Letter to Fellow Beatles Fanatic

Brian:

Yes, I was a musician. I am now 52, and retired long ago from ear damage. I am susceptible to it, and now wear hearing aids (started when I as 26). I played on the local level at bands and parties in Michigan.

I haven't yet heard your music. I was drawn in by your analysis.

I tried hard at writing music back in my late teens-early twenties. Later in my composing era, I had a Tascam 4-track Porta-Studio. Drum machines had just come into play, and I used one on a couple of cuts. All my recorded efforts are now lost, except in my memory. I can honestly say some of the stuff was pretty good. Of course, having good stuff is only a small part of the battle of getting it heard and sold. Major influences were the Beatles, Jethro Tull, and anything with a good, unified melody and set of chord changes.

Of course I was not on the level of the Beatles.

IMHO, good character contributed to the Beatles' genius

One thing the Beatles had going for them very much, IMHO, is the great integrity and character of those surrounding them. Brian Epstein, George Martin, Mal Evans, Alistair Taylor -- none of them would have taken a dime from the Beatles that was not theirs. They were all heart-and-soul dedicated to the Beatles' cause. As John said (paraphrased), "In my heart, I knew that when Brian died, we were sunk." (And look at the troubles they had with Allan Klein.) If the Beatles had joined forces with a manager of less integrity and flair than Epstein, and with a producer with less disciplined open-mindedness than George Martin, I do not think it likely they would have gone as far. As for the Beatles themselves, they didn't succumb to renegotiating contracts after they made it big, and they didn't get all caught up in themselves as big stars. After Ed Sullivan, if they had a $150 gig to play, they played it, as agreed.

The bedrock good character of the Beatles helped their music. Nowadays, there are groups and artists left and right that try to build careers based on bad aspects of character, such as being violent and demeaning or crass, and so forth (think rappers and half-naked humping divas, to name two examples). IMHO, that will get you only just so far. It is not what gets you remembered 100 years from now. This is not to say that the Beatles work wasn't alloyed with a little violence and darkness here and there -- but they didn't make it their stock in trade.

Sorry to yammer so long. I can easily "get going" writing and talking about the Beatles.

Have a good anything-you-want,

Jay