Beatlemania is the only word that can properly describe the wave of obsession and opposition that hit the United States in 1964. Four shaggy haired British boys: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr entered JFK airport in February, to hundreds of screaming fans, from this point on "Beatlemania" would in sue. In that same year, the Beatles would have six number one hits: I Want to Hold Your Hand, She Love You, Can't Buy Me Love, Love Me Do, A Hard Day's Night and I Feel Fine. During the week of April 4, 1964, they would set a record which has not yet been broken: occupying all five of the top positions on Billboard's Top Pop Singles chart. From their clothes, to their haircuts, to their accents, the Beatles were instantly loved and acquired a loyal fan base. But it was the Beatles's lyrics which captivated millions of teens and young adults during the decade. Lennon and McCartney were the two main lyricists in the band,although George and Ringo also wrote.
Together or separate they wrote songs that spoke to their generation. In A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles sing about the endless long days of work and the nights that are soothed by seeing a sweetheart.It's been a hard day's night, and I'd been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night, I should be sleeping like a log
But when I get home to you I find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright
You know I work all day to get you money to buy you things
In "Can't Buy Me Love", the boys sing about just that, that everyone tells them money can't buy love.
Say you don't need no diamond ring and I'll be satisfied
Tell me that you want the kind of thing that money just can't buy
I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love
In "In My Life", Lennon looks back on the life he's lived so far, the song was written as a poem after he took a bus ride through his hometown of Liverpool.
There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all
In the eerie, "Eleanor Rigby" the boys reflect on loneliness. This was inspired by a walk the boys were walking around Liverpool when they entered a graveyard and saw a headstone with the name Eleanor Rigby, but no other writing, on its own plot of land, and thus McCartney says, years later the name must have come back into his mind, as he was trying to write a song.
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
In "With a Little Help From My Friends", the boys appropriately sing about friendship and stick in a drug reference while there at it. For their loyal fans, who were entering a mindset of peace and love, nothing could be better than to celebrate friendship.
What would you think if I sang out of tune
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm going to try with a little help from my friends
"Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds", was supposedly written about an LCD trip. Lennon maintained in interviews that the song was written after his son Julian came home one day and could not stop talking about a pretty girl named Lucy, so he then wrote this song inspired by her. However, many fans believed this to be simply about and LCD trip and the Beatles publicized drug use only added to it as Lennon himself claimed to have taken LCD "hundreds of times."
Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes
"When I'm Sixty-Four" captures the worry of growing older in a more humorous way.
When I get older losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a valentine
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
If I'd been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four?
"All You Need Is Love", epitomized the hippie feeling of the sixties, the song assured that answer to everything could be found through love, through peaceful means without violence. To the protesters of war and for civil rights, love seemed to be the most peaceful answer.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy
Nothing you can make that can't be made
No one you can save that can't be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It's easy
All you need is love
"Revolution", speaks for itself and verbalizes youth frustration, to change the world, without destruction or hate. Lennon said that this song was written in response to they May 1968 uprising in France, where student protests caused the collapse of the government.
You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right
You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we can
But when you want money
for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
These are simply a few of the many hits the Beatles had in the sixties. The upbeat rhythm and inspiring lyrics spoke to fans, who idolized the Beatles and took them as a model for their own lives. While the Beatles obsession grew so did their opposition. Many adults felt the Beatle publicized and idolized drug use made them bad role models, for millions of kids who emulated their every move. In 1966, during an interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave, Lennon made the following remarks, "
Christianity will go,It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first-rock 'n' roll or Christianity." These comments angered millions of religious conservatives in the United States, especially in the South, where Beatles records wer burned in acts of protest. It seems that the King of American music, Elvis Presley, was not to fond of the Beatles either, he wrote a letter to President Richard Nixon to ban all four members from the country, for he disapproved of their anti-war stance and public drug use. He stated that for him "the Beatles had been a focal point for anti-Americanism. They had come to this country, made their money, then gone back to England where they fomented anti-American feeling." Despite the controversy surrounding them, the Beatles provided a soundtrack for millions of fans who were horrified by the Vietnam War and desensitized to their parents way of thinking. While their pop tracks, provided excitement and escape from reality, the slow ballads slowly drew fans into the struggles taking place in the world around them. The Beatles true legacy is that their fans believed they could get by with a little help from their friends and that all they needed was love.
The Beatles hold many world records in the Music Industry. To name a few titles they told, the Beatles have the most platinum selling albums for any group or artist, they have the fastest selling CD of all time, they have more number one singles than any other musical group, "I want to Hold Your Hand" was the fastest selling single of all time and "Yesterday" is the most covered song in history, with 3,000 different renditions. To top it all off the Beatles are the best selling group of all time, with an estimated one billion discs/records sold worldwide.
No comments:
Post a Comment