Almost four decades ago, the songs of the band from Liverpool made their way to my ears here in the Philippines.
This was not because I chose to but it was because my older brother bought their album, A Hard Day’s Night. Whenever, my mother was away at work (my father was travelling that time), he would play the record over and over. Not only that, he would also play it really loud not just for a day but for weeks.
As the months and years went on, my brother found friends who also love the band and they would exchange records to play. This means that a lot of my childhood years were spent listening to the Beatles. In fact, one of the first 3 songs I learned to play on the guitar was from the band.
While I had learned then how to play some songs from the band and I had somehow memorized the lyrics of most of their songs (the mind, after all, remembers what it repeatedly hears over and over), I would not be able to say back then that I was a fan. I was, after all, just exposed to their sound. It was not something I chose for myself.
Years went on and I left home to study at university and then to take a job in another city. It was then that I would hear a familiar song from the Fab Four being played in some establishments (like a store or a restaurant) or over radio stations. And then I would find myself humming the tune, sometimes I would even sing along. I also found myself searching books and then by this time, the internet, about the band and their music.
I came to see the richness of the band’s musicality. I came to appreciate not only the band’s longevity in the music industry but the apparent timelessness of their songs. Their songs have leaped across time and generations. And at one point, I bought a CD of their songs. And it was not because my brother or a friend asked me to.
Somehow, the sound of the Beatles has finally reached not just my ears but my heart. And until today, without even trying to, I still hear their songs playing here, there and everywhere.
