Why We Love The Beatles (v2) 40 of 100

Thank goodness The Four Talented Lads from Liverpool had some encouragers in their Life, otherwise they may not have made the world a better place for us. Initially the fans of course (before they drove The Fab Four spare and off the road into the studio); Epstein and Martin. But in addition to the encouragers, there were the facilitators: the guys who made the day-to-day stuff happen. Today’s bands, especially when they have ‘made it’ expect a whole entourage to compensate for the discomfort of being on the road. The lads though were for a long time making their way to gigs on public transport. And it was Neil Aspinall who gave them their first real breakthrough in allowing them to concentrate on what they did best: not catching a bus but playing explosive powerful music. Loud. In leather jackets. With wit and repartee. Aspinall was there from the start. He went to the same school as Paul McCartney, sharing English classes with the Beatle who eventually would prove he could generate stories and lyrics from anything (The Wings track Picasso’s Last Words was created to meet such a challenge. Write a song about this, then, Paul. He did). He met George who was trying to catch a ciggie. From July 62 after the Beatles returned from Hamburg he gave up the day job and started driving them around in his famous van. Aspinall stayed with the Beatles for the rest of their career growing his responsibilities from roadie, taking over after Epstein’s death, then the headaches of the corporate nightmare of Apple (Beatles not Steve Jobs) until as his last task he took on the enormous task of over-seeing their back catalogue, until his death. Aspinall like so many of those close to the Beatles from their original days was private and loyal to all four; it reflects the enormous bonds formed in those amazing early days.

That’s another reason we love The Beatles.

The Back-Story

Reason 1: Story-tellers; 2: Sgt. Pepper; 3: Eternally optimistic; 4: Still cool; 5: George Harrison.; 6: Love Me Do

7: Work Ethic ;8: Synchronicity; 9: The Roof-top Concert; 10: Candlestick Park; 11: Lennon & McCartney

12: I Saw Her Standing There; 13: Liverpool; 14: Black & White; 15: Album Covers; 16: John Lennon

17: Lennon & McCartney; 18: Rock 'n Roll; 19: They Never Made it Easy; 20: Ringo

21: Meditation & Massage; 22: The Back of a Commer Van; 23: George Martin.

24: Simply Different

25: A Time to Think

26: Revolver

27: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

28: The B Side