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Thursday, June 13, 2019

A Song That was a Hit Before Your Mother was Born


If you can name the song lyrics used for the title of this blog post without the help of Google, you will earn major respect points from me!

Matthew recently discovered the Beatles and their music while perusing our little library in the office. Back in high school, the Beatles were my music obsession. I knew every lyric from every song they ever recorded as well as every published detail from their lives and careers. During this time, it was not uncommon for me to receive Beatles paraphernalia as gifts from friends and family members. As a result, I have quite the collection of biographies, discographies, coffee table books, and even children's books about the Beatles. Matthew started out reading a biography of the Beatles written specifically for children. Next, he shuffled through my extensive vinyl collection and pulled out all the Beatles records and listened to them intently. Then, he began reading through my more extensive biographies. Soon enough, I had a Beatles historian in the making walking around the house, spouting off various facts like, "John Lennon had a skiffle band when he was a teenager and then he met Paul McCartney when he was 15. Paul was a better guitar player and John didn't like that he was a better musician than him but he wanted to make the band better, so he let him join."

Matthew has declared his favorite Beatle to be Paul because he tends to like more of Paul's songs. His least favorite Beatle is George because "he looks scary in a lot of their pictures." His favorite Beatles song by far is "Ticket to Ride" and he has questioned the legitimacy of the Grammy Awards when he discovered that they did not award the Beatles Best Song of the Year for that single. When I showed him that the Beatles DID win the 1967 Song of the Year Grammy for "Michelle" and played that song for him, he balked: "Ticket to Ride is WAY better than THAT song. They're not even singing in English!" 

Maybe he will appreciate the artistic beauty of that song one day. It's one of my favorites. But then again, I could probably count over 100 of the Beatles' songs as my "favorites".


Emma and Lucy have also become quite enraptured with the Beatles' music because Matthew has been playing so much of it around the house. Emma and Lucy both love the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" just because they love to pretend that the song is about our Lucy. They request that I play it often while I'm preparing dinner so they can sing and dance.

I actually didn't realize how deep the Beatles influence was with my children until the other day when Lucy kept reminding everyone that love is the only thing necessary for life. She actually really annoyed her siblings at several points because any time anyone would request anything, she would respond with "All we need is love!"

Emma: "Mom, can I have a glass of water!"
Lucy: "We don't need water...all we need is LOVE!"

Matthew: "Mom, I'm hungry. When are we having lunch?"
Lucy: "But Matthew, we don't even need food! We just need LOVE!"

Me: "Lucy, it's time to get dressed for the day!"
Lucy: "We don't need clothes - Just Love!"

Finally, I just had to ask her where the heck she got all this love nonsense from. Not that I'm disagreeing with it, but she was so insistent. Her reply: "Oh! Mom! It's from that song! Remember?"

She then proceeded to sing, with a little dance and dramatic, widespread hand movements: "All you need is Love! Duh duh duh duh duh! All you need is Love! Love! Love is all you need!"

The Beatles influence runs deep in this family. I'm actually getting a lot of joy out of seeing my children discover and enjoy their music as much as I did as a child.

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