It was 1969. My wife joined me
for the first time at Rudrur research station. And along with her she brought
her mini three-band Japanese made transistor radio, Sharp. Thus, came for the
first time a radio into the house that I live-in. And Lo! I also had the chance to listen to some
of my choicest music well within the house, of course, only late in the nights…
for that’s when I could freely tune into SW2.
Those were the days when ‘Beatles
mania’— the famous line-up of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and
Ringo Starr—that swept western music world was slowly creeping in into Indian university
campuses. Their cheerful faces with a moptop hairstyle, their highly original,
irresistibly catchy synthesis of early American rock and R&B were the
topics for chatting among the gatherings at the cafeterias in the campuses. How
often we used to gossip at length over their songs, “Please please me”, “I want
to hold your hand”, and of course that all-time favourite, “Hey Jude” and so on.
As their popularity soared high
by early 1964 invading even the US pop market, their band acquired the nickname
of “the Fab Four”. They, breaking many sales records, went on producing
innovative albums … Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), and Sgt Pepper’s
Lonely Hearts Club band (1967), etc.
And with the entry of my wife
and her transistor radio I enjoyed listening to songs from these albums from
one radio station or the other—of course, mostly Radio Ceylon’s English
Commercial Service/BBC. Of course, amongst them how longingly I used to wait
for listening that “Hey Jude, don’t make
it bad / Take a sad song and make it better / Remember to let her into your
heart / Then you can start to make it better…” that starts with Paul
singing “Hey” closely followed by piano... then as Paul’s singing the first
verse gradually builds up, George’s guitar and Ringo’s tambourine follows.
Later the drums step in … In all, it’s a fine blend of orchestration that is
pretty simple with few chords so beautifully arranged. This song was said to
have been written by Paul McCartney to comfort Julian, son of John, from the
stress of his parent’s separation… and obviously, the powerful lyrics—“The movement you need is on your shoulder”—the
depth of which well reflects in the inspirational tone of Paul et al. makes its
listening more sublime. You would simply get immersed in it… that by the time
it reaches the outro, you will join the singer’s Richard’s style shrieking humming,
“nah nah nah nah nah nah nah …” Indeed, it is its simplicity and the
long chorus, “nah nah nah nah nah nah nah
…” that evokes emotions… just like
those earlier songs, “A day in the life”
and “Strawberry fields forever”.
Then comes my other favourite
of 1967: “All you need is love”, the
song that the Beatles played for the first time live for ‘Our World’ programme
on June 25th 1967 in front of some 400 mn television audience in as
many as 24 countries. It was primarily
written by John Lennon. Though it was supposed to be a live show, Beatles have
played it live from Studio Two from Abbey Road using a pre-recorded backing
track but with live of Lennon’s vocals,
Starr’s drums,
McCartney’s bass guitar and Harrison’s lead guitar solo. Its composition is
unique: its chorus had only one note and it has a 7/4 odd time beats. But it
was such a success that it shot to No. 1 in at least 10 countries, besides
becoming an iconic anthem of unity and love, particularly for hippies and the
American youth that was agitating in the campuses against Vietnam war.
Then came the album, Abbey
Road, that was on 26th
September in UK and 1st October 1969 in the US. Within no time it
started making waves on either side of the Atlantic. In all, the album contained 17 tracks.
Harrison’s ‘Something’ and ‘Here comes the Sun’ became quite
popular. So is the case of Starr’s ‘Octopus’s Gardener’, Lennon’s ‘Come
Together’ and the closing medley of unfinished songs, mostly of McCartney.
Thanks again to my wife’s
transistor, this time round, I could listen to some of the tracks from this
album right in the house, that too, lying on bed. What an experience! In those
days, nights in Rudrur farm were pretty cold …at times night temperatures would
fall below 50 C, and having come from a coastal town, I was kind of
unable to put up with night’s chill in that old lime-mortar house under the
grove … and listening to “Little
darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter / … it seems like years since it's been
here / Here comes the Sun, and I say / It’s alright” coming from the so soothing
a voice of George that it
sounded pretty reassuring. And the acoustic guitar of George with a capo
on the seventh fret worked wonders. It was simply amazing. In that chilly night
it was irresistible not to sing along .....
