The Beatles

The Beatles are now on iTunes. I remember buying my first Beatles album when I was a 8 years old. It was "Introducing The Beatles" and released by VeeJay Records based in England. The majority of that record was later released in the US and was retitled "Meet The Beatles." That record captured the heart and soul of my young life. And of course my mom and dad thought it was the worst bunch of noise they ever heard and had little good to say about their "long hair," which at the time barely touched the tops of their ears. That was 1963 or so. I have never tired of listening to their music. At times I prefer the music prior to Rubber Soul and at times all I want to hear is Rubber Soul and later.

I realize The Beatles were not without controversy. Lennon's remark that they were more famous that Jesus, the drug use, and in-fighting all caused some people to frown on them. People may not like what they did in their private lives but their music remains powerful even today. Listen to the music and hear the message in songs such as Let It Be, Elanor Rigby, Yesterday, All You Need is Love, Come Together, Something, and so many more...we can learn from them and their spirituality. No, they were not Christian, but Christian values are clearly present in some of their most meaningful songs. Of course some of the songs are just simply fun songs to sing about love and love lost and so much more. I mean how can you not smile while listening to a song like Everybody's Got Something to Hide but Me and My Monkey.

It's interesting that 40 years after the band broke up they sold 450,000 albums in their first week on iTunes. Simply amazing. It's too bad that only two of the band's members are still with us, Paul and Ringo. Paul is still writing and recording songs and I just wonder if John and George would be doing the same. The Beatles were an integral part of life during my formative years...how I longed to be the next John Lennon, unfortunately I never could master playing a guitar so I settled for playing a record player and eventually became a radio disc jockey. I've listened to The Beatles on records, 8-tracks, cassettes, CD's, and now iTunes and satellite radio. I just wonder what the next format will be that the band will sell more than a half-million units.