We were born in 1965, which means that we’re too young to have been caught up in Beatlemania first-hand. It feels good to say that: we don’t get to say “we’re too young” too often anymore.
Being children of the 70’s, however, we did have a second-generation appreciation of the Beatles. We weren’t rabid fans clutching precious scraps of paper that John or Ringo had stepped on, nor were we caught up in the Paul-is-dead conspiracy listening intently to Revolution Number 9 played backwards on the turntable. But we knew plenty of people who were all of the above.
Instead, we simply liked their music. It was, to put it plainly, great music. It still is, really, which is why it was so refreshing to rediscover the Beatles on our recent daytrip to Liverpool (we were “Daytrippers, yeah!”)
Straight from the train station we went to the Cavern Pub, epicenter of the Beatles phenomenon in the early 60’s. The obligatory photos and selfie with John’s statue accomplished, we proceeded down into the Cavern Pub. We’ve read that it’s not the original pub, that the original was closed in 1973, filled in, later excavated and reopened. While it might not have been in continuous operation, it’s on Matthew Street, in the same location, and not completely rebuilt…so good enough for us. Even though it was well before lunch time, we invoked the “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere” notion and had a couple of pints. It was actually a great time to go since there were few people there, but had we come after noon there would have been live music going on until well into the evening.
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| The Cavern Pub’s Stage |
From the Cavern we proceeded to the must-see museum of Liverpool, aptly named The Beatles Story museum. According to TripAdvisor.com, the Beatles Story museum is the 23rd top attraction in Liverpool. Personally we think it should be a lot higher up the list, but as Liverpool is considered second only to London as a tourist destination, that’s still not a bad showing.
The Beatles Story is short on artifacts but long on the story of the Beatles, hence the name. From how John, playing with his own band “The Quarrymen”, was introduced to Paul, to how Paul introduced George to John and how they formed the greatest band in rock history with drummer Pete Best, the museum walks visitors through the history, narrated by John’s sister Cynthia over the headsets the museum provides. As the band grew in popularity in Europe, playing nearly 300 gigs at the Cavern Pub and with a dozen or so trips to Hamburg, Germany, they outgrew Pete and replaced him with Ringo just in time to explode in global popularity. Shaken by the death of manager Brian Epstein in 1967, they moved into their psychedelic-and-maharaji phase and their eventual disbandment.
The museum does a good job of exploring the collaborative-competitive relationship between John and Paul, no doubt the greatest song-writing team in rock history, as well as pointing out the musical contributions of all-too-often-in-the-shadows George and Ringo. There’s little talk of the volatility of their personal relationships nor the effect that their spouses had on the band.
While I said the museum is short on artifacts, they do have a few great pieces, like one of Paul’s first guitars and some equipment from the Abbey Road studio. But what they have in abundance are great old photos of the band, from a picture of John playing with the Quarrymen the day he met Paul to the famous picture of them playing their last performance together on the roof of the studio (the one where John quipped, “I hope we’ve passed the audition”).
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| One of Paul’s First Guitars |
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| The Fab 4 Shortly After Ringo Joined The Band |
Rediscovery is great, sometimes even better than discovery, because years of prior passion can come flooding back all at once. At the museum’s end, people close to the Beatles and other celebrities are asked what their favorite Beatles song is. It’s hard for me to pin down just one, but those I find myself humming most these days are “The Long and Winding Road”, “Norwegian Wood”, and “Hey Jude”.
