Meets The Beatles

I listen to a lot of podcasts: with working part time at the laundry and living a twenty-five minute walk away from campus, I get through a bunch of them in a week.

Last week I was listening to an episode of WNYC's Soundcheck, where the topic was: Who was the better Beatle, John or Paul? (A lot of the callers voted for Ringo). After it was over, I listened to the Beatles for the rest of my shift. I was surprised at how many memories came to me as I listened.

The songs are part of our culture--a lot of them I first heard from places other than the Beatles themselves. My uncle taught me "I'll Follow the Sun" so I could sing it with him as he played it on his guitar, and the first time I heard "Eleanor Rigby" was when I played the cello in Olympus Junior High's orchestra. The director chose it for our springtime "Concert in the Park," which we would play on the school's lawn under big trees. We had been rehearsing it for a few days already when Mr. Nelson brought in a recording. It was so haunting. I quoted lines from it to my mom in the car that afternoon. The "face" "in a jar by the door" especially got to me.

"Can't Buy Me Love" was on my early-morning playlist during my first semester of college. I had a 7:00 Spanish class every morning, and I would set my iPod's alarm and fall asleep with the earphones on so that I wouldn't wake up my roommate. It was dark when I would walk to campus in the morning, and I was groggy--and I wanted upbeat songs to get me going. "Can't Buy Me Love" got stuck in my head one weekend. I remember singing it as my two good friends from that semester and I walked up the hill between the dorms and campus one weekend night. "I don't care too much for money. Money can't buy me love."

I remember, when I was little, walking through the halls of Holladay Elementary school meditating on what "A hard day's night" meant, and my friend Caroline had a sweatshirt that said "Strawberry Fields Forever," with the "strawberry" replaced with a little pink drawing.

I went to Concordia Language Villages while I was in high school for a four week session in their French immersion program. They have lots of other languages, including English. One day during the session, all of the language villages get together. One of the activities was a peace ceremony. The English language village--full of rich European and Asian kids--sang "Let It Be" as part of the ceremony. They had a hand-written poster with the words, and someone played the guitar.

During the Fête de la musique in France, Jennifer and I wandered around Duclair to hear the different bands set up. Outside the cafe styled in '50s Americana, a classic rock band was playing "I've Got a Feeling" with their speakers turned up loud and glasses of beer sitting near them. The whole town was out.

For a long time I thought "Hey Jude" was talking about Jews. I had seen pictures of the yellow Star of Davids that German Jews wore under Hitler's regime, and they had "Jude" written on them. I didn't know "Jude" really was a name. Besides, in German it would be pronounced 'youdeh'. I also thought "Blackbird" was a song for racial equality--is that one true?

I think my favorite Beatles song, though, is "Rocky Raccoon." I like how it's calm with a good level of twang. But I love the story, and I love the way it rhymes.