The last half hour of "A Hard Day's Night" - that's all I (just) saw.

[UTUSN]

So Lounge ought to know by now what a small world I live in and never participated in the larger cultural goings on. So I was the age when I should have already processed Elvis and ripe for the Beatles (not to mention the Stones and everybody/everything else). But I didn't. 1965 the college roommate asked what I thought about the Beatles and I had barely heard the name, certainly had not heard the music, which soon after when I did I thought was silly and superficial - although even today I don't get why the fangirls cried at the bubble gum parts. Years later it caught my attention when Lenny featured their compositions in a Young People's concert and he was impressed and imparted how seriously to take them.

Another impact was when I had left school after two years and was incommunicado in Vietnam on a ship when there was no outside communication and after seven months we got R&R and went to the Philippines, the gigantic Navy base at Subic Bay, beautiful facility, and in the Enlisted Men's club where we had the customary steak from coming ashore before going out for Holy Hades on "liberty" - I went to the magnificent, sparkling, giant jukebox to see what new music was there since I had left college a year before and there was a new song by The Beatles: Hey, Jude.

And just yesterday I saw a YouTube interview of Paul addressing (again?) the question of who broke them up. And the answer was not Yoko. He spoke as he always seems to, without guile? He said very simply and without hesitation that it was John, that there was a meeting and John broke the news that he was done. That is all. Paul adds now, without any hint blaming Yoko, that John was just in love with Yoko, but this was not whatever John's reason was, she was not in Paul's answer at all, just that (talking now) John was deeply in love with Yoko. But he added that years later after the separate careers, Paul was set to drop an album or whatever that happened to be near the same date as something John and/or whoever was dropping their stuff and they sent Ringo with a legal letter to Paul's house to tell him that he was legally obliged not to do the double drop thing and Paul told Ringo to get out of his house. But in the interview Paul added that he made peace with everybody and relished the peace of it all.

But on my own regarding any impression their music made on me first was this one, the painfully sweet harmonies, with the tonal shift between 1:04 & 1:19:

***********ON EDIT, here's the interview, oh it's Howard STERN:

[ailsagirl]

1. I must have seen that film a dozen times!!

Best. Beatles. Movie. Ever.

They were such superb musicians, I didn't expect them to be so natural and unassuming before the camera.

Best. Musical. Group. EVER!!!

I will read your commentary momentarily, but first I'm going to enjoy those superb harmonies!!

Thanks for posting!!

[UTUSN]

3. I am humbled because it's so obvious that I'm not well versed, thank YOU!1

[Guilded Lilly]

7. As a member of -The Official Beatles Fan Club- heh...

for years we would get special items sent to us. One was the entire script of A Hard Day’s Night in soft cover book form with pics.
One of my sisters and I memorized it and at any given moment would start quoting it, complete with accents.
(We were nuts but those were totally fun times)
“Eh, pardon me for asking but whose that little ol man?”
“What lil old man?”
“That lil old man”
“Oh, that one? That’s me grandfather”
“That’s not your grandfather.”
“It is, you know”
“I’ve seen your grandfather, he lives in your house”
“Well that’s me other grandfather. But this is me grandfather as well”
“How do you reckon that one out?”
“Well. Everyone’s entitled to two of them and this is me other one”
And on and on and on.
Great memories of simpler times and easy smiles.

[Guilded Lilly]

2. I was a total, besotted goner from the first radio airing...

And though I faded away for a bit a few years after the official break-up. (I was a Paul gal all the way), I have owed much of the joy of my life to their music.

[UTUSN]

4. Paul has always seemed so unassuming and therefore under appreciated?

"Under appreciated" can't be correct, given his accomplishments. He just seems humble. Well, not "humble" since he is straightforward about claiming his and their rightful place.

[Guilded Lilly]

5. Oh, he rocked my world from the first day :)

While the combined impact of the Fab Four was considerable, there was never a question in this Beatlemaniac’s mind that Paul had the most talent and diversity.
They were all four young, fairly normal guys with wondrous dreams and guts and probably luck, that combined to create an amazing force.
I’ve always considered myself quite fortunate to have grown up with their creative magic around me.
There is still an irresistible charm and yeah, unassuming aura around “Macca”.

[UTUSN]

6. Had never heard of "Macca" until yesterday with a YouTube interview and now you!1

You're like a special surprise find in an antique store!1

[Guilded Lilly]

8. -Sir Macca- to us all now (laughing)

[UTUSN]

9. You for sure know all the answers to these questions, he said the true fans do:

Funny when he refers to himself or "The Beatles" in the third person!1

[ailsagirl]

10. Well said, Guilded Lilly

There is such exuberance in their music-- it is literally impossible to sit still while listening.

They really were something quite, quite spectacular-- absolute genius!!

[Talitha]

11. Went to see it in my local Chgo theater when it originally played

and the admission charge was 35 cents - that's a LONG time ago!
I recently bought it at Barnes & Noble, and my 38 year old son absolutely loves it.

Someone made a phone call to a live NPR (National Public Radio) broadcast a while ago, and told a charming story about Wilfrid Brambell, the actor who portrayed Paul's Grandfather.

Mr. Brambell starred in a British tv series called 'Steptoe and Son', a sitcom about the owners of a scrap yard. Our American version was, of course, 'Sanford and Son'.

In the series, Mr. Brambell's character was always unkempt and quite filthy - which is why everyone in A Hard Day's Night kept mentioning how 'clean' he was. It was an inside joke that went over very well in England, but was lost to our American audience.

Great movie - makes me feel like I'm 12 years old again!

[Guilded Lilly]

12. Great tidbit about Mr. Brambell! I always thought...

They were saying he wasn’t a dirty old man as in lecherous! Ha!
Thanks