The Beatles and their music were an enormous part of my teenage years.
You usually chose between The Rolling Stones or The Beatles as to who were your favourite music icons. For me, it was always The Beatles, unfortunately I didn’t succeed in seeing them live but I did marry a Liverpool man who went to art school with John Lennon and who used to listen to the group play in the Cavern Club in Liverpool long before they became famous – so that was quite something to talk about!
They were amazing pioneers of sound, John, Paul, George and Ringo, four working class lads from Liverpool who were music rebels. They ignored the old way of recording music and together with producer George Martin, they opened up new horizons, again and again, experimental, avant-garde, rock, jazz, pop. They had a special sound using new techniques. Their albums were innovative to not only the sound but the incredible album cover designs. They were real works of art and they displayed the songs’ lyrics too.
The 1960s youth culture was born, a sort of protest against the adult world. I remember the feeling well, a change of lifestyle and freedom to experiment with art, fashion, morality, female liberation – The Beatles were a catalyst for all of that.
Lennon and McCartney were amazing songwriters creating music that lasts. They were very brave in reinventing themselves and creating the first rock videos, you didn’t know what to expect from them next. They promoted love and peace, their messages are still important today, in fact they loved what they were doing.
Hearing Beyoncé recently releasing a version of McCartney’s song Blackbird , made me think about the Beatles and their huge influence on our lives in the 60s. McCartney says that the song Blackbird is not about a bird but is a symbol of black women and the civil rights movement in the USA at that time. He had heard about the problems in Little Rock, Arkansas where 9 black students were faced with segregation, the 9 students finally helped to desegregate schools. Paul McCartney says he is delighted that Beyoncé and her female singing friends have decided to perform Blackbird . He says it reinforces the civil rights message.
Dreaming with musicMcCartney admits that Blackbird is one of his favourite Beatles’ songs – but how difficult it is to choose a favourite, almost impossible. Julia is one of my favourites as it is my name and also that of John Lennon’s mother. McCartney thinks that Here, There and Everywhere is such a complete song that he likes very much. I remember their first single being released over 60 years ago, Love Me Do , we knew the words by heart of all their songs as we played them so often!
“Take these broken wings and learn to fly” McCartney wrote in Blackbird , the Beatles’ music certainly gave and gives us many opportunities dream and fly !
