Tuesday, June 30, 2015

The Beatles

 My Mother loved music.  We often hear show tunes or easy listening music, while we had supper.  She especially loved "Camelot" and wrote a letter to Richard Burton thanking him for the music.  He wrote her back.  In February 1964, I was 10 years old.  My Mother told me that there was going to be some musicians on "The Ed Sullivan Show" Sunday night, and I should watch it.  It was some guys called The Beatles.  She had heard their music on the radio and thought I would like it.
 I sat down in front of the TV, and when they came on that show, I was zapped through the screen.  I fell in love with the four mop tops from Liverpool.  My Mother bought every album of theirs for me through the years, until I could afford to buy them on my own.  Around that time, I wrote a song called "People".  I put music to it.  Strangely, a group called Herman's Hermits came out with a song 3 months later called "Listen People".  The tune was very close, as were some of the words.  I wish I had known about suing back then. 
 Two guys at my church went with me to a Sunday School outing on Lake Murray at our teacher's house.  His name was Mr. Cloyd, and he had a thumb that didn't have a bone in it, and kind of laid limp.  It was kind of gross, but he was a nice guy.  Dick Edwards, Jimmy Coleman, and I formed a band called "Dickie, Dirty, and Jimmie".  We sang Beatle songs all the way back from the lake.  We never performed live, although there was so talk about doing roller rinks. 
 That night in 1964, in front of the TV, started a life-long love for popular music, especially The Beatles.  When my Mother died in 2004, I put a small Paul McCartney button in her casket as a token of thanks for her introducing me to that music.  I guess in 10,000 years from now, some guy will find the button and make millions of dollars from it.  All the best to him.

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