My older sister is a wonderful person. Aside from enduring her reign as my official babysitter from ages 0 to 10, she has taught me many useful things. Number one on my list of Most Useful Lessons Taught to Me by My Older Sister is this simple truth: Life is better with the Beatles. Boy howdy, did she love the Beatles! Everywhere she was, the Beatles were there, too. In her room, in the car, in the kitchen, on her Walkman . . . it was like Big Brother Beatle was always watching. I don’t think anyone cried harder than she did the night George Harrison passed away, just nine days after my sister’s 17th birthday. As years went on and I advanced from 1st to 2nd to 3rd grade, the inevitable finally happened, and soon enough I felt a tapping in my toe and a prickling in my ear that made me want to twist and shout. I loved the Beatles! I fell in love with their charm, their music, and those funny accents. I started having 8-year-old daydreams of sitting in Shea Stadium in 1965 and being swarmed by an army of screaming teenage girls. This is when I learned that life is getting better all the time (especially when you have a slight man crush on Paul McCartney).
Fast forward a few years to present, and I’m still learning from the Beatles. Take this song for example: “Nowhere Man.” What wisdom! Oh, wait, you don’t know the lyrics? Well, give this a listen and you’ll get it pretty quick . . .
P.S. If you want a really trippy experience, click here to see the song as it appears in the Yellow Submarine, the late 60s nightmare cartoon. I said I learned from the Beatles, I never said I emulated them.
