The Beatles were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star. They were just four regular lads from post-WWII Liverpool in northwest England that took the world by rock-n-roll tours of washington dc storm. The Beatles are the bestselling rock band of all time with over 1 billion units sold.
All Beatles fans have a favorite album and mine was the White Album. They were unwittingly chronicling tours of washington dc life in the 1960s and early 1970s. No one can argue their impact on music, culture or entertainment. They were talented, funny, interesting, outrageous and moving. I remember as a young man hoping tours of washington dc The Beatles would continue forever – song after song was a hit for years of my childhood. tours of washington dc Listening to pop, hip-hop and rap today it makes me appreciate more how my parents felt when they heard Revolution #9 or I am the Walrus.
Liverpool had been a frequent business stop in my professional travels but I never had the time to see The Beatle sites. I woke up one brisk fall Saturday morning and knew it was time to visit Liverpool before winter began. My day started at the most historically significant place in in the area – the docks. Liverpool was an important port in northern England for hundreds of years but during WWII it played a key role in shipping and receiving goods needed by England tours of washington dc for war against the Germans. Today the docks contain historical sites from past centuries as well as being the home to The Beatles Museum. It has a rather a non-descript entrance, across from a large Ferris tours of washington dc Wheel, which leads down into the basement of a building. Once inside the magical mystery tour began.
The layout of the museum was chronological and lain out in three sections: tours of washington dc 1) small areas about each of the individual Beatles as children, 2) The Beatle Years and 3) individual Beatle performers after the breakup. The first part of the museum was fascinating, the second memorable and the third section made me melancholy. I discovered that although John, Paul, George and Ringo truly loved one another they never overcame being a Beatle. The moth and the flame may be a good metaphor. The moth is drawn to the flame as someone may be attracted to fame, fortune and/or success. However the danger for the moth is being consumed by the fire to which it is attracted. It is also the biggest danger for us. Being a Beatle became all consuming.
They were war babies. Liverpool was still trying to recover from the intense and regular German bombing in 1940-1941 known as "The Blitz". War had been over for more than a decade as The Beatles began their journey and life was beginning again for Liverpuglians. tours of washington dc After two world wars back to back England and all of Europe still needed decades of healing. It was out of this unlikely period The Beatles were born. People tours of washington dc were ready to put death and destruction behind and look for something beyond war.
John, Paul and George were drawn to each other in their teenage years. Ringo Starr would later join the band to make it complete. The core of The Beatles tours of washington dc lived on and off in Hamburg, Germany from 1960-1962. This experience widened their reputation, taught them the importance of entertainment and led to their first recording which introduced them to Brian Epstein. Besides George Martin, Epstein would become the most important person in the life of The Beatles.
No one could have recognized tours of washington dc the impact on the music world these four young, fun and talented young men would have on other people's lives. Longtime producer of The Beatles, George Martin was contacted and asked to audition The Beatles. Unknown to him all the other studios had already turned them down. Against George's better judgment he decided to sign them to a record deal. Why? Because of their personalities – they were very engaging. He wasn't particularly impressed with their musical talent tours of washington dc but found them irresistible and entertaining.
As I walked through the museum reading, tours of washington dc listening and looking at the exhibits it reinforced the genius of George Martin. Although they were to become one of the most popular bands of all time George believed the key to their success was their humor and ability to entertain. They were engaging and difficult for anyone to ignore. It was these attributes, rather than pure musical genius, that helped The Beatles to become legend. They were having fun. They were Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band.
British humor is cynical and silly, more akin to the Three Stooges than Saturday Night Live. No subject is sacred and in fact it is the ability to subtly attack the obvious which makes British humor unique. To fully understand and appreciate it you might have to live in Britain for a period of time to fully experience it. Walking through the museum I asked how myself how I could have missed it. The Beatles were funny. tours of washington dc Prior to my Liverpool trip The Beatles were rebellious crusaders influencing my life with their songs. Their music chronicled the spirit of the '60s and '70s either remaining one step ahead or creating the next phase. They were mystical, free spirited, unusually expressive for the time and covered taboo topics.
