Back then fans said “Beatles 4ever,” and they have proven to be eternal. nnIn 1964. when The Beatles first led the pop-rock music British Invasion of America, there were observers, commentators and crusty old farts who predicted that the beat group out of Liverpool would be little more than a passing fancy. At this juncture it’s safe to say that they were dead wrong.
Last year we were treated to the final new song from the full Fab Four, “Now and Then.” And for the first time with a Beatles song, its songwriting credits are John. Paul, George and Ringo (on the final version), as maybe they should have done all along. The track started with a Lennon piano/voice cassette recording made in 1977 during his years as a house husband and loving father to his son Sean at his and Yoko’s Dakota apartment. It is the last possible recording to feature all four Fabs, as detailed in a 12-minute minute mini-doc, “Now And Then — The Last Beatles Song,” streaming on YouTube and other channels.
Released as a two-song “single” – few even issue 45rpm seven-inch vinyl records? – with the band’s first single, “Love Me Do” (remastered) on the “flipside, The word from the Beatles camp is that the release “bookends” their career.
Let’s not cue up the resonant orchestral chord at the end of their song “The End.” Yes, the new song is the final note on their recording career. But by now The Beatles are eternal.
As they deserve to be. The group started out as a totally smoking and tight-as-a-knot four-piece rock combo – as good as any that ever hit the stage, thanks to the seasoning they got playing long nights in Hamburg in their early years. John Lennon and Paul McCartney quickly developed into masterful pop-rock songwriters and then evolved into splendid composers and writers of songs. And George Harrison and Ringo Starr became better and more creative as musicians and also songwriters while producer George Martin expanded his studio and recording skills alongside the band’s stunning progressions.
What they accomplished in a mere seven-and-change years as a recording act over 13 studio albums – averaging two albums a year; virtually no one does that anymore – is a musical legacy pretty much without compare within the 1950s and after rock era. Although I am loathe to use the words “best” or “greatest” when talking about music – my mantra is that music is qualitative not quantitative – I would have to say that The Beatles catalog is just about the finest by any rock band.
Which is one big reason why The Beatles remain popular today. To wit, “Now And Then” hit #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 (then did drop to #76 the next week) and #1 in England, and was something of a media sensation.
Last year also saw the publication of “Living the Beatles Legend: On the Road With the Fab Four: The Mal Evans Story,” taken from the diaries of the band’s driver and dogsbody.
The allure of The Beatles isn’t just limited to boomers like me, who saw them debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and had the trajectory of my life blast off towards becoming involved in rock music. I have come to know on Facebook a young woman here in Austin, Texas, who’s some 30 years younger than I am and chose the Beatles as her field of academic study, and earned a Ph.D. in The Beatles from Liverpool Hope University.
Successive generations continue to he wooed and wowed by the Fab Four just as I was six decades ago, and it shows no signs of fading away. Beatles 4ever? You bet!
TV Show: “Archie” – This dramatic look at the life of Cary Grant, based around a memoir by his wife Dyan Cannon, is an entertaining and insightful tale that shows well how stardom and success can’t alone heal the traumas of a horrid childhood.
TV Series: “My Life as a Rolling Stone” – In four segments focusing on Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and the late Charlie Watts, the curtain is pulled back to show their real lives and how music became their lives within the legendary group whose legacy most rivals The Beatles, and how the band overcame fractures in the ‘80s that could have ended it to now thrive as vital elder statesmen of rock’n’roll.
Rob Patterson is a music and entertainment writer in Austin, Texas. Email orca@prismnet.com.
From The Progressive Populist, February 1, 2024
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