Perseus

Making an anthology of the Beatles, stick around for your song!

[the-beatles-anthology]

Introduction

The Beatles are a generation spanning group that, some would argue, have helped define not just the rock industry but also several other genres. Many fans have formed very powerful connections to the songs that came from the group, not only in how they like and hear the music, but also in how it makes them feel and what memories these songs can conjure. Most anthologies take these songs on a technical level with minimal commentary on how they influence the emotions of the listener. I want to create this anthology to document just how much these songs mean to me and millions of others. Many would say the Beatles’ songs aren’t worth a thing due to their documented history with psychedelic drugs, and while some of the songs produced during that time are…out there, it doesn’t mean the whole lot is ruined. In fact some of those songs still have very tangible feeling and emotion, one just has to look for it. 

    This blog may be slow to update so please be patient. But I do hope you all stick around; this is going to be a fun project to take on and share with the fans. My requests/asks will be open, but I will be going through my top songs first and will try my best to get to the asks. Thank you and please stay!

[the-beatles-anthology]

Hey Jude

Just a little trigger warning, this post does deal with heavy topics of mental health and suicide, if you are not in a good space, please skip past this one until you are

For many, Hey Jude sparks so many emotions, often uplifting and joyous. For Paul, this is also a very special song, in ‘The Lyrics’ by Paul McCartney, he explains how it originally started out as a song for Julian during Cynthia and John Lennon’s divorce in 1968. It was originally supposed to be titled Hey Jules because of a nickname McCartney had for Julian but changed it to be more open and ambiguous. Interestingly, one of the most iconic lyrics, ‘The movement you need is on your shoulder’, was going to be scrapped by Paul, John wanted it kept because he believed it was one of the best lyrics in the song.  And for that, I’m sure every Beatles fan thanks John Lennon. It’s hard to explain, but there is just something so breathtakingly uplifting about that line mixed with McCartney’s vocals, the piano and, later on at the crescendo of the song, the strong beat and rhythm.

Hey Jude was actually my first real introduction to the Beatles. Of course I’ve heard their songs before that point but I never really fell into them the way I did when I found this song. At the time I was maybe 15 or 16 and struggling with my mental health. I was in a bad spot and on the precipice of taking my own life. At the time I was also really hyper fixated on David Tennant and I had already finished Good Omens and the Tenth Doctor’s run of Doctor Who, so I was out of fresh stuff to watch of David Tennant that I could get for free. Then I discovered a 1994 Scottish drama series called Takin’ Over The Asylum. I found it on YouTube in some shitty reupload. But I was hooked from the first episode. 

The first episode starts off with Eddie McKenna getting fired from his part time radio DJ job. His boss takes pity and mentions a hospital called St. Jude’s Hospital and how they’re looking to start a hospital radio. Eddie happily accepts without realizing that St. Jude’s is a mental health facility. He still goes once he finds out and sets up the small office. The first episode is an establishment of recurring characters like Campbell Bain and Francine. But it also introduces us to a character named Nana. She’s a homeless woman brought to the hospital by the police but she doesn’t speak English and is suspected to be speaking in tongues, the only thing that the hospital staff knows is that she likes music. While Eddie is fiddling about in the radio office she wonders in and starts messing with his records. Eddie manages to calm her with some whiskey and she messes with him by taking his wallet. She grabs a record, Val Doonican’s Greatest Hits, and he takes it and plays a different record for her. That record was Hey Jude by the Beatles. The sound is crackley and distinctly vintage, but it’s raw and real. The camera then pans to a woman screaming and trying to escape, the song playing under it. This show is amazing, I highly recommend watching it. It’s also what got me into music like the Beatles and others. 

While I know rambling about this show might seem off topic, to me it’s intrinsically related. Without it, I don’t think I ever would have truly listened to the Beatles, and because of the show, my interpretation of their songs are linked in many ways to my mental health. Like Campbell Bain, I struggle from Bipolar disorder, although I’m more depression heavy than manic, and because of that depressive episode, there have been times I seriously contemplated taking my own life. It’s grim I know, but it is the truth. With Hey Jude, it was one of those rare times something managed to cut through. It wasn’t a perfect heal, I still have days where it all comes back and I need to go to a therapist, but this helps calm and ground me when I start getting that static in my head and the thoughts that follow the static. 

The verse that always sticks with me is the first one, “Hey, Jude,

 don't make it bad/Take a sad song and make it better/Remember to let her into your heart/Then you can start to make it better”. The first line reminds me about how I always load too much onto my plate and burn myself out to the point where I start to crash and burn, hence the making it bad. With the third line, it feels to me like it’s talking about your perspective, if you have a sad or bad perspective, that can affect your life and the way you see life and all of its blessing, but if you can flip it, even for a day, I think it can make all the difference in taking a sad song and making it better. The third line reminds me of my religion. I'm a Hellenic Polytheist and I worship with Lady Aphrodite, who has helped me make great efforts in my mental health and how I view myself. She is essentially my Mother Mary. Sometimes it is hard to hear her spirit or wisdom some days and feel her love, thus I have to keep my heart open for her so that she can help me in making my life better. 

