Lennon, McCartney and Harrison had stunningly high standards as writers. Most of all, John and Paul were fantastic singers. Ringo Starr played the drums with an incredibly unique feel that nobody can really copy, although many fine drummers have tried and failed. Most important, they always fit right into the arrangement. They made writing your own material expected, rather than exceptional.Īnd John Lennon and Paul McCartney were exceptional songwriters McCartney was, and is, a truly virtuoso musician George Harrison wasn’t the kind of guitar player who tore off wild, unpredictable solos, but you can sing the melodies of nearly all of his breaks. They had already absorbed Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers and Chuck Berry, but they were also writing their own songs. Compared to rabid R&B evangelists like the Rolling Stones, the Beatles arrived sounding like nothing else. It wasn’t the first time anything like this had happened, but the Beatles achieved a level of fame and recognition known previously only to Charlie Chaplin, Brigitte Bardot and Elvis Presley, along with a little of the airless exclusivity of astronauts, former presidents and other heavyweight champions.Įvery record was a shock. My experience - seizing on every picture, saving money for singles and EPs, catching them on a local news show - was repeated over and over again around the world. I was exactly the right age to be hit by them full-on. The Beatles even recorded for Parlophone, which was a comedy label, as if they believed they might be a passing novelty act.
Prior to that, the people in show business from the north of England had all been comedians. The funny thing is that parents and all their friends from Liverpool were also curious and proud about this local group. I didn’t care about that they were the band for me. The photo was badly lit, and they didn’t quite have their look down Ringo had his hair slightly swept back, as if he wasn’t quite sold on the Beatles haircut yet. This was 1962 or ’63, before they came to America. I spent most of my holidays on Merseyside then, and a local girl gave me a bad publicity shot of them with their names scrawled on the back. I first heard of the Beatles when I was nine years old.
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