When I was a very little girl, my family went to London
and my dad and his brother Hugh took all of us kids to see Yellow Submarine at a large fancy cinema in Picadilly Circus.
It’s hard for me to picture now. My former RAF Dad and
my debonair British uncle, wandering around swingin’ London surrounded by a gaggle of
tiny children watching a ridiculous animated psychedelic romp. But I can’t put
this too strongly: it was the most memorable moment of my entire childhood. A
year later, the film came to the US and my family went again, and as we walked
out of the theater I can still remember how aggrieved I felt. “They shouldn’t
have taken out the ‘Hey Bulldog’ sequence,” I griped.
I was 5 years old and I had found my calling.
It should be noted that at this time, my family was
already full on obsessed with the Beatles. Indeed, I simply cannot stress how
important they were to all of us. We didn’t own a television set, but on the
days they appeared on the Ed Sullivan
Show, my parents would rent one. Roxanne, the older girl around the corner,
had informed us we all had to have “a Beatle.” Hers was Paul, my sister had
John, Corry had George and I had Ringo. They actually had me dress up as Ringo
on Halloween – being a baby, I had the right sugar bowl haircut, even – and when
our guinea pigs had children they were inevitably named for the Fab Four.
Years passed and history happened and the Beatles
faded from the zeitgeist, like four Cheshire cats, leaving only their smiles.
When John died, we mourned. When George died, my brother, then working in
Options on the stock exchange in New York City, texted me: “My Beatle is dead,”
and I wept again. George was the only Beatle I had ever seen perform live, at
the Albert Hall in London at a surprise benefit for the TM candidate for
Parliament when I was over there covering a different band. My cousin Jeff got
me on the press list and it was indeed transcendental. That year I saw Nirvana
perform 7 times at the height of their power but George Harrison’s Albert Hall
concert was for me the highlight.
In other words the Beatles were the most
important element in my musical upbringing, and I think it was remembering that
show that made me want to see Ringo Starr this week. I knew he was going to be
accompanied by some musicians from bands that I don’t appreciate – to say the
least – but there are times in our life when it’s just worth it to throw
caution to the wind. Plus, it was my cousin Jennifer’s birthday. After the
Congressional Hearings on Thursday, we both felt that seeing a Beatle sing
silly love songs from our youth might be the only possible antidote to our
existential sadness and – preview of coming attractions – we were right.
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| Venue. Sept 28, 2018. |
Ringo Starr has been touring for years, always
accompanied by an “All Starr Band” who play their own hits while he drums
along. (Full disclosure: there’s a second drummer on stage as well, filling in
the gaps. Just like with the Grateful Dead. Or the Butthole Surfers.) In the
past, this tour has included such luminaries as Bruce Springsteen, Todd
Rundgren, Levon Helm, Ginger Baker, Dave Edmunds and Jeff Lynne, but on this
tour, we were serenaded by members of Santana, Toto, Men at Work and 10CC. I
know, right? Well, you can’t have everything and our hope was that 10CC would
cancel Toto out. Also, it may just be a thing for my family and me, but
Jennifer and I enjoyed hearing the songs we hated almost as much as the ones we
loved.
And the funny thing was, the show was split evenly
between the two. Our agonized cries of “Oh god…not Rosanna!” and out howls at
the opening notes of the hell spawned hit “Africa” were offset by sudden
moments of the sublime, as when Graham Gouldman sang “I’m Not In Love” or when
Ringo stepped forward to sing “Photograph.” Those songs rose well above the
scrum and really made the night. “I’m Not In Love” is definitely one of the top
songs of all time ever – a fact agreed to by everyone on my Facebook page – and
“The Things We Do For Love” is not far behind. As for “A Little Help From My
Friends,” while I am sure we can all think of Beatles songs we like a lot more, there is something about the sound of Sergeant
Pepper that really soothes a careworn soul.
Careworn we were. Who wasn't, last Friday? But even so, despite the dreaded
presence of Toto and Greg Rollie, whose fretwork I don't appreciate, Jennifer and I had a great time. It was just like being at a
sing-song at a pub in Liverpool, complete with the drunken revelry. But another
thing we liked about this show was that it made us feel really young. The only
people younger than us were the children, or more likely the grandchildren, of
audience members, who were running around in the aisles and who sang lustily
along with “Yellow Submarine.” Another thing we liked was that we knew all the
words to every song. We played name that tune with each other – and as you can
probably imagine, in my family that game is perpetually a lightening round.
The whole thing was like stepping into a jukebox
stocked with bad hits from the 1970s, or maybe seeing a cover band at a bar in Missoula,
or a jam session by your kid’s high school math teachers, like the one I saw in
my hometown last week, only on that occasion they played songs by the Pixies
and Metallica, which was frankly preferable song selection. '70s rock is just so
degraded – the sonic equivalent of a cheap orange plastic Halloween cup with a
pumpkin face that lights up carved on the bottom – but man, songs were hooky in
those days! You would be surprised. Like, there’s this song by Toto called “Hold
the Line,” I haven’t thought about it in a million years, but I knew its name
and every word before three notes were up. Will the same be true in 2040 when members
of 21 Pilots and Muse are doing some similar type tour? I think not.
And even if that were to happen, I’m not sure who
would play host. Who, in 2040, will have the emcee status of an actual Beatle? Who on the planet even has that status now? Watching Ringo Starr, one is struck
by two things. First, he looks and acts incredible for age 78: we could hardly
believe Wikipedia when we looked it up. Second, and more importantly, is the incredible history that the Beatles bear on their bodies, and in our hearts and minds as well. Watching Ringo Starr perform on the occasion of Jennifer’s birthday made
us thankful that we were born into an era during which we were able to
participate so fully in their existence.