Halfway through the museum the story of The Beatles took a turn I wasn't expecting. The breakup of The Beatles over forty years ago was hard for millions tours of washington dc of fans and devotees. All great acts have to end but I always felt like The Beatles were less entertainment, more social tours of washington dc movement. Their breakup left me feeling unfulfilled. I wanted more from The Beatles. I felt victimized by how they had allowed outside forces to penetrate the band and destroy them from the inside.
Yet The Beatles Museum allowed me to see for the first time how the fabric of the group began to unravel under the pressure of being "The Beatles". As pressure to perform from the outside grew they lost their personal identity and became first and foremost a Beatle. Lost were the individual lives of John Paul, George or Ringo. tours of washington dc It was during this time their earnest search began first as a group and then as individuals to find themselves tours of washington dc again. It was the selfish desires of a generation of Baby Boomers that created an insatiable appetite for more "Beatles". tours of washington dc Life became impossible for these four young men from Liverpool. John, Paul, John and Ringo were being slowly suffocated by The Beatles. tours of washington dc As I walked through tours of washington dc the museum tours of washington dc I recognized the pain, the frustration, tours of washington dc even anger that permeated their music. Alcohol, drugs and sex can only numb the pain for a finite period of time.
The end of the museum was rooms which were tributes to John, Paul, George and Ringo; their lives after the Beatles. I walked from room to room and soaked in the differences of these four men who had for so long been identified as one. In the end they were like me, like us. They knew sorrow, loneliness, family dysfunction, failure, success and in the end just wanted to live an enjoyable life. None of The Beatles could have ever seen what was coming when they started. Paul and Ringo in particular had fond memories of The Beatles but John and George seemed to suffer for their role in The Beatles. Few people ever experience the crushing weight that fame can have on lives. These Liverpool lads did love each other; that much is obvious but in some ways they resented each other too. They became too close, their identities intertwined in each other in a way that may have been impossible to separate completely. The crushing pressure to perform, the intense gravity of their fans contributed to their breakup more than the selfish, internal struggles that I had always imagined.
As you leave the museum there is a room with a white piano in the center on which John Lennon was supposed to have written the song Imagine . A pair of his round, dark glasses sat on top of the baby grand as Imagine played softly overhead, over and over again. It was a haunting moment; my sadness surprised me. I came to the museum tours of washington dc to celebrate a musical group that was part of my childhood. I left realizing the price paid by these four men to make music I enjoyed.
I felt emotionally drained walking tours of washington dc up the steps and into The Beatles store. Buying something "Beatle" would make me feel better. The genius that was The Beatles continues as I spent $50 dollars on merchandise; it seemed to make me feel better. In the end they were less band, more marketing than I imagined.
The red double tours of washington dc decker tour buses leave the docks regularly full of tourists from all over the world to see The Beatle sites in and around Liverpool. With limited time I found the addresses Paul and John's youth on-line and took off in search of where it all began.
Finding John's house wasn't easy. Neither tours of washington dc Paul nor John actually lived in Liverpool proper but in the suburbs. John lived with his aunt and uncle in Woolton. Paul lived with his family in nearby Allerton. On my way to John's house I drove past Penny Lane before realizing it. It is an intersection where the lads got haircuts and caught the bus into Liverpool. It was nothing like I envisioned.
Once in Woolton I had trouble finding John's home. I stopped and asked at least a half a dozen people of different ages in the area for directions. Surprisingly at least half of them didn't know who John Lennon was. Finally I found John's tours of washington dc home on a busy street that I had already passed several times. The Lennon and McCartney home tours allow you to go inside their homes. Pulling into the small driveway I stopped my car outside the gate and took pictures. Standing in front of John Lennon's childhood home was as inspiring as standing at Hadrian's Wall or Stonehenge. That surprised tours of washington dc me.
In searching for John's house I came across Strawberry Fields accidentally. There was a busy road, a narrow tours of washington dc street going up a hill behind John's house. tours of washington dc During John's childhood tours of washington dc Strawberry Fields was a Salvation Army home for orphans. It still is. John and his friends used to walk up the hill and play in the gardens (to the British a garden is more akin to "yard" in America).
There are two entrances with small red, ornate gates leading into the smal
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