It was fifty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play. That's a factually incorrect statement but a good opening line to talk about the fiftieth anniversary of the Beatles' first appearance on American television. To commemorate the event, Beatlemania will be sweeping the airwaves once again all this week with special concerts, documentaries, celebrations and dedications. For younger viewers it will be a chance to see real time footage of the Beatles' first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, (they made three in successive weeks), and the chaos that ensued. For old fans like me, it will be an opportunity to relive a revolutionary moment in the history of rock music, along with the 73 million other viewers that tuned in the night of Feb. 9, 1964. The date is significant because, after that, nothing was ever the same.
The Ed Sullivan Show, on Sunday nights, was a variety show that featured acts as varied as opera singers and acrobats, plate spinners and flamenco dancers. On Feb. 9, I was enjoying a Sunday dinner of hamburgers and spaghetti at Granny's before we settled in front of the TV to witness the Beatles' debut. Of course, the elders tsk, tsked, while I went crazy. I was eagerly anticipating the Beatles' television debut because I'd already bought the album. While cruising east on Walnut Grove on a clear January afternoon, something came on the car radio unlike anything I had ever heard and I knew it must be that English band I'd been hearing about. I made an immediate left on Perkins and headed for Pop Tunes. They only had the new single in stock, (which I still have in the original sleeve), but promised to call me when the LP arrived. Shortly afterward, I got the call that "Meet the Beatles" had arrived and snatched up one of the first copies. That evening, my friends and I got together to listen to first one side, and then the other, over and over again, completely captivated by this raw and exhilarating new sound. We also marvelled at their matching Prince Valiant haircuts, their tailored suits, and their Italian boots with the raised heels that immediately and for everafter became known as "Beatle boots." The next day, we started to let our hair grow.
I realize the potential risks of my writing about the Beatles morphing into the rantings of an old geezer raving about his favorite band from days of yore. Lord knows, I wouldn't care about hearing someone from my parents' generation talk about the first time they saw Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians. But the Beatles' music has not only endured, it has thrived. Their long-awaited songs finally becoming available for internet download was received with the enthusiasm usually reserved for the latest, hottest thing. The 2009 release of "The Beatles Rock Band" video game, where participants simulate playing Beatle songs with controllers shaped like musical instruments, was a huge success and helped boost sales of the newly remastered Beatle albums on CD. It's never surprising to hear that some of the most enthusiastic Beatle fans are the children, or even the grandchildren, of your friends. The band's unmatchable career, development, and the evolving message in their music has become a generational phenomenon, and if this week's festivities are any indication, the music will continue to resonate into the foreseeable future.
In celebration, CBS news is presenting a "live, interactive event," at the Ed Sullivan Theatre on Sunday, from 5-7 PM Central, fifty years to the day of the Fabs' live performance, featuring "rare footage from CBS News' extensive archive of the Beatles first three days in New York City." A special tribute concert, sponsored by the Grammys, will air in Ed Sullivan's old time spot following the news special. Taped in Los Angeles the day after the Grammy Awards, featured artists include a reunited Eurythmics, with Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Katy Perry, John Mayer, and a Ringo/Paul reunion in which they do play Beatle songs. If that weren't enough to satisfy your Fab Four fix, following the Grammy special, Paul and Ringo come full circle and will appear live on a special David Letterman Show, airing, of course, from the Ed Sullivan Theatre. All week, leading up to Sunday, all Letterman's musical guests on his nightly show will play Beatle songs. On Feb.8, commemorating the Beatles' iconic arrival at New York's JFK, the airport will host a celebration and dedicate a historical marker. A new Beatle book has been released titled, "The Beatles: All These Years. Vol.1- Tune In," by Mark Lewisohn, whom the New York Times called "the most serious historian to have examined the Beatles' lives and work." I guess so, because this first of three planned tomes runs 803 pages long and only goes up to 1962. For those like me, who love the Beatles, all this activity shows that the Lads from Liverpool are going to be around for a long, long time. Strawberry Fields Forever, baby.
6 comments:
Thanks for bringing this golden anniversary to our attention, Randy. I was also thrilled to have a look at The Beatles on Ed Sullivan's show. As an aside, I think our society/culture suffers from the loss of the exposure to the diversity this show and many others brought to the many who watched together. Now the culture is far to segregated and compartmentalized. The same goes for commercial radio. In Miami we had two popular music stations that played the same records but with different and various deejays who contributed to the interest and excitement and FUN by being creative. Even the commercials could be hilarious.
One of my favorite memories of this period (1963-64) was listening to the top ten at that time which included eight songs by The Beatles! Magical times, in deed.
Off topic before I read the Fab 4 piece... Randy, if you haven't already, check out today's NOLA Times Pic article titled "Haspel family wants to make seersucker cool again, relaunches its iconic brand."
Who knows where the time goes. Makes one feel seriously geezer-like. Yours was a good band, too.
I think I've written to you about this before but, there I was in my mother's 1962 Pontiac Tempest and was driving by the Sears near the old Crosstown movie theater. I only had to listen to the first few bars before I pulled over to the side of the street to listen to the whole song. I was amazed. Never heard anything like that before. M.A. was able to get Nancy and me front row tickets when they came to Memphis. Kip was there with us. In shock the whole time. Can hardly remember it. Changed everything. ......and then before we knew it there was Sgt. Peppers.
Yes everything changed even if they did steal a lot from the Everly Brothers. Just kidding. I will always love the Beatles.
Thanks RJ. We were recently in NYC and enjoyed the "run-up" to the celebration. Your right! Nothing was the same after that night. Nothing!
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