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February, 1964.

It was an event, a strange one, but one that turned out to be immensely important, an event that marked the start of a change in much of was, and what was going to happen to a country and the people in it. It was actually a small event, just an airplane and four passengers, but when the plane dropped out of the sky, landed, unloaded its passengers, the earth seemed to shake with screams and shouts, voices and the people with those that said this meant something new, some going on that would be different, inclusive of being both foreign, different and young, but who spoke the same language, sorta.

The Beatles landed on the New York Kennedy's airport on February 7th 1964, descending to a turmoil of young fans, then having a chaotic press conference of bites and bits of Liverpool slang and expression, the answers to the presses' questions both flippant and true speaking about the four; John, Paul George and Ringo, and being the fab four.'

Of course there was concerned by many of those that did not want change, did not want the young of the country looking away from what was American, American music and American musicians. But the Beatles were different in so many ways, they had to attract attention, and much of that attention had been manufactured by another important of the story, Brian Epstein, the father of what were the Beatles. Epstein's genus was not the music, it was the image, the sound and feel of what he want his group to be and become, and coming to American was only a part of Epstein's dream and plan for the group, the Beatles.

And then there was the country, the United States and the people in it were still in shock, hurt and suffering the consequence of an event it did not understand, and could only reluctantly accepted, the assignation of its young president, John F. Kennedy, but just three months ago in Dallas.

The coming of the Beatles was not a cure for the hurt it was a salve to cover most of it, to forget the dark and sense that there was light and lighten feelings by listening and seeing a group of musicians that entertained with simple songs and melodies, songs that could be sung and hummed and melodies that could be danced to, and were, mostly by young girls that need distractions.

The event was ended by a TV show, the Ed Sullivan Show, a odd variety show, EMC'd by an odd writer for a New Your news paper whose program introduced new talent and acts to American viewers, and the Beatles were the best thing that ever happened to the show as American watched and for many attached they hopes to the new act, the Beatles that had come to America.

The sixties began in the minds of many as of the first viewing of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. Maybe an overstatement of fact but not as to influence, American pop culture was never the same, and the general impact on society and culture was immense. The youth of American had a new voice, a new attitude and way to express itself in so many ways from what was done, said and worn in the past. Young did not look the same, did not act the same and did not think the same as those that had been before. They felt themselves free and free to do something different and they did, and that change is still with us, today, though the music is not new, the Beatles died and got old, the change that started is still with us, and probably as long as those that remember what happened in February, 1964 remain alive and can still tell and write about it, that a country wanted to have its hand held and made to believe in itself again.

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Tags: Beatles, events, sixties

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Comment by exedir on February 9, 2014 at 8:07am

Of course, the Beatle song book is large and important to show as much what changed, in them as a group and as writers.  And a question is did they lead or did they follow what was happening, and the answer is, I think both.  

And yes, their are many that see and hear the music and group differently and should.  and yes, it is ultimately the same problem in generations, to know the content but not to have lived and experienced the context and that is surly true of the Fab Four.

I remember the whole experience as a freshman in a dorm hall in the winter of 1964, a winter that had started without a Thanksgiving, a country in morning, full of doubt and somehow a feeling of guilt that some thing shouldn't have happened had, and the phenomenon of the excitement of the Beatles was a tonic to many to get out of the dumps.  I didn't like them, the Beatles, that is, because I knew they were produced and edited for a certain sound and style by Brian Epstein and it was a business.  But, as time has gone on, and I have look back on the experience, it was what the country needed, needed to move on, and it did, in ways never could have been imagined, then...or now...  

Comment by Mandy Muffin on February 8, 2014 at 6:14pm

The Beatles said it best:

There are places I remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain

All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends
I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more

Songwriters
LENNON, JOHN / MCCARTNEY, PAUL

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