The
Beatles 'arrived' when I was nine and nothing would ever be quite the same again.
They permeated our young lives and literally became the soundtrack to my
adolescence. Christmases were always awash with fabulous Beatle music (1963 With The Beatles, 1964
Beatles For Sale, 1965 Rubber Soul). We thrilled to their sound on transistors, radiograms and TV specials.
Thanks for reading. Have a rocking New Year Beatlemaniacs everywhere, S :-)
Tennis
rackets became guitars, biscuit tins became drums (except no one really wanted to be Ringo) and the girls next door became groupies as we mimed to John, Paul, George and Ringo's
unprecedented string of number one hits. In the playground there were mock battles between Beatles fans, Searchers
supporters and those deluded few who thought the Dave Clark Five were going to
take over the world. We were still all wearing short trousers - even in winter.
They seemed such innocent and exciting times....
Years later, Beatles For Sale was the de rigeur LP (and then CD) of choice to be played during the annual decorating of the Christmas tree, and so the Beatles became not just part of my DNA but indelibly part of my daughters' as well... and Revolver remains my favourite album of all time.
Today's poem is one that I've just written as part of a project for Blackpool's Imperial Hotel, about some of its most famous guests and this being Christmas week, what better time to give it an airing?
This iconic image of The Beatles in Blackpool was taken on the roof of the Opera House by photographer Peter Emmett.
Beatlemania!
Beatlemania
was born in Blackpool
back
in the summer of sixty-three.
The
fab four rocked the town by the sea
no
fewer than eight times in that giddy year,
playing
Queens Theatre, the Opera House and ABC
from
balmy July to sultry September,
each
show a performance to remember.
None
more so than their first appearance
at
the Queens - once Feldman’s - on Bank Hey Street
(now
a cut-price department store)
when
four thousand frenzied but ticketless fans
besieged
and surrounded the sold-out venue,
completely
blocking all of its doors
so
that the mops
had
to be smuggled in across rooftops –
the
first of many a Hard Day’s Night.
On
stage their fringes shook in crazy joy,
their
music, soundtrack of our unshackling,
hardly
heard above the noise
of
screaming girls in pheromone flow.
It
was mayhem of the most wondrous kind…
…and
later in Imperial pomp
the
boys sipped scotch and coke to unwind,
cloistered
in their hotel suite
figuring
the chords to I Feel Fine.
But
the Fab Four did so much more
than
light up Blackpool –
they
were about to turn on a generation!
From
Love Me Do to Love You To,
the
Beatles soon commanded every station.
A
cultural phenomenon
unparalleled
in modern times,
these
four young men enthralled a nation
eager
to escape our post-war blues.
They
switched the points -
and
in doing so
allowed
us to forgo
destination
Squaresville
in favour of a Magical Mystery Tour.
in favour of a Magical Mystery Tour.
Thanks for reading. Have a rocking New Year Beatlemaniacs everywhere, S :-)