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, that person has to like 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, 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 and quite stupid position to take.

When people say they don’t like the Beatles or they don’t think the Beatles contributed to popular music or made great music, I feel it is analogous to people saying they don’t believe in God. When I’ve read interviews where popular musicians or songwriters say they don’t owe anything to the Beatles, or they don’t think the Beatles were that meaningful, it is similar to someone saying God did not create us, did not create this world and give us talents. It is not giving proper credit. It is a very conceited and hubristic position in either case, whether to deny that there is a greater power than us (and I also take issue with the fact 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, than God, when it is merely the easy way out) or to deny that the Beatles had any influence on popular music. 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 entirely folly to suggest that this all happened by accident. (I don’t dispute the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe, it may or may not be true, but if it happened that way, it was planned, and 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, and to grow in science and 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 used to be George, because I always like the person who seems 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. As I’ve already noted, lack of humility corresponds to those who deny the Beatles’ influence and gifted talent and of course to those who deny God. So I always love people who are talented but humble, and George certainly is. And I love “Long, Long, Long” as a melodic prayer and “Piggies” as a tuneful and clever indictment, and I absolutely am entranced with “Love You To.” However, once I started hearing people say John was the true genius of the Beatles and not Paul, Paul became my favorite because I 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 just because John was murdered, and entertainers become more mythical and legendary at death? Now, if Paul had died (for real, of course, not in the rumors back in the day) and John was then seen as the lesser of the two in terms of songwriting, John would be my favorite. That’s how my logic goes. But 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. Still, I value them both highly and equally.

In terms of actual songs, I like slightly more Beatles songs that were written by John -- “Baby, You’re a Rich Man,” “Run for Your Life,” “Ticket to Ride,” “Tomorrow Never Knows,” “Think for Yourself,” “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” -- than by Paul. I’ve certainly never been a fan of “Yesterday” -- though I can recognize its simple brilliance, it just doesn’t appeal to me. But Paul wrote some of the most beautiful and touching 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 even writing songs together, though when they did, it was pure magic (the early songs, of course and of the later works – “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.

My favorite Beatles song is “A Day in the Life” but I used to 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 made me love it was the middle eight section of “Aaah” after Paul’s “Woke up” sequence. I don’t know if that “Aaah” section is all Paul or George Martin or all 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.

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. We are all very lucky for the Beatles. The Beatles saved my life, and I know I’m not alone.