Why We Love The Beatles (v2) 24 of 100

Thursday, November 09, 2017

Why We Love The Beatles (v2) 24 of 100

Different. From Liverpool. Normally your only route to success was correct accent and right background. No obvious leader. Usual model was Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Cliff and The Shadows etc. Singer Songwriter. You sang or you wrote: they’re different skills, right? Lead rather than follow. I know you love our current stuff, but you’ll like our new stuff even more. Clothes, album covers, views on Life (Er..don’t even mention who The Beatles might be bigger than…).Different, different. The people were ready for it: ‘take me to new places’ of the 1960s. The Beatles were the catalyst.
And singer-songwriters? Sir Paul has always argued that it was of necessity. To paraphrase: “we simply needed more material for our gigs and to be different to the other bands”. Obvious, really. Of course you need to have the talent to do that. And fortunately fate, destiny, God, synchronicity had brought together two minds who could get a great song out of a spec of dust on John’s aunt’s floor. Or certainly a tombstone in a grave yard: Eleanor Rigby. Such a beautiful song. Listen to it afresh: take a brief stroll. Clear the mind. Come back and listen to it with new mind. Wow! A whole novel in a few minutes. The heroine ‘keeps her face in a jar by the door’.. Ringo’s lovely phrase: ‘darning his socks in the night’. A mini novel which allowed The Beatles to capture much of society at the time but elegantly and pragmatically. Powerful images – perhaps better than any pop video – ‘wiping the dirt as he walks from the grave’. And of course Martin’s sombre arrangement. And who was Eleanor? We’ll probably never know....The Beatles knew how to always leave you wanting more.