"The beautiful 'Something'" or "Called 'The Fetals"
So it's 49 years ago today that the Beatles "conquered" America. America was still recovering from the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November of '63. The arrival of John, Paul, George and Ringo was one of the first rays of sunshine that helped on the road to recovery. My dad loves to tell the story about bringing a little transistor radio to school so he could listen on the bus ride home. He never even took it out, but word got around that he had it and the nun!teacher confiscated it. At the end of the day, Dad went to get it back from the nun, but she wasn't at her desk, so he just took it. It was his, after all. He listened to the broadcast of the Beatles landing in New York on the way home, as planned. That night, his parents had a parent-teacher conference. My grandma came home, real disappointed with Dad. As it turns out, the nun was planning on giving the radio back to her that night at the parent-teacher conference.
My dad was incredibly influenced by the Beatles. He learned guitar and bass because he wanted to be like them, and he's still playing gigs to this day. He has a day job, but music is his real love.
Growing up the daughter of a musician, you get a slightly different education. While the other kids were listening to top 40 and alternative, I was listening to oldies. The first CD's I got for Christmas when I was thirteen - to go with the boom-box Santa had brought me - were Chuck Berry's Golden Hits and a compilation called Dick Clark's All-Time 21 Hits, Volume 2. I still have them. From a very young age, I knew that the song I wanted to be played at my wedding is "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King. It's still one of my all-time favourite songs. I've been known to sit in a restaurant and name the artist playing in the background while swaying to the music and saying things like "here comes the harpsichord solo!" Once, one of my friends accompanying me thought I was simultaneously drunk (not realizing that I frequently dance in my seat with or without the help of alcohol) and knew more about music than anyone else she knows. I thought she must not know a lot of musicians.
I learned how to play a vinyl record at a very young age, and not to open the sealed UK versions of Dad's Beatles collection. That's right. My dad still has unopened vinyl. I've seen the episodes of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. Not just clips of their performances. All four episodes they were on, vintage commercials and all. A young Davy Jones of the Monkees is in one of them, along with the cast of "Oliver!" performing a song from the show. I know that the most covered Beatles song is not something written by John Lennon or Paul McCartney, the group's primary composers, but the beautiful "Something," written by George Harrison. At a camp I went to with school, one of the activities was this maze. Us kids were let in one-by-one by answering a question. When the guy asked what Ringo Starr's real name is, my hand shot up. Richard Starkey. I was invited to go into the maze.
Growing up, Sundays was Breakfast with the Beatles on the way to Sunday School at the Self-Realization Fellowship - a church George Harrison himself was known to attend. Whether my brother and I wanted to listen to it or not. I thought I knew them all. When I watch the movie "Sliding Doors," John Hannah's character says, in that adorable, sexy Scottish accent of his:
Everybody's born knowing all the Beatles lyrics instinctively. They're passed into the fetus subconsciously along with all the amniotic stuff. Fact, they should be called 'The Fetals.'
I cracked up. I knew exactly what he was talking about. It's part of the reason "Sliding Doors" is one of the few romantic comedies I actually like.
So you can imagine my surprise when, while listening to the Beatles albums my dad borrowed from his co-worker, I hear songs I don't ever remember hearing before.
♥
My dad was incredibly influenced by the Beatles. He learned guitar and bass because he wanted to be like them, and he's still playing gigs to this day. He has a day job, but music is his real love.
Growing up the daughter of a musician, you get a slightly different education. While the other kids were listening to top 40 and alternative, I was listening to oldies. The first CD's I got for Christmas when I was thirteen - to go with the boom-box Santa had brought me - were Chuck Berry's Golden Hits and a compilation called Dick Clark's All-Time 21 Hits, Volume 2. I still have them. From a very young age, I knew that the song I wanted to be played at my wedding is "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King. It's still one of my all-time favourite songs. I've been known to sit in a restaurant and name the artist playing in the background while swaying to the music and saying things like "here comes the harpsichord solo!" Once, one of my friends accompanying me thought I was simultaneously drunk (not realizing that I frequently dance in my seat with or without the help of alcohol) and knew more about music than anyone else she knows. I thought she must not know a lot of musicians.
I learned how to play a vinyl record at a very young age, and not to open the sealed UK versions of Dad's Beatles collection. That's right. My dad still has unopened vinyl. I've seen the episodes of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. Not just clips of their performances. All four episodes they were on, vintage commercials and all. A young Davy Jones of the Monkees is in one of them, along with the cast of "Oliver!" performing a song from the show. I know that the most covered Beatles song is not something written by John Lennon or Paul McCartney, the group's primary composers, but the beautiful "Something," written by George Harrison. At a camp I went to with school, one of the activities was this maze. Us kids were let in one-by-one by answering a question. When the guy asked what Ringo Starr's real name is, my hand shot up. Richard Starkey. I was invited to go into the maze.
Growing up, Sundays was Breakfast with the Beatles on the way to Sunday School at the Self-Realization Fellowship - a church George Harrison himself was known to attend. Whether my brother and I wanted to listen to it or not. I thought I knew them all. When I watch the movie "Sliding Doors," John Hannah's character says, in that adorable, sexy Scottish accent of his:
Everybody's born knowing all the Beatles lyrics instinctively. They're passed into the fetus subconsciously along with all the amniotic stuff. Fact, they should be called 'The Fetals.'
I cracked up. I knew exactly what he was talking about. It's part of the reason "Sliding Doors" is one of the few romantic comedies I actually like.
So you can imagine my surprise when, while listening to the Beatles albums my dad borrowed from his co-worker, I hear songs I don't ever remember hearing before.
♥