So my mission to introduce Sam to as much of my musical back catalogue as I can (before his own musical tastes kick in and he starts hating everything his dad loves) continues, mostly in the car with my hand-curated CDs. We're now up to Sam CD 90 (we do also revisit the earlier ones) and he's often keen to hear the next.
"Have you made Sam 91 yet, Daddy? Will you make it this weekend?"
However, I'm not sure whether that's because he likes my musical choices... or because he's obsessed with numbers and is desperate for us to get to 100. I think more of the latter, though he has developed many favourite tunes along the way as well.
Friday night though, on the way back from swimming, was a bit of a milestone.
"Yay! My favourite band!"
In this life we will all have many favourite bands, and who am I to judge Sam's first self-proclaimed favourites... when mine may well have been Bucks Fizz?
(What can I say? I was 9 years old. That dance routine represented an inexpicable sexual awakening.)
Still, I have to confess, for just a moment, I was a little chagrined by Sam's choice.
I mean, the friggin' Beatles!? How bleeding obvious!
This passed very quickly, when I realised the selection said much more about the Beatles than it did about my son. Indeed, it reinforced why the Beatles were as big as they were and why they still maintain that untouchable ubiquity, even though proper musos (which I will OBVIOUSLY never be) know there have been far better bands in the history of pop. Like The Four Tops, The Housemartins and Huey Lewis & The News, to name but three. (You're not quite sure if I'm serious, I know. And I LIKE that.)
As mentioned before, despite going through an obligatory Beatles phase in my late teens, I've been down on the band for many years since. But choose a random song - particularly an early one - and judge it on its own pop merits, and the mass appeal becomes obvious. There's a simplicity and a clean, no-nonsense aesthetic to recordings such as this one which make it universal. There's no hemi-powered drones screaming down the boulevard in the lyrics, for a start, or punctured bicyles on hillsides desolate.
Baby's good to me, you know
She's happy as can be, you know
She said so
I'm in love with her and I feel fine
Of course you're gonna like a band that sings simple, catchy songs like this if you're a 6 year old. Or someone older who doesn't want anything more complex than a nice r 'n' b rhythm and clear, uncomplicated words to sing along to in a traffic jam.
And I Feel Fine is a great song for Sam to declare his allegiance to as well, because beyond the simplicity, it's got that Lennon edge, kicking off with the feedback, and the raw quality to his vocal that he softened in later years. Good video too - it finally made me see the point of Ringo.
With virtually everything ever recorded just a click away, imagine being right back at the very beginning of this voyage of musical discovery that each of us are now decades into. The mind boggles.
ReplyDeleteSam's choice gets a thumbs up from me.
I wonder though: with so much choice, will they ever devote the same amount of time we did to one song or album, till they wear the grooves out of it? Or will they just flit from one thing to the next and never settle for long.
DeleteI was 13 when "I Feel Fine" came out and spend ages trying to replicate George Harrison's opening chord on my youngest sister's acoustic guitar. I'd convinced myself that having mastered it I would go on to become a world-renowned guitar player in a band that would be bigger than The Fab Four.
ReplyDeleteA year or so later, I bought John Renbourn's 1st album and after listening to him and Bert Jansch duetting on "Blue Bones", I decided I hadn't a hope in Hell of learning to play guitar as good as anyone I'd heard on records. Such is life.
I think that we are on the same page Beatleswise although I would probably argue that they are slightly better than Hughie Lewis & the News.
ReplyDeleteIt's a close call mind you.
Bob Stanley's book on the history of pop has a very funny passage describing Huey Lewis and the News. I suspect Rol may not agree. As for the Beatles, they don't rate as highly with my kids as the Kinks or the Monkees.
DeleteI've not read it but I don't agree.
DeleteYour kids are correct in their assessment.
Don't mind a bit of Beatles, me. Try Sam on Revolver.
ReplyDeleteI think the ubiquity of the Beatles songs we grow up with makes it so easy to forget just how good they were, but I think you're so right about what there is beyond the simplicity, there's often quite an edge and the songs are just so well-crafted. I can remember hearing some of their less obvious tracks for the first time in my teens and twenties and enjoying the voyage of discovery... much like Sam perhaps!
ReplyDeleteAs for Ringo - being a left-handed drummer who uses a right-handed kit gives him quite an unusual style, there's a nice clip of him talking/demonstrating his drumming with Dave Stewart which mentions this too (if you're interested!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl9188EPdLI
One of these days I should blog about the 'Beatles Weekend' in Liverpool Mr SDS and I went on in the '80s which was memorable for all the wrong reasons! Put it this way, those die-hard Beatles fans are very weird...
Great clip and I am mistaken, or does Paul go "over his ankle" as he walks on? - His Cuban Heels were a tad too high for him obviously. Since going to see the film Yesterday I have experienced a re-awakened appreciation for the Beatles and even a simple love song like this one is spot on - If your "baby" is good to you and is happy all the time, who wouldn't feel fine.
ReplyDelete