Past Peeping

Almost 20 years to the day, I was fully introduced to the music of the Beatles.  In my early teens, I was particularly enamored of the classics and religious music - the classics being what they were, and I admired their themes and structure.  Religious music, well, because I was a volunteer facilitator and we listened to a lot of "retreat" music.  My sisters loved OPM, and our eldest brother loved R&B and jazz.  My other brother was a true child of the times, loving New Wave music.  I pretended to listen because I didn't want to hurt his feelings.  I was such a snob.

I watched a lot of movies in the theaters then because that was my only form of escape - going home meant living through the pressures our family was going through at the time, and being elsewhere meant that life was catching up on me.  The Robinsons Galleria theaters showed a lot of footage of "A Hard Day's Night" during those times.  I would suppose there was a lot of heavy promotion since it was almost close to the 30th anniversary of the Beatles' first hit in the UK ("Love Me Do," a Top 20 hit).

This particular bit, along with "I Should Have Known Better" were my favorite pieces (well, they did receive a lot of rotation).  The harmony is impeccable on this piece, and at this point I would surmise Lennon was reaching his creative apex as a Beatle (my guess is that he topped out in "Rubber Soul" as a member of the band, and thenceforth McCartney became their driving force).  When I listen to this song I always play in twice, singing with Lennon's part the first time and then with McCartney's part the second time.

The Beatles' surfacing in my musical palette also came with the rise of grunge and Pinoy alternative rock.  In a way the stripping down of the musical components of recorded music was the antidote to overproduced electronic tracks of the '80s.

This year the Beatles would celebrate their 50th anniversary as a hit band.  Looking forward to all the tributes and the concerts.