The Beatles: Time to let it be?

[cleduc]

9. "George who was the star anyway"

All four were popular at the time but George was pretty shy and quiet - arguably had the least star power. Lennon was probably the main mouthpiece when they spoke to the media and was popular with many because of his wit ("Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands. And the rest of you, just rattle your jewelry." Performance for Queen Elizabeth and British Royalty). Paul seemed to be regarded as the "cutest" - the ladies seemed to like him the most for that.

Lennon-McCartney wrote the vast majority of their songs and all but a very few of their hits so the music media at the time tended to give them more credit than the other two.

They started out as a pop rock band. Upbeat, catchy melody with fairly straightforward lyrics. But they transformed in front of us and I guess that's a key to why they were so special. Their lyrics evolved to make social statements and some of it was like deep poetry with folks searching for all the meanings. They evolved by using techniques in the studio - way beyond a four piece band and broke new ground there - both with sounds and orchestration backing up some of their songs (George Martin). Their music diversified from simple rock to more complex pieces and a variety of types of music (country, blues, ballads, anthems, some classical overtones, and mixtures, etc) and they broke the 3 minute barrier for a pop song. Throughout that evolution, they produced wonderful melodies that held it together and sustained it's appeal.

I was helping my teenage kids with their ipods. Like other teenagers, I thought they were going through the usual popular artists of the day. But I found both had much of the Beatles collection and they didn't get them from me or their Mom. Like Beethoven I guess, great music will survive the ages.

In 2011, the Beatles were credited with elevating US digital music sales for the first time in a decade when their material became available to iTunes. (somehow my kids had it on their ipods years before) and Abbey Road remained the top selling vinyl album - so the old fans were still buying.