Posted on June 25, 2019
The whole point of today's holiday is NOT to sell us Beatles paraphernalia, not to sell us Beatles music, even. It's not about being fans.
Instead, it's about thanking the Beatles for their messages of love that they put out into the world, and sending back some love their way. (Of course, only two of the Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, are still alive at this point.)
Here are some of those messages of love:
- All you need is love.
- I get by with a little help from my friends.
- And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.
- Remember to let her into your heart.
- I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love.
Beatles music has been out in the world for so many decades, I am wondering if pretty much everyone has heard at least some of it, and if pretty much everyone has at least heard the name "the Beatles" - or has their global fame diminished with, say, younger folks and in some parts of the world? Way back when, they were SO famous, it was hard to imagine a continent or a country where they were completely unknown.
During the Beatles' heyday, they didn't meet with ONLY love and adulation.
Apparently, in 1964, the Beatles were banned from performing in Israel because officials there feared the Beatlemania being reported elsewhere in the world. But I gather that Beatles music still filled Israeli airwaves...
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| There was going to be a Beatles concert in Israel... but then the Beatles were banned from coming and performing. |
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| Some Israeli officials said that they didn't want their youth, like others in the world, infected by Beatlemania. |
On their world tour in 1966, the Beatles received death threats from Japanese traditionalists and accidentally caused riots in the Philippines because their manager turned down an invitation from the nation's first lady (apparently part of policy of turning down official invitations).
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| Some Americans were proud to burn their Beatles albums, circa 1966. |
The last commercial tour that the Beatles ever took, also in 1966, was in the United States. John Lennon had famously remarked that the band was "more popular than Jesus," so there was a protest from some religious and conservative folks in the U.S., including people burning their records, a preacher or two calling the Beatles "anti-Christ," the Ku Klux Klan picketing some concerts (although that's definitely something to be proud of!), and even some death threats.
Even though the Beatles continued to create loads of new and popular music from the time of that last tour, in 1966, until their break-up in 1970, after 1,400 concerts worldwide, their live concerts were over.
And now, more than half a century after that last concert, we are left as fans then were left with "just" the music...or rather: the music plus the myth, the stories, the music history. And the messages.
Most enduringly, perhaps, messages of love and peace.
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| There is a wall in Prague that is constantly changing, but always features song lyrics from the Beatles and/or John Lennon. |
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| This wide variety of Global Beatles Day posters, including the one at the top of this post, evokes the variety of styles and iconic record covers of the Beatles over the course of their amazing stardom, from 1962 or 1963 to 1970. |
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