the Beatles commercial came on, they responded with, “I don’t understand what all the fuss is over this group, they have no talent and are extremely overrated”. I heard this, put my head in my hand, counted to ten and decided to walk to the other side of the bar, shaking my head. They decided to follow me and see if they could get my goat, this was their first mistake. They actually approached me with the line, “Are you one of those type people who are offended by words, you know “words matter”. Now, those of you who served with me know, that I have no filter and it takes a lot to offend me, so I decided to give my new young friends some music appreciation. I spent the next hour giving these two a fact-based tongue lashing on the greatness of the Beatles, I have these facts memorized, so this is a slam dunk for me.
The Beatles body of work lasted around seven years. Twelve albums in seven years and not just some average albums, some of the finest rock and roll ever recorded.
Please, Please Me (1963) was recorded in one ten-hour session, that’s worth repeating, one ten-hour session, It’s 39th on the Rolling Stone top 500.
With the Beatles (1963)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
Beatles for Sale (1964)
Help (1965)
All the above albums are on the Rolling Stone Top 500 Rock & Roll Albums list.
This next timeframe is mind numbing! Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), they stand 5th, 3rd, and 1st on the list. They could have stopped right here and still been considered the greatest band of all time, but they decided to record their next album, a double, The White Album 1968, 10th on the list.
They followed this with Yellow Submarine (1969), Abbey Road (1969) 14th on the list and Let it Be (1970). Abbey Road was recorded after Let It Be but released before it.
Did I also mention that in this timeframe, they filmed three movies and released 22 singles?
The Beatles were groundbreaking when it came to recording music. Their singles are the best bit of evidence to look at.
Listen to the open guitar riff on I Want to Hold Your Hand. I Feel Fine, the buzz of feedback that opens it and the intricate guitar figure that runs throughout the verse. Paperback Writer with its distorted guitar riffs, falsetto harmonies, and subtle studio tricks. If you get tired of the A side, flip it over and listen to the simultaneously thunderous of Lennon’s Rain, perhaps the best Beatles B-side of all. Something, probably one of the greatest love songs every written, it still is one of the most re-recorded songs in music history, Come Together on the flip, one of Lennon’s greatest, listen to McCartney’s bass playing. Their finest single release Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane, trumpets, French horns, piccolo, mood changes and some of finest lyrics ever written
Now, list aren’t everything. I play the piano for stress relief. I started to study and read music and the things that the Beatles did with instruments, chord and note changes are groundbreaking. If you don’t like the Beatles, that’s fine but please don’t downplay their greatness. There is a great picture my younger brother John, who is a Beatles aficionado, has and it’s the four lads standing there with the line “Sorry for setting the bar too high”. I love this line!
I finished my conversation with my two new friends by telling them that line “words matter”, yeah, it’s a bunch of bullshit, words don’t matter especially coming from you two morons! My new friends didn’t want to be friends after that, I don’t understand why.