The Beatles
The Beatles
The best music group of all time, and my absolute favorite,
is The Beatles, but when asked what my favorite group is, I say it’s Led
Zeppelin because I think it is a given that The Beatles would be a person’s
favorite music group, or at least one of the tops.
If someone is a human and can appreciate music, chances are
that person likewise appreciates The Beatles.
The Beatles crafted perfect songs.
Perfect. Perfect melody. Perfect lyrics. Perfect harmonies. How could anyone not love The Beatles? How could The Beatles not be anyone’s
favorite band, or at least one of the favorites? Therefore, as it is expected that The Beatles
are and should be everyone’s favorite band (or near the top), I don’t name them
my favorite. A favorite band should
differentiate yourself from others.
The Beatles are so essential to popular music that asking
someone if they like The Beatles is like asking if they like music. Not everyone may like Led Zeppelin (and, to
my great sadness, many people don’t), but you would be hard-pressed to find someone
who doesn’t like The Beatles.
And I really would question the human-ness of someone who
doesn’t like The Beatles. I don’t think
it’s possible to not like them, unless you consciously try to not like them so
as to not be like everyone else, to try to assert your independence, but this
is a foolish position to take, as you are only depriving yourself of wonderful
music. Or perhaps you haven’t heard
their whole catalogue of music – what breadth and depth is then awaiting you!
When people say they don’t think The Beatles contributed to
popular music, I feel it is analogous to people saying they don’t believe in
God. I mean this in a logical way, not a
blasphemous way. When I’ve read interviews where popular musicians or
songwriters say they don’t think The Beatles had much effect on music, it is
similar to someone saying there is no God, that God did not create us, did not
create this world, did not give us talents to develop.
This amounts to not giving proper credit (though I know that
many people’s hurtful experiences would cause them to certainly give up on God
and doubt that there is a God at all, and that is completely understandable – a
good heart is more important than a belief in God - but I just think it’s
logical to believe in God, even if you don’t want to – I myself had to reluctantly
admit that God exists).
While I can understand why many don’t believe in God due to
being hurt and let down, and again, I have been there myself (or not
necessarily not believing in God, but hating God), when one doesn’t believe in
God because of one’s own ego, then it is a conceited and hubristic position,
similar to a musician/songwriter saying The Beatles had no effect on music.
An ego-related denial, whether to deny that there is a
greater power than us, or to deny that The Beatles had any influence on popular
music, is the issue I have.
(I also find it interesting that some people will not say
they believe in God but they will say they believe in a higher power, as if it
is somehow safer, not as much of a commitment, or supposedly less primitive, to
think of a higher power rather than divinity, but I do appreciate the belief in
a higher power rather than no belief.
Although, when it comes down to it, belief in a higher power
or not doesn’t matter at all if you don’t try to love others and treat people
kindly, and you don’t need to believe in God or any higher power to treat
others well. Some of the kindest people
I’ve met are atheists. Kindness is more
important than anything else, in all truth; nothing else matters if you’re not
kind, and kindness doesn’t require a belief in any God or higher power – but
that’s a conversation for another time).
Anyone who has made popular music after The Beatles first appeared
on the world stage has been affected and influenced by their music. Their influence was too pervading to be
denied. You cannot logically argue that
any popular music since 1964 has not been somehow affected by The Beatles.
Likewise, anyone who can recognize the miracle of the human
body and mind and how they work, how life grows on this Earth, how planets
revolve around stars, how there are billions of stars and how perfectly our
planet was calibrated to be conducive to human life must acknowledge that some
sort of a creator, a being greater than us, produced this. It is illogical to suggest that this all
happened by accident.
I believe in the Big Bang theory of the origin of the
universe, until we find out more information otherwise, and I believe in
evolution, again until we find out more information otherwise, but these
beliefs don’t take away from the creation story in The Bible (allegories are scripture, as we still learn from their
lessons – scripture does not always need to be historical, though of course it
often is. And I do not think the actual scientific creation of the universe
could have been told to, and understood by, the ancient Israelites, when we
today are still trying to figure out the origins of the universe).
In fact I think it is our duty as humans to try to find out
as much as we can about our planet, our galaxy, the universe, life forms on
this earth, prehistoric and current, life on other planets, etc. We should grow
in all areas of learning, especially in science, and try to understand our
world and our bodies and our origins.
The art of questioning does not negate the idea of a divine designer but
actually corroborates it, for God gave us brains. We should use them.
The beauty of science only reinforces that this universe was
planned. It is up to us to find out how
that was done.
As far as the members of The Beatles, my favorite was always
George, because I always prefer the person who seems to be the most humble of
any band. Humility is my favorite
quality in a person because humility recognizes that talents are a gift and
something to be grateful for, something you have developed, yes, but
nevertheless something you were given. And
humility is coupled with true confidence.
As I’ve already noted, lack of humility often corresponds to
those who deny The Beatles’ influence and gifted talent and to those who deny
God. So I always love people who are
talented but humble, and George certainly is.
And I often gravitate towards the underdog.
More importantly, some of my all-time favorite songs are
George songs. I adore “Long, Long, Long”
as a melodic prayer and “Piggies” as a tuneful and clever indictment, and the
lyrics and melody of “If I Needed Someone” are powerful, lovely, and
relatable. I am fascinated by “Think for
Yourself” – I could listen to that song forever and never get enough of it –
love it.
And one of my all-time favorite songs is “I Want to Tell
You.” Songs do not get much better than that. Or, again, more relatable. And I absolutely am entranced with “Love You
To.” Love, love, love it! These songs
are some of the most perfect songs ever written and performed. George truly was
an amazing songwriter.
Not to mention, John and Paul had each other to write with
and against, and their partnership and competition led to an infinitely higher
quality of songwriting, even in their later, essentially solo Beatles work,
than they could make on their own without the benefit of the unique
Lennon/McCartney partnership/competition.
