If your inclination at this late date is to pooh-pooh the Beatles' influence on the music and the culture then you're beyond hope and I can't waste the energy trying to change your mind—that's a young man's game. Instead, I'll just say that if the Beatles hadn't come along, I wouldn't be a writer, or any kind of an artist, which means I wouldn't have joined the staff of the college newspaper, which I means I wouldn't have met Katie-Bar-The-Door, much less married her, which means I wouldn't have moved to Washington, D.C., which means I wouldn't have met my good friend Bellotoot, which means I wouldn't have been half the film fanatic I am today, which also means I wouldn't have met Mr. Muleboy, which means I wouldn't have started this blog.
Without the Beatles influence, I'd probably be practicing law in Nashville, married to some blonde Southern Baptist girl with three kids and two cats, and I'd be looking out a window wondering why my life seems so utterly without color or flavor.
Actually, I'd be dead because I'd have blown my brains out years ago.
But because I like the way my life has turned out, I am eternally grateful to the Beatles. So, John, Sir Paul, George and Ringo—from the bottom of the Monkey's heart, thank you.
Yeah, my favorite musical acts are U2 and Bruce Springsteen. But when I did my first movie review on my blog over 6 years ago now, a review of Across the Universe, I began with these words: "If you are not of the belief that the Beatles are the greatest and most important band in the history of rock and roll, then you are wrong."
ReplyDeleteAh, The Bee-at-ills. Since their breakup we've come to see they were flesh & blood and even mortal, but when they were together? It still boggles the mind that any band could ever have been that good and that consistently revolutionary. The sum of the Beatles was so far, far greater than its parts that the word magic fails to do them justice. Timothy Leary confidently proclaimed that The Beatles were mutants -- "prototypes of evolutionary agents sent by God" & so on. I've always thought he might have been on to something there. They were just so freaking good and so much FUN that there had to have been something cosmic at work.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize the effect of the Beatles on your life. I guess that they're okay, if that's your kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteWe probably should have spent a moment or two talking about them if they're so important, but I can't remember them ever coming up. . . .
I can't remember them ever coming up. . . .
ReplyDeleteOther than the conservatively-estimated 1000+ times, hardly ever.
Oh, sure, the Beatles, with their long hair and their "yeah, yeah, yeah!"
ReplyDeleteBarbers say that long hair over the forehead causes "Beatle acne," you know.
What if we aren't reading the blog? Never mind, happy Beatles Day!
ReplyDeleteWhat if we aren't reading the blog?
ReplyDelete7 billion people can't be wrong.