I also had the chance of
listening to that song, “Something in the way she moves / Attracts me like
no other lover” written and sung by George, who by then became obsessed
with ISCON cult and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s meditation, had become very popular
pretty soon. Many have indeed thought that George wrote it keeping Krishna in
mind. But for Frank Sinatra sounded as
“The greatest love song ever written” but it didn’t impress me so much.
I also remember to have heard
the song, “Because the world is round it
turns me round” from this album that begins with a distinctive electric
harpsichord intro followed by Lennon’s guitar played through Leslie speaker. It
bears close resemblance to Beethoven’s Moonlight
Sonata, which Lennon claims to be
deliberate. For, he listening to Yoko playing ‘Moonlight Sonata’ on the piano, seems to have asked her if she can
play those chords in reverse, and impressed by it wrote “Because” around them.
And the lyrics sans imagery, sans ambiguous references, but a great play on
words—“Because the sky is Blue, it makes
me Cry/ Because the wind is high it blows my mind”— speak for
themselves. It is one of those few
tracks where Beatles used moog synthesizer, played by George, as a mini
bridge.
This album that was recorded
when the band was all set to breaking up owing to internal strife and
bitterness, is considered as the absolute pinnacle of Beatles. And there is
another very interesting and unusual feature associated with this album: its
cover – the cover that doesn’t feature the name of the band of the Album. It
was almost anonymous but for the picture of the four Beatles—John Lennon
leading bandmates Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and George Harrison across Abbey
Road— walking in unison over the
pedestrian crossing outside the studio in which the album was recorded.
The idea of putting a picture
of the four on the front side of the cover said to have emerged from a sketch
that McCartney drew of stickmen on the zebra crossing. The picture was taken on
August 8, 1969 at around 11.35 am—a time chosen for avoiding the gathering of
fans, who know that Beatles usually turnup at the studio in the mid-afternoon. Standing
on a stepladder, Iain Macmillan, the Scottish photographer, shot about six frames,
while a policeman stopped the traffic. The photoshoot was over in just about 10
minutes. Of the six frames shot, the one in which all the four were stepping in
unison was selected for the sleeve.
Incidentally, this picture also
fuelled rumours: “Paul is dead.” For, some watching Paul walking barefoot with
a cigarette in his right-hand despite being a lefthander, believed him to be an
imposter and jumped at the conclusion that he is dead. But for that, the cover became an iconic
sleeve and indeed became a classic that is cherished even today. It’s not for
nothing that the fans of Beatles from across the globe assembled at the zebra
crossing near London’s Abbey Road Studios on 8th August 2019 to celebrate
the 50th anniversary of Beatles making one of the most iconic album-covers
of all time.
Abbey Road Studios in St John’s
Wood of North West London that was built in 1829 was used by Beatles to record
190 out of their 210 songs and thus became a pilgrimage centre for the Beatles
fans. It has drawn innumerable fans of Beatles from all over the world and once
been there, many of them used to walk over the zebra crossing. The crossing,
having been selected for Grade II protected status, gained national importance
too.
That was the era which, of course, came to
an end with the four breaking away after the release of Abbey Road and going on
their own individual way—that saw Beatles having started off with Skiffle
and the 1950’s rock and roll churning out different genera: pop ballads,
psychedelic rock and of course, with the shades of classical influences here
and there without of course, missing the mass appeal—have become so
special for music lovers that it catapulted them as the best-selling
band in history with sales of over 800 mn albums worldwide. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in 1988. The band had received seven Grammy Awards and an Academy
Award for the best original song score for the 1970 film Let It Be. And
as all good things have to come to an end, Beatles’ fame too slipped into time
past. Even my wife’s Sharp is now up in the attic.
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