On June 25th, 1967, fifty-six years ago, The Beatles introduced the song, "All You Need Is Love" and they did it by performing via satellite to 400 million people in 25 countries. I've watched the video of that performance many times and tried to imagine what it was like hearing that song for the first time with everyone else in the world. If you've never seen it, it is still worth watching.
Flash forward to 1994 and I remember watching the incredible Beatle Anthology television show. When the show ended they introduced the first Beatle song in twenty-four years, "Free as A Bird" with another new song "Real Love" on the flip side. It was incredible to watch and listen to how technology brought John Lennon back to life to sing again with the group.
Flash forward one more time to Thursday, November 1, 2023, this Thursday. At 10 am. (EST), The Beatles will release their final song, "Now and Then" and the flip side will be their first single from 1963, "Love Me Do." The song was a demo for John Lennon and it was given to Paul McCartney from Yoko Ono, John's wife. This time it is artificial intelligence bringing John Lennon and George Harrison back to life for one last song. There will also be a twelve minute documentary on the Beatle's YouTube station on how the song was made.
I became a Beatle fan in high school around 1976/1977. During the past year or so I've listened to the Beatles station on SiriusXM radio and have fallen in love with The Beatles all over again. Hanging in my office above me now is the below gift my oldest daughter put together in 2018 with some of the famous words of The Beatles. Next to that is a Beatle bag I believe my brother gave me and the two Beatle pins that come from those first couple years that I became a Beatle fan in the seventies.
In 1978, I wrote a very long poem about The Beatles called, "Yesterday, Today, and Always." Below is the first eight lines and the last four lines. It's hard to believe, but the poem is exactly 64 lines which is a pretty special number. One of my favorite Beatle songs is "When I'm 64" and of course Beatlemania began in 1964 when they came to America.
You can count on it, at 10 am this Thursday, I will be listening to the radio to hear the final song of the most influential and best group of all-time-The Beatles. You don't want to miss it.
YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND ALWAYS
Back in January 1964
Something happened that the world could not ignore.
All of a sudden, coming out of the blue,
A legend began only challenged by two.
One challenger who sang, "White Christmas" was Bing,
And the other was always known as, "The King."
Across from Liverpool, England four lads came,
Since that time, the world has not been the same.
Whether The Beatles stay apart, or if they come together,
The one thing that is sure, they will be remembered forever.
Although the Beatles great legend started fourteen years ago,
The world will never know, another John, Paul, George and Ringo.
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