The first time I heard Beatles ’65 I was 9 or 10. It was a big deal because it was my first LP, the FIRST vinyl 33 1/3 Long Playing record album I ever owned. Before that, I had a series of 45’s, neatly stacked in the small bedroom I shared with my younger sister. We lived in a suburb near North Augusta, South Carolina, off the north bank of the Savannah River.
Beatles ’65 was released in December of 1964. After 40 plus years, I don’t honestly remember if my parents gave it to me for Christmas in 1964, or later in 1965. I only know I wore the wax grooves right down to the base. The Beatles stormed the U.S. in ’64. I saved a few 45’s, originals from that period: A Hard Day’s Night on Side A, I Should Have Known Better on the B Side. I Love Her on Side A, If I Fell on the B Flip. I was nuts for McCartney back then. Later it would be Lennon (of course).
The original Beatles ’65 album, with the lads from Liverpool in (almost) collarless suits and ties clutching playful black, red, and beige umbrellas, is packed away with my other 9 or 10 boxes of vinyl. I should get the cover framed. Even though it’s over-worn and has “one” of my last names (yes, I decided to change my name for a while in the 60’s) splashed in 4th or 5th grade backslant cursive across the front corner in black magic maker.
Back then there weren’t 800 different kinds of markers. A pen was a pen. It was a big deal when the Finepoint BIC with the white barrel (instead of orange yellow) and navy cap came out. And most permanent markers were used to scribble initials on waist bands of cotton laundry before summer trips to Girl Scout camp. Sharpies didn’t come with fancy neon carabiner clips that hook around your neck like the set clipped to my pack today.
I don’t remember headphones when listening to Beatles ’65. They must have come later. But those 11 songs remain some of my favorite Beatles music. Obscure. Understated. Un-blockbuster. I Feel Fine (beginning with George’s famous guitar riff, ending in his reverb feedback), I’m A Loser, I’ll Follow The Sun, and No Reply are just plain sad. Then you’ve got John’s raucous Rock And Roll Music with lumbering Ringo’s slow moving country on Honey Don’t.
What I remember most about that time is starting to know what it meant to fall in love, elementary school style (after all, Michael Suggs gave me his ID bracelet). And I remember what it felt like to lose love (how could Ronnie Collins fall for someone else?). I remember my Uncle Bill having dance parties at our house. He and his friends lined up like trains to do Little Eva’s Locomotion; they’d scoot around the corner of the house to steal a kiss in the dark by the luminous magnolias.
I remember my parents doing The Twist in the living room, the balls of their feet rotating on the Johnson’s paste wax floor (they loved to dance). I remember the succulent magnolias, the lone Charlie Brown pine out front, the massive green water tower built on the layers of pine needles back behind our house. (My step-dad reminded me in June that I went inside the tower with my friends, even though I’d been given strict orders not to. I got in so much trouble that day.)
I remember that music became a shelter for me. Shelter from the coming storms. The suitcase record player I carried from room to room had a setting for 45’s, a setting for LP’s. Later, I would get a green RCA spindle style record player for Christmas. I’d stack album after album; they spit a dull clack! when they dropped on top of each other. The static cling that hit the diamond needle, the counterbalance on the arm that had to be just so not to wear out the grooves in the wax. (If it was a double album set, Sides 1 and 4 would be on one record, Sides 2 and 3 on the other so you could listen in order.)
Records had a smell, too. Not plastic – vinyl. Have you ever smelled vinyl? And sometimes they were pressed in dull red, yellow or blue. The Beatles? Basic black.
My friend, Gail, saw the Beatles play in Minneapolis in the Twins old Met Stadium. Built in 1956, the classic outdoor stadium in Bloomington was abandoned for the Metrodome in 1982 and torn down in 1985 to make way for the Mall of America. The Beatles played at the Met during the Shea Stadium days and they were only a finger’s width big against the distance to the nosebleed seats.
The Beatles were the biggest thing ever to hit America up until that point in time. I loved them right through my 20’s and 30’s. When the Beatles Black Box Master Collection of albums came out in the early 80’s, I bought it. And when I first met Liz, I played a couple of the wax masters for her on the refurbished turntable Gail gave me for my birthday that year.
