So it’s 7:40 a.m. on Thursday morning, and I’m up early. I didn’t get much sleep last night, because I have a lot of stuff on my mind. I’m trying to grow my blog, genxchronicle.com, and find new investors. I’m also working on a memoir and a children’s book. So there’s a lot on my plate.
My plan is to write an essay for the blog, then do some work emails, then do some tech stuff on the website, and then maybe go to the gym. But I need the right music to get me started on this day.
I’ve been wearing out hip hop lately, along with a newfound interest in Bluegrass music. Tyler Childers in particular. He’s from eastern Kentucky, and he’s the real deal.
I pull up Spotify on my Google Chromebook, and consider my options. All of a sudden it hits me. Why not listen to The Beatles? Because I was born in 1974, and The Beatles hit US shores for their American debut in 1964. So I never really experienced their heyday, and they broke up in 1970, four years before I was born.
But I have two older brothers who liked The Beatles, and they exposed me to them at a young age. I’m down with all things Beatles.
I do a search for “The Beatles” on Spotify and I’m hit with like 12 options for where to go. Then I see the album “Abbey Road” from 1969 as one of the choices and boom! I remember it’s a dope, experimental kind of album, so I’m all for it.
I pop it on and the first song that comes up is Come Together, which is an incredibly cool track about peace, love and harmony that sounds more like soul music, or funk, or American R & B, than it does like rock n’ roll.
But that’s the crazy thing about The Beatles. They were incredible, and they’re the all-time best-selling band. Their sound was electric.
But at the same time, what they really did was copy black American music, especially R&B and Blues, and package it for white listeners.
Come Together is a perfect example. It’s a funky, soul-infused song about love and harmony, and if you didn’t know better you’d think Jimi Hendrix was performing it. But it’s not Jimi, it’s The Beatles. It’s still a great song though.
The next song that comes on is Something, which is a very slow, melodic, rock tune. It’s about a man’s love for a woman, and his yearning to be with her. The song speaks to you on an emotional level, and the message really lingers. All in all, it’s just a great song.
For the next one I decide to exercise a bit of editorial control, so instead of going in order on the album I pop on is Octopus’s Garden. It’s a folksy, almost Bluegrass or Country kind of song. It churns along with an upbeat, slow and happy sound.
Octopus’s Garden is written and sung by Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, and it’s the second and last song he ever sung for The Beatles.
In later interviews after the album was released, Starr commented that he just wanted to be under the sea to escape the infighting among The Beatles, and the tension that surrounded the band. Any way you slice it though, it’s another great track.
The last song two songs I listen to, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, and Here Comes The Sun, are also all-time Beatles classics.
By now The Beatles have taken over my mind, and I’m fully engulfed in their sound. I reflect back on the first time I heard them, which was probably 1977 or ‘78. I liked them then, and I like them even more now.
The morning is moving along, and I’ve got work to do. So I end my Beatles marathon and get ready to feed my beloved adopted cat Copper.
My takeaway from this morning’s musical adventure is that, yes, The Beatles are one of the all-time greatest bands in the world. They were true innovators, and they ushered in a new era of rock ‘n roll in the US and the UK.
So thank you Beatles for enlivening my morning.
Please keep the faith Paul and Ringo. RIP George and John.
The four of you gave us magic, and for that you will never be forgotten.
