Feb. 7, 2014, is the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ arrival in North America. There’s been a lot written about the band lately, and I always try to write about what’s popular so I can generate revenue with additional page views. So I’d like to share my thoughts on the band.
Besides, The Beatles RULE!
Five weeks later, approximately.
According to Peter Doggett’s fantastic book on the breakup and aftermath of The Beatles, the last time the Fab 4 were in the same room was for a business meeting, around Sept. 17, 1969.
Five weeks later, exactly, I was born. So I missed Beatlemania. Actually, none of my five older siblings — and certainly not my parents — were Beatles fans.
And yet, The Beatles were the music of my childhood. In retrospect, The Beatles provided the music that inspired my lifelong pursuit of new sounds.
Of course, at the time it was the music that inspired wannabe Ringo to pound away on a desktop to Yellow Submarine in a bungalow bedroom in Herring Cove, N.S. And who could forget wannabe John, strumming a tennis racket, singing harmonies to Help! with his cousin wannabe Paul in a St . John’s, N.L., living room?
We were the only people in the house, and the stereo was cranked. We were spectacular.
I remember my profound sense of discovery with The Beatles, that sense of a fun, new experience.
I’m at my best friend Niels’ house on Litchfield Lane in the Cove, and he pulls out his parents’ Revolver album. I remember looking at the cover and thinking, what is this?
Taxman pisses me off. Eleanor Rigby breaks my heart. Good Day Sunshine makes me smile. Tomorrow Never Knows broadens my mind.
We already talked about Yellow Submarine.
That, no other way to put it, perfect album made me want to hear what else The Beatles had to say.
I think I bought Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band when I was about 13. It felt like an event in my hand.
The mesmerizing cover (who are all these people?), the gatefold, all the lyrics — it didn’t feel like an event, it was an event.
Flash forward: Years later, I made a mixtape for a party at a cottage in Hubbards, N.S. Partway through Side 1, I recorded the Sgt. Pepper’s lead-off, title track. Everyone had had a few whettes by this time and was singing along, heartily.
At the end of the song, everyone was poised to launch into With a Little Help From My Friends, just like on the Sgt. Pepper’s album. The one and only Billy Shears!
Only … I didn’t tape it. I followed Sgt. Pepper with Humpin’ Around by Bobby Brown.
I will never forget the room of drunken faces full of disappointment, all those multigenerational sets of eyes looking at me saying, “Jim … you should have known better.”
I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
We all know they were right. I don’t know what I was thinking.
You can’t go wrong with The Beatles.
Reynoworld 
Here’s a great example of how the Fab Four have been able to enter into any conversation no matter what the subject:
From a Jan. 18 tweet — The scene: Livid from what set off a line brawl between the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks, hopped-up-on-goofballs Canucks coach John Tortorella angrily pushes his way through a crowded hallway toward the visiting Flames dressing room at the end of the first period …
Bob McKenzie @TSNBobMcKenzie
So my guess is Torts is sure to be fined and more than likely suspended. No clue on $ amount/# of games. Just guessing, but #youcantdothat
Cam Cole @rcamcole
@TSNBobMcKenzie A-side was #cantbuymelove