What I really want to say is music gave me a place to hide. Growing up in a large family where space was at a premium, I fell straight down into the headphones during my privacy starved junior high days. I don’t know when I decided it was okay to crawl out. In the 70’s, FM radio was king, the alternative to pop love songs and country twang. I first heard Neil Young, CSN, and the Grateful Dead on FM radio.
And remember quadraphonic speakers and albums? Reel-to-reel or 8-Tracks? Everything was analogue and simpler then. I went to Brown Institute in recording for a few semesters in the 1980’s. I had an instructor who taught me how to mix albums. He hated digital. Why? He said analogue captured the guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards in their purest state, the closest to Live. And to this day, I can hear the difference. He taught me what to listen for. Deep listening.
I still use deep listening. In writing. Art. And, yeah, when I listen to music. I still love music. And I remember those Christmases in North Augusta with great fondness. My heart thumps a little faster when I think of race car tracks winding through the living room or the smell of train transformers (remember that bottled liquid you dropped into the smokestack with an eyedropper to produce train smoke?).
I remember real tinsel and my grandmother’s first aluminum tree with the color wheel that rotated through primary green, red, blue, with a dash of diffused orange. Her birthday is tomorrow, Winter Solstice. She comes to visit me from the other side quite often.
I remember feeling safe and scared at the same time, something not unfamiliar to me now. I remember Beatles ’65. And I feel fine.
-posted on red Ravine, Thursday, December 20th, 2007
-related to Topic post, WRITING TOPIC – LOVE ME LIKE MUSIC (TOP 10)
Just nominated you two for a Bloggers Who Create Community Award. Come on over and claim your pink heart.
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I remember the first time The Beatles were on TV on The Ed Sullivan show. But, I guess my favorite song was” Hey Jude” & the memories of slow dancing at the the dances at the high school gym. I have always been a great fan of The Beatles & I was born in 1955, so I also was about your age when they hit America by storm. J & I have a great selection of 45’s and the albums from our younger days. I remember taking our youngest son to yard sales sales with me in the late 80’s (or early in 90″s) & he saw the 8 tracks for sale & asked me what kind of video games they were! What a good post QM! As you know “Daddy” is here for the holidays & while you cannot be, both you & Liz are in our thoughts & hearts. We all miss you! I cannot tell you & YB how much I have enjoyed red Ravine & diversity of the various artists & visitors. Because this will be a busy time for all, I for one, would like to wish all a very happy holiday season! Insprire peace is my motto. Love always….D
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tiv, thanks for the Bloggers Who Create Community Award. I just had a chance to check it out at the individual voice (LINK).
And congrats to you as well for receiving the award from C. over at mariacristina (LINK). As I mentioned in my comment, it’s a great pleasure for us because of the word “community” which is the whole reason we are here to begin with.
And as ybonesy mentioned, at red Ravine we are an eclectic community of bloggers *and* non-bloggers who all come together and comingle on a daily basis. And that makes the award even that much more special. Thank you!
And thanks to everyone who visits and comments on red Ravine. YOU are the community who really deserve the award!
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D, thanks so much for the well wishes. And your memories of the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. I had totally forgotten about that! I love the story of the 8-track as video game. Gosh, that makes me feel so old! 8)
About Daddy, I’m so happy he is able to visit Pennsylvania this year and spend quality one-on-one time with the kids (of all ages). I have to say, one of the great gifts of 2007 for me was reconnecting with him when Mom and I visited Georgia and South Carolina in June.
It has been so healing for me to have a welcoming new opening into that part of my life. And so validating to talk openly and truthfully about the past. And reconnecting with Daddy this year, as well as spending more face-to-face time with Mom, are a big part of the healing.
Connection and reconnection with all the parts of our huge and diverse “family” will make up a large chunk of my gratitude list for the year 2007. And I sure wish I could be there to celebrate with you this Christmas.
But I know I am loved and missed. And I’ll be there in Spirit! Give everyone my love from the gray and wintry Midwest. I’ll be in touch over the Holidays!
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I really enjoyed your practice, and would encourage you to submit it for publication…it wouldn’t need any changes…how about “Rolling Stone” mag? I think many would find it interesting, as well as a fine piece of nostalgia. My first exposure to the Beatles was their appearance on Ed Sullivan’s show, and I have to shamefully admit that I wasn’t too impressed…but maybe it was because the cameras kept returning to the screaming teen-age girls in the audience, instead of focusing on the music. It wasn’t long, though, before I recognized that they truly were good musically and great with lyrics!
