Key West Music And Happenings: The Beatles

The Beatles

Now and then people would ask me "What Beatles songs do you play?" My answer was always the same: "None". Their reply was was almost always "What? You don't like the Beatles?"

Actually, it was quite the opposite. I grew up with the Beatles, so I saw them from several different perspectives. Let me say right off the cuff: The Beatles were my favorite band. For someone that came into the world after they broke up, The Beatles were a band of amazing personalities, musicians, and songwriters, with an outstandingly superb and amazing catalog.

For someone that experienced them when they were active, what we witnessed with the arrival of every new album they put out, was music being revolutionized with every release. 

Today, anyone can go to any particular Beatles album and play it. However, if we look at say Sgt. Pepper, for instance, when that was released, it blew everybody right out of their chairs! No one had any clue whatsoever of what hit them the day it came out. It hit everyone like a ton of bricks! Mind you, they were very, very good bricks. It blew Jimi Hendrix away so much that he played the song Sgt. Pepper three days after it was released, at a live gig!

However, this was what it was like with every album they released. Every release set a new standard on every level, composition of the music itself, the lyrics that were applied to the music they already had written (Paul McCartney stated that there was only one song he ever wrote with the lyrics being written first), the arrangement of the song, and finally the production itself. When you heard the final product, you'd be in a state of awe and your reaction was "Wow!!! Where did this come from?"

Over the years I'd hear different artists covering Beatles songs. I'm talking top name, superb artists, such as Elton John, David Bowie, Aerosmith, Bono, the list goes on forever and you know what? Not one came within 100,000 miles of the impact The Beatles had. It was like these guys were playing stickball on the back city streets of Philadelphia and comparing to the World Series, or comparing a cap gun to an M1A1 Abrams tank, the moon launch to a bottle rocket. In short, as good as these artists are, there was no intact at all. They were shaking up a bottle of Coke and having it spray foam all over, whereas The Beatles were the Mt. Vesuvius eruption.

My view was "Why are you wasting your time even trying this?"

As for myself, naturally, there'd be no way I'd attempt to walk on such sacred ground. Consequently, when I started playing guitar ... several years after they broke up, I stayed away from playing any Beatles songs. This was out of much more than respect, it was a deep ingrained reverence.

When those who asked me to play Beatles songs and I explained why I didn't, no one ever questioned it when I explained it. They nodded and felt the weight, the gravity itself, the true admiration and the meaning of my reasoning. When I explained it to those who lived through The Beatles, it was plain the impact it had on them, for they had lived and experienced that incredible time, album, by album, by album.

So, here I was the other day, It's almost 2022 and coming up on 52 years since The Beatles broke up. John Lennon has been gone for 41 years and George Harrison is gone 20 years.

I thought "It's time". A seventeen year old kid will never feel the impact that The Beatles had, revolutionizing the art of music with every album, or the sheer excitement of living through it. However, the music, the arrangements, the lyrics, and George Martin's production still sets a standard which has yet to be eclipsed. 

Yeah, it's time for me to play a Beatles song. Their music must live on and I contribute what I can. Now, what song should I do? 

I casually listened to several songs. All were great. What Beatles song wasn't? I heard a bunch that would go over well in a bar, which is predominantly where I play. However, I started thinking that I want a song that has the potential of hitting the audience in the heart, as best I could. I didn't want to play a song that people would dance to, enjoy it for the moment, then after it's over forget it ever existed, living in the moment, and be a faded memory three bars into the next cover song. I wanted a song that had meaning and depth, which would embrace the soul of the listener, providing that I could at least deliver it with the conviction and honor the song deserved.

Then, in passing, I heard it. To my knowledge, this was the last song The Beatles released as a single. In my mind it was about The Beatles and was their good-by song.

I played it for the first time out on Sunday at Two Friends Patio Restaurant. I had gone over it two times at home. As I always saw this as their farewell song and I'd be lying if I said it didn't effect me. I choked up a couple of times. It wasn't easy, but I got through it.

I played it again today, at Two Friends. 

I'm armed with a new broomstick and a brand new bright yellow tennis ball and I have visions of hitting a homer through Mrs. McGillicuddy's third floor window... but I'll be happy with a single.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG HELPFUL, PLEASE HELP SUPPORT IT BY BUYING ANY OF MY MUSIC, OR BOOKS BELOW! Thank you!!!!

Downloads run only $2.97 - $7.99 😲😲😲

THANK YOU!!!!!

"Time Traveler - The Oddities and Adventures of a Key West Bartender". The first of the series!

Follow Mark Straight's continuing journey and friendships from current Key West, back to historical Key West and elsewhere!

Order paperback or download here! Paperback comes with a free download!

30 + Five-Star ratings!

https://www.amazon.com/Time-Traveler-Oddities-Adventures-Bartender/dp/154977770X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510587586&sr=1-3&keywords=time+traveler&dpID=51-oZioDBAL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

Also! My latest music release, "Trimaran" is now available through Amazon at only:

$2.97

for the download!

https://www.amazon.com/Trimaran-Key-West-Chris-Rehm/dp/B093CPZ2CH

"Time Traveler II - The Further Adventures of a Time Traveling Key West Bartender"

This book picks up where "Time Traveler The Oddities and Adventures of a Key West Bartender" leaves off!

Available at Amazon!

https://www.amazon.com/Time-Traveler-Adventures-Traveling-Bartender/dp/B08VLZ3PBN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1LYBSXDY1L1HS&dchild=1&keywords=time+traveler+ii+book&qid=1617467025&sprefix=Time+Traveler+II+%2Cstripbooks%2C179&sr=8-1

"BAR STORIES - A semi-fictional adventure-tour as witnessed from a bar stool"

Individual stories of things I've seen in bars over the years which are noteworthy... and in most cases, humorous! Read about The Jack Daniels Floor Cocktail, or Bar Cherry, or Kamikaze, The Cox That Rocks, Only In Key West... the list goes on!

Time Traveler III Excursion! The latest in the series! Fun to read as either a first time reader to the series, or a seasoned reader of the series!