But it’s just so hard to pick one line or verse that’s my favorite, this whole song is just an anthem to the broken hearted and broken down. It’s also a song that brings people together, it’s an easy melody and an uplifting beat. It’s something easy to sing and just brings people together with a bittersweet feeling. 

While writing this I decided to see what other people thought, afterall, music has a different effect on all. I texted my sister, who responded that to her, the song felt bittersweet, like missing someone you’ve lost. Not in a sad way, more like a memory of a good moment with them and like you’re telling them you are okay. I won’t go into the context behind this, but this feels like a vivid expression of grief and the slow working healing you undergo. 

This song has saved my life. That I will not deny, I don’t fully understand how or why, but I am glad that I watched Takin’ Over The Asylum and found the Beatles and Hey Jude. Since that moment, I have been given many great blessings, amazing friends, an even stronger relationship with my sister, and so many other positive things that I would not have been able to have had I ended it. I am most definitely rambling now, but I think that’s okay, so long as I can end this on a positive note. Whether it's the Beatles or another artist, if you’re struggling, find an upbeat song with a powerful, positive message that can help uplift you when you’re down, it can truly make a difference in life.

[the-beatles-anthology]

Let It Be

  In the first few notes of music, the tone of ‘Let It Be’ is set. McCartney starts on a slow, melodic piano that holds a reflective and meditative quality. Paul McCartney wrote it during the breakup of the Beatles and after a dream of his deceased mother, Mary, and it was the title track for the album it features on. The song starts slow and pondering, with a recounting of the dream the song is based on. Later in the song, some drums and guitar are added near the end as the climax approaches, but overall, it’s a somber song to me with a message of release and often forgiveness.

     For many, this is a deeply emotional song, myself included. While I don’t bawl my heart out to it, it holds an emotional weight I simply can’t get with other songs. I hold a lot of stuff in and don’t get many chances to release it. For me, this song encourages me to take a deep breath and relax. This is a song I can just drop my shoulders to and let it all roll off. I don’t have to carry my burden with this song. Paul McCartney in the lyrics claims that everything has an answer, and it’s best to just let it be. At the time, this was a reflection of his stresses with the band splitting up and what came next now that a huge chapter of his life came to a close. I tend to overthink and work myself up into a frenzy of anxiety and self-doubt. This song puts me in the mindset that everything will happen for a reason, and there’s not much that can be done in the present, and in time, it will be okay. 

     I think that’s a powerful message to have in a world that’s putting more emphasis on hustle culture and being in a constant grind. It is okay to sit down for a moment and breathe; the world will not end if you do. Plus, you get to hear that wonderful soul and melody that can make a song just amazing. It reminds you just why music is considered an art form because this is truly a masterpiece to me and one of my top ten songs. This song did help change my world view in a way, not drastically, just enough for me to remove myself and think if the problem is truly something to stress myself out over. I can’t stop repeating how wonderful a song this is, like so many produced under the McCartney-Lennon partnership. 

     You can tell this is a Paul McCartney song too just by the way it’s written. With so many of John’s songs, it deals in abstract ideas and concepts. With Paul, his songs construct a narrative and a vivid image. You get it with this song, the image of Mary coming to him, likely above his bed or in a dream, and offering advice we all have been given, yet wrapped in a way that puts it into a new light. It’s not nearly as narrative as songs like She’s Leaving Home, which tells the story of a young girl leaving her family home in the middle of the night. But it still has that feeling and essence that makes it a true McCartney song, and the piano also helps with that feeling. Paul had this way with the piano that in many ways helped build some of the most iconic songs. While he’s good with the guitar and bass, I feel the piano holds his true mastery. He can build wonderful sounding harmonies and motifs just from messing about on the piano. All that the Beatles built has been done without any of them having any real musical training. 

     In a way, this makes everyone’s anxiety even more understandable. The first ten years of their professional lives revolved around this band and the empire it created, and now it was ending. The beauty I find in it isn’t exactly tangible; it’s more in the way that it tends to soothe anxiety. You can even see this in the Michael Lindsay-Hogg documentary, Let It Be. They're working on an album for their breakup, but they’re all laughing, smiling, and playing with each other. It looked more like a regular Tuesday for them, not a colossal ending. That is also Paul McCartney’s beauty; he brings people together through music and can find a way to soothe the rough parts of life through a good story and a melody.