Yet George wrote on his own for the most part.
However, once I started hearing people say John was the true
genius of The Beatles and not Paul, Paul became my favorite because I then saw
him as the underdog. How could anyone
deny Paul’s songwriting genius? Because
his melodies are so accessible people think they can denigrate him? Or is it because John was heartbreakingly murdered,
and entertainers become more mythical and legendary at death?
Now, if Paul had died (for real, of course, not in the “Paul
is dead” rumors back in the day) and John was then seen as the lesser of the
two in terms of songwriting, John might have been my favorite. That’s how my
logic goes (ironic because two seconds ago I’m praising logic).
But to be honest, I’m still not sure if John would be my
favorite in that case. I think it would
still be Paul, partly because Paul just seems so decent and kind (and John
could be quite cruel with his words). I
value kindness above all else. And Paul,
from all appearances, is truly a kind, stand-up, decent guy. Sir Paul is an international treasure and I
wish that he could live forever. I can’t
imagine a world without Paul McCartney in it!
Although his music will live on, there is something very
comforting and refreshing in knowing that someone who is so immensely talented,
so impossibly famous, so absolutely influential, is still a kind and decent
fellow.
Also, it must be noted that when I first heard Paul’s “Uncle
Albert/Admiral Halsey” I thought it was a Beatles song I’d somehow missed. None of John’s solo songs ever sounded like
Beatles songs to me. This shows the huge
contribution Paul made to the Beatles, and his effect on improving John’s
songwriting, for, without Paul to push him on or to compete with him, John grew
(I think) somewhat lazy in his solo work (and likewise, Paul’s solo work cannot
match his Beatles work). Still, I value the
musical and lyrical talent of both John and Paul highly and equally.
In terms of actual songs, the songs that are primarily
written by John that are my favorite are: “Baby, You’re a Rich Man,” “Run for Your
Life,” “Ticket to Ride,” “Tomorrow Never Knows,” “Norwegian Wood,” “Hide Your
Love Away,” “I’m Only Sleeping,” “She Said She Said,” “I Want You (She’s So
Heavy),” “Bungalow Bill,” “Happiness Is a Warm Gun,” “Because” – all some of my all-time favorite
songs that I never grow tired of listening to.
My favorite songs that were primarily written by Paul don’t
include some of the obvious ones – I can’t help what songs are my favorites! I’ve
certainly never been a fan of “Yesterday” -- though I can recognize its simple
brilliance, it just doesn’t appeal to me.
Regardless, Paul wrote some of the most beautiful and
touching songs, which also happen to be some of my all-time favorite songs, like
“Eleanor Rigby” (how could such a young man write something so compassionate
and feeling without it sounding sappy?), “For No One,” and “Things We Said
Today.”
The most touching for me, though, is “She’s Leaving Home,”
for I felt like that song was written for me.
I know he wrote it based on an incident that really happened, and I am
still to this day amazed that he had such a grasp on both sides of the story,
of my own story, at such a young age.
Also, although Paul’s forte was melody (“Golden
Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End,” “I’ve Just Seen a Face”), he could write
songs in many styles. I love the three
parts of “You Never Give Me Your Money,” for instance, and the bouncy rock of
“The Night Before,” and Paul wrote by far the hardest Beatles rocker – “Helter
Skelter.”
At any rate, both John and Paul were songwriting geniuses,
and, as most people agree, their genius worked best when they were together in
The Beatles. Not just writing songs
together, though when they did, it was pure magic (in the early songs, like
“There’s a Place,” and in the later works like “Two of Us” and “I’ve Got a
Feeling,” and the likable “Cry Baby Cry” sounds even better with Paul’s
unrelated coda at the end), but having that competitive bent between each
brought out their best. Both of them
were essential to The Beatles.
Another favorite Beatles song is “A Day in the Life” but I used
to absolutely hate it. I thought it was
pretentious, trying too hard to be deep and simple at the same time with its “I
read the news today, oh boy,” etc. But the more I listened to it, the more I
loved it, and what converted me was the “Aaah” section after Paul’s “Woke up”
sequence. I don’t know if that “Aaah”
section was composed by John or Paul or George Martin or all three of them or by
all of The Beatles, but that section alone is what made me love the song and
appreciate the rest of it. The entire
production of the song owes great debt to George Martin, who was a genius at
producing and integral to The Beatles.
The same goes for the song “In My Life.” I used to be annoyed by that song, but grew
to love it due to the middle eight section with the sped-up harpsichord,
arranged by, yes, George Martin. His contributions
to Beatles’ songs cannot be stressed enough. And so humble and down-to-earth
throughout – a true gentleman. Because I
didn’t think he was getting enough credit for his genius, he became my favorite
as well.
Thus I have three Beatles favorites: George Harrison, Paul
McCartney, and George Martin. I know
that’s cheating, but I’m discussing The Beatles, after all. They broke the
rules, so I am breaking my own rules re: favorite member of a band. I love all
the members of The Beatles, everyone who helped bring their music to fruition,
but these three are my favorites.
Some people may be only a John fan or a Paul fan, but that’s
pointless. The Beatles were a group of
four individuals who came together perfectly and a producer who perfectly
brought out the best in them.
But in acknowledging the contribution of everyone connected
with The Beatles, we cannot overemphasize (though it may appear that I have, I
assure you, I have not) that the songwriting of John and Paul is the engine
which drove The Beatles, the nucleus, inseparable from what made The Beatles The
Beatles. Their songwriting is miraculous,
genius, a gift -- a gift John and Paul each had separately but could only fully
realize together, a gift they shared with us.
I am very grateful for The Beatles. The Beatles saved my life, and I know I’m not
alone.
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