THE BEATLES CHANGED AMERICAN SOCIETY

Did you like the Beatles? I did. I loved their music, their personalities, and their “comical and irreverent” manner. Why now, out of the blue, do I say this? Because browsing through “You Tube,” I found a two-hour video of a string quartet playing the music of Abbey Road and selected songs from other Beatles albums. I’m listening to it now as I write down my thoughts. The quartet wasn’t truly a string quartet because one of the instruments was a piano, but their renditions of the Beatles many beautiful melodies was a delight to my ears. It has about 15 minutes to go before I replay it or find something similar. 

I first heard of the Beatles in 1963 while sitting in Claude Warren’s room in our fraternity house at Indiana University. Claude was a bright guy who was up on the latest trends in American society. He had heard of the Beatles somewhere and had a copy of “Please Please Me,” their first album. He played it all the time, and we Delt brothers quickly became fans. I really liked their music, but had some trouble getting used to their mop-like hair styles. But their music erased my concern about their hair. On “Please Please Me” I liked the title song plus “I Saw Her Standing There,” “Love Me Do,” P.S. I Love You,” and “Do You Want to Know a Secret?” all classics. 

That was just the beginning of a lifetime of enjoyment of the music of the two most important, most influential musical composers of the last 63 years. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were teenagers in Liverpool, England when they began writing music and forming a band to perform it. They were joined first by George Harrison, and later by Richard Starkey, who became Ringo Starr and ultimately Sir Richard Starkey. 

The Beatles are credited with being the “best selling act of all time.” Over the decades since 1963, they sold 600 Million units —albums, single records, tapes, CD’s, digital

 recordings. The money they earned has to be in the billions of dollars. Between 1962 and 1970 they released 213 songs and were responsible for, or involved with, 100 more. 

Lennon and McCartney together wrote 183 songs. Of those, John Lennon contributed heavily to 84 and Paul McCartney to 73. That statistic surprises me because since Lennon’s death in December, 1980, Paul McCartney has continued to be a prolific composer. In their “primary core catalog” of musical albums, the Beatles produced 14, which is very impressive. 

In a Wikipedia search of the Beatles, I learned that Lennon and McCartney were both intellectually gifted men. Paul McCartney has a bona fide measured IQ of 137. John Lennon, though never revealing if he ever was tested, is estimated to have an IQ of 165. Both men were very bright, and whether that played a role in their musical genius is anybody’s guess. 

While researching this post, I naturally came upon many of the more popular, well-known Beatles songs. I identified 23 that I could say are my favorites. Early on I liked “P.S. I Love You,” “Do you want to know a secret,” and “Eight Days a Week.” Then came “Something,” “Help,” “Penny Lane,” “Michelle,” and “A Little Help From My Friends.” Then comes the top tier of my favorites: “Elinor Rigby,””Norwegian Wood,” “Here Comes The Sun,” “Let It Be,” “And I Love Her,” and “Hey, Jude.” My top three are “In My Life,” “Blackbird,” and number one, “Yesterday.” The first time I heard “Yesterday” was on the radio in my fraternity house kitchen waiting for the French toast our cook was making. 

The Beatles are the best selling music act of all time. They had the most number one singles on Billboard 100 and the most number one albums on Billboard 200. They won every music award imaginable, including an Oscar for best original song, “Let It Be.” In February 1964, the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, a variety program on Sunday nights. 73 million people in 23 million households saw the Beatles American television debut. The studio audience was a hysterical mob that screamed the entire performance. America had become overwhelmed with Beatlemania.

The late 1960’s and early 1970’s was a time of experimentation and uncertainty for “the Fab Four.” Their music changed, their values changed, and their relationships changed. They were at the forefront of the counterrevolution of the ‘60’s. Psychedelic drugs, sex, and free living were their mantra, and their lifestyle changed a generation of young Americans forever. Some see that as a liberation while many others see it as becoming separated from God. Either way, the Beatles stirred an American cultural change that is still evident today. 

The Beatles were a revolution of sorts. While their music became woven into the workings of American society and was widely accepted, their “counterculture lifestyle” and values were not.  The use of psychedelics and cannabis, plus diving headfirst into Hinduism, forced a lot of Americans to reject their behaviors. For the decade of the 1980’s their lifestyle was fringe if not totally eccentric. The band broke up in either 1969 when Lennon went solo or in 1970 when McCartney left. John Lennon was murdered in December 1980 by Mark David Chapman in front of his Manhattan apartment building, the Dakota. Lennon’s legend lives on.

Every single aspect of Beatlemania changed after that. Their music lived on, Yoko Ono Lennon’s widow lived on, McCartney, George and Ringo continued composing and performing, and American culture was forever altered. The Beatles were the most influential musical group of all time. Their music will live forever because it appealed to everybody, but their life style choices were out of the mainstream for many others.

References: www.google.com/the-Beatles

wikipedia.Com/the-Beatles