I have always been a fan of the Beatles, since their coming to America. I have also recognized them from the beginning as weird guys.
They are a perfect example of really good singers, but not really great guys. It is doubtful that, apart from their music and celebrity, the average person would even be able to stand them.
John was weird, Paul couldn't even read music and tried too hard to be cool, George was a Hare Krishna and Ringo was always kind of strange with his peace and love, peace and love.
Musically they were great, seminal performers who, single-handedly, changed the face of popular music. They picked up every fad that came along and, from all reports, argued constantly. It was no wonder they broke up.
John was considered to be the intellectual one but went on to make up silly songs. Stuff like "Give Peace a Chance", "Cold Turkey"; "Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)"; "Mother"; "Power to the People"; "Imagine"; "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)"; "Woman Is the Nigger of the World"; "Mind Games"; "Whatever Gets You thru the Night". Imagine had to have been the dumbest song ever written in the history of the world.
Paul went on to form Wings, which I did like, turned out some really good stuff including one symphony and kept his cool even in the midst of a bitter, acrimonious divorce. But his comments the other day at the Obama concert showed him to be a real fool.
George had a great look, but spent so much time singing about Hare Krishna and even got into a lawsuit over stealing the Chