I was in the fourth grade when the four lads from Liverpool debuted on The Ed Sullivan Show.  I remember watching their performance that Sunday night in early February and hearing my classmates talking about them the next day, and the next.  But I wasn’t an instant Beatles fan.  For two more years, I still enjoyed listening to and singing along with Roger Miller and Hank Williams (two more blog topics to come soon). 

By the spring of 1966, in the sixth grade, I realized that it was more fun to hang out on the playground near the girls with their transistor record players listening to The Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark Five, Herman’s Hermits, The Animals, and, of course, The Beatles.  That is, it was a lot more fun than kicking crawfish mounds or playing chase with the guys. 

One of the first singles I bought that year was “Paperback Writer”, and then “Yellow Submarine”.  I bought a copy of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” from a friend of my older brother for a dollar.  I still have it.  It may be worth a dollar fifty by now.  Over the years I’ve collected many Beatles albums, CDs and videos.  If I had to pick my favorite Beatles album, I’d have to say “Abbey Road”, but then the “White Album” and “Let It Be” and all the early ones would be right there with it.  The “White Album” and “Sgt. Peppers” are so complex with works like “A Day In the Life”, “Revolution”, and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. 

If I had to pick my favorite Beatles song, I couldn’t.  It would depend on my mood, and I have about one hundred and fifty moods.  Suffice it to say that The Beatles have some great weather songs in “Here Comes the Sun”, “Good Day Sunshine”, and “Rain”.  And our daughter let me choose the father/daughter dance at her wedding reception:  “I Saw Her Standing There”. 

Thank you.  And I hope I’ve passed the audition.