Where to begin is the quandry or quarry or Quarrymen. I first saw the Beatles in our living room. I was not quite 11 but I already had a fondness for music because I came from a musical family. My first favorite song (I later had many) was "Hit The Road Jack". I sing it in the car with my dad and although I was from the south and there was the myth that radio stations did not play black music,mine did. I thought I would like to be a singer but Ray was black and had a big band backing him. I was not black and didn't know where to find a big band so my hopes were squashed. Then came February 9th 1964 8pm Ed Sullivan (luckily the" FBI" my dads favorite show was a rerun so i got to watch, everyone only had 1 TV set in those days) and there they were, they looked different, they were from another country, and there was only 4 of them, no big band. The Beatles they were called. Not unique in their name, after all there had been "The Crickets" but every thing else was crazy wild different. They broke into "All My Loving" already sending love messages and history was made. They started the British Invasion and for the next two years the airwaves were full of fresh and inviting new songs by new and inviting bands. They ruled the charts with hit after hit each one different than the one before. There were four vocalists in the band so that probably helped with the uniquity. Flash forward to late 1966 and as fast as they appeared they disappeared leaving us to wonder if all the magic had ended. But thankfully no, as Paul McCartney himself said "You just wait" And wait we did until that Saturday in February (again) of 1967 on "American Bandstand"when they turned the music world upside down again. "Penny Lane and then "Strawberry Fields Forever" came to our living rooms this time on two videos. Gone was the"moptop" look, John Lennon was wearing round granny glasses (exactly like John Sebastian of the "Lovin Spoonful") and they were all wearing mustaches,how cool was that!! Beyond cool in my book. The songs set off a wave off pyschedlic copycats and everyone changed their looks yet again. Those songs were genius in my book and reopened the Beatles atop the charts and fashion. We had to wait yet again until June 1st when the best and most important album ever was released. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was the tiptop of the toppermost (a famous Lennon saying) at least to me, the Magnum Opus of all rock and roll records. None other like it, and although the Stones tried to copy the format (Their Santanic Majesties Request) it was weak by comparison as was "Odessaa" by the BeeGees or "Odyssey and Oracle' by the Zombies (probably the closest to Pepper though). I was smitten by this album,I was now 14 and my dad actually bought the album for me on my birthday 5 days after the release (this in itself was a milestone because my dad hated the Beatles and long hair) . I could have lived the rest of my life with that album as my guiding post but wait,more to come!!!!!! In or around July the BBC was about to launch the first ever live satellite broadcast around the world of current happenings. They wanted a performer to do a song for the broadcast and the Beatles were asked to do it. SGT. Pepper had only been out a month and they could easily have performed a number off that album,but no, once again they changed the world by performing what would be their mantra till the end of time. The tunes was a Lennon compsition called "All You Need Is Love". The lyrics were confusing but the message was clear and it was broadcast to the world (Ah if only we would have listened). Gone were the SGT. Pepper Mustaches at least on John and Paul and they invited a few friens to attend. Their friendly rivals Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were there as was Donovan, Marianne Faithful and many others. It was a "Happening". my story is coming to a close as "The Magical Mystery Tour" was upcoming and much much more, but I end here and pass the baton off to someone else to finish the journey.
