So this summer I\u2019ve been turning my daughter on to the Beatles, meanwhile rediscovering how great they were, taking me back. I was a child when \u201cLet It Be\u201d was on the AM radio airwaves and I remember it as no less than the greatest pop song of all time. In college in the Seventies I pretty much memorized the Beatles songs, even while other bands came and went in popularity. Now I\u2019m listening to Revolver, Rubber Soul, Abbey Road, the White Album, Let It Be, and Sergeant Peppers. Every day I get hooked on a new old song. Today it was \u201cAcross the Universe,\u201d jai guru deva om. What a beginning:
\nWords are flying out like
\nendless rain into a paper cup
\nThey slither while they pass
\nThey slip away across the universe
\nPools of sorrow waves of joy
\nare drifting thorough my open mind
\nPossessing and caressing me
\nWhat impresses me now, all these four decades later, is how absurd and inventive they are. Plenty of love songs, many titled with female names: Julia, Prudence, Martha. But over and over again they turn the pop clich\u00e9s on their heads and spin them around. When I queue up \u201cLet It Be\u201d and \u201cTwo of Us\u201d comes on, my three-year-old Lili\u2019s face lights up with smile and she starts nodding to the tune. Her favorites are on the White Album, particularly \u201cBungalow Bill\u201d and \u201cRocky Raccoon.\u201d
\nMeanwhile we \u00a0have a caterpillar barn of sorts, with Monarch butterfly caterpillars just now going into chrysalis. Hence it’s the summer of Beatles and caterpillars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So this summer I\u2019ve been turning my daughter on to the Beatles, meanwhile rediscovering how great they were, taking me back. I was a child when \u201cLet It Be\u201d was on the AM radio airwaves and I remember it as … Continue reading