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| Original photograph by Pete Yeung, used with permission under CC license The above image has been modified by this writer in Photoshop |
Reminiscing about the Beatles
on the anniversary of the Beatles 1st trip to America in 1964
(a version of these memories was published today in the Monitor)
The Beatles arrived in America in 1964 as fellow
mates, brothers from overseas, all of us goofy and naive teenagers, rebounding
from the oppressive angst of the 1950s to swoon over carefree refrains like I Want to Hold Your Hand.
Over time, however, like many baby boomers, the Beatles matured into innovative, multifaceted adults who explored new ideas, became political
active against the Vietnam war, exposed social and gender injustice, brought
sex and drugs out of the closet, and, at their best, became spiritual visionaries
imagining a brighter future for all of us:
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one.
Indeed, what Aaron Copland once said is certainly
true: “When people ask to re-create the
mood of the ‘60s, they will play Beatles music”
––––––––––––––
Yeah, I
was on of those callow, pimple-faced kids in 1964, a stranger in a strange
land, a freshman at Columbia in the middle of New York City, moaning my
recently slain young president along with his vision of Camelot, grinding away
in my dorm room cramming to catch up on all the classics my prep-school cohorts
had long ago read when, one day, I had to come up for air and took a walk
downtown toward Times Square when I heard this singular tune for the first time,
the refrain from I Want to Hold Your Hand,
wafting out onto the street from all the little record store doors along the
way.
Somehow this sweet melody salved my soul like the
first warm breeze of spring. I just knew in my heart it was the beginning of
something good.
XXX
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