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ahhh…this brought back memories …it was the first thing I ever bought with my own money (besides candy). I was 6 years old (1964) and had save $1.03 (in pennies) to buy “Meet the Beatles” at the corner store.
Great story. H
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Marylin, thanks so much for your comment. I am appreciative. I’m a nostalgic kind of writer. I seem to be always romancing the stone. Hopeless romantic! Hey, I think there were a lot of people who didn’t appreciate the Beatles at first. Then later came to see what great songwriters they were. They were doing something no one else was doing at the time.
H, that’s so sweet, the first thing you bought at 6 years old. Amazing memory – how could you remember that it was exactly $1.03. Wow.
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Well QM, that’s the funny thing. I grew up in a very “different” family and I have almost no recollection of my childhood. My sister’s believe I blocked it out to survive my Mother’s mental illness. But I can remember saving those pennies for that album (my oldest sister had introduced them) like it was yesterday.
Music has always been a very important thing in every stage of my life and I feel it way down deep in my soul when it’s good. I like almost every type and can relate to everything from my Grandparent’s era to the most modern stuff the kids listen to today. I know in my heart that if each of us was granted one wish, mine wouldn’t be for money or beauty, youth, health or longevity…it would be to sing with a deep and powerful, completely soulful voice that could bring tears to people’s eyes and that ache that I feel in my chest when I hear a great voice.
🙂 H
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In the hopes of sounding funny, this was a “smelly” post.
Starting with the smell of the paper sleeves that 45’s came in. Then the smell of the black magic markers.
The smell of Jade East, the cheap cologne my first crush wore.
Magnolias and pine. And Johnson’s paste wax.
And red vinyl doesn’t smell like black vinyl.
And the piece de resistance… the train transformer.
I played my 45’s until they were gouged into my brain like lino cuts! I know the lyrics to all the obscure flip sides.
I was a Rolling Stones fan, and didn’t “hear” the Beatles through the teengirlscreams until Rubber Soul.
What a great post.
Not only “smelly”, but “noisy”, too! 🙂
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leslie, the smells, I didn’t realize there were so many of them in this post. I guess I am geared toward smell in writing. And noise, too! Something about engaging the senses.
Rubber Soul is an excellent album. It was fun to watch the Beatles mature in their music. And, finally, break up due to creative differences. (I never bought into the whole Yoko Ono thing. If anything, she added to John’s creativity.)
Now I kind of want to listen to Rubber Soul. Isn’t that a great name for an album.
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This morning, very early, I heard a story on the BBC about a new trend–people getting together to listen to vinyl records in community. Those who initiate these gatherings see the album as an art form, one to be listened to start to finish…not chopped up on shuffle mixes or ipods.
One woman calls her group “Classic Sundays.” After people gather, get a beverage, and sit down, no one talks–not in-between songs nor when she flips the LP over. One of the favorites in these groups is “Blue” by Joni Mitchell. It has inspired me to listen to it again, too. Start to finish.
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Teri, I’m so excited that you revived this Writing Practice for me. It made part of my childhood come alive again! I so appreciate that about you.
I also can’t believe you mentioned it today, because Friday night Liz and I went to Hymie’s Vinyl sale at the Cedar Cultural Center. They had great live local bands with music by the Annandale Cardinals, Rope Trick and Buffalo Moon. And big boxes of vinyl all over the place, most half price, some for only 50 cents a piece. Here’s a link to Hymie’s blog and a post they did about Friday night: What a Night! (LINK)
Liz and I had a great time, supported local bands, an Indie record store, the Cedar, and came home toting a big box of vinyl across the -20 degree tundra of the 7 Corners area. I have to admit, it was Liz that pushed me to go late in the night, after we had already attended Gail & Carole’s opening at MCAD. I’m glad I listened to her.
I like the idea of getting together and listening to records. Remember when Bob visited and you, me, Liz, and Bob went to our Casket Arts Studio and listened to records? It makes you dance. You can’t help it.
Also, I buy records for the amazing cover art. You don’t get that in CD or chopped up MP3. I LOVE Blue by Joni Mitchell. It’s one of the best albums EVER!
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Yes, the impromptu dance at the studio was amazing! When I listened to the clip on the BBC, I thought of that huge trunk of records Liz had recently bought. It sounds like your collection just grew. 🙂
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