We were up at the Tahoe-Donner place this weekend getting it ready for winter. On the way home today we decided to play the Beatles album “1,” which contains 27 of their top selling singles.
As I was listening to hit after hit rolling out of the speakers I was struck with what marvelous song-writers Lennon/McCartney were. Almost all of the tracks are less then three minutes long, but what I realized is that each of them did not need to be a second longer. And, I noted that each of these little gems was distinctly different than all of the others. To be able to consistently write such wonderful songs without being totally repetitive or derivative was an amazing feat. (And of course they wrote many more, which can be found on their albums. For example ‘Norwegian Wood” is not on this CD.)
Of course the other result of playing the album was a huge, continuing jolt of flashbacks and contact highs, tinged with a bit of regret over the loss of what once was.
If you really don’t have a lot of Beatles albums and want to have just one CD that has “all the hits,” you should snag this CD. Even if you have a lot of Beatles stuff, this CD is worth buying and throwing in your car for the long and winding road.
~ Tom
2 comments:
I nought that CD when it first came out for Flynn, my youngest, and on our trips up to the Berkshires, almost every weekend for a few years after his mother and I first separated, we'd listen to it and I would say to him pretty much what you say in your post, the amazing talent of those two at songwriting, but not without acknowledging the essential contributions of george and Ringo as well. But more importantly it gave both my boy and me a sense of joy and hope and relief from the troubles we were going through. Thank God for The Beatles! (and I still have arguments with people who think they're too "pop" or not as "real" as the stones or are too ancient etc., god bless those mammyjammers too).
Well said, my friend.
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