The Beatles have always been comfort music for sad times. The first surge of Beatlemania in the United States was intertwined with the Kennedy assassination: CBS News ran an interview with the Beatles on the morning of November 22, 1963. The interview wasn’t aired again that night because of the assassination but, in early December, Walter Cronkite decided to revisit the segment because he thought the nation needed lighter news. Appearing again in a gloomy time, the clip of these chirpy singers immediately sparked a wildfire: radio play lead to record sales and the Beatles making their first American tour in February 1964. It’s not surprising that the current wave of Beatles nostalgia, provoked by Peter Jackson’s 8-hour documentary Get Back, also comes as an anecdote to depression as the Omicron wave tests a pandemic-weary population.
I sat down with Doug Bell, frequent guest, to talk about the documentary and fabled moptops. Our discussion took us into the byways not just of the British invasion but also English comedy (exemplified by Monty Python and Peter Sellers). We also get into the chronic underrating of George Harrison, the role Brian Epstein played as a father figure for the band, and how Billy Preston saved the album Let It Be.
Doug recommend a book on the podcast; for curious Beatle fans, I thought I’d note that it is Rob Sheffield’s Dreaming the Beatles.
As far as soundtracks go, this podcast would go well with “Get Back” (especially the famous rooftop rendition shown in the documentary):
Or “A Day in the Life”:
Or “Isn’t It a Pity”:
NOTE ON THE YEAR’S END
As 2021 draws to a close, I’ll be posting a few more podcasts on movies and TV shows (with an emphasis on material that you don’t need to go to the theatre to see). I’ll work in a few political posts as well to round up the news but I think over the holidays, especially amid the pandemic melancholy, some cultural coverage will provide needed cheer.
(Post edited by Emily M. Keeler)
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Podcast: Meet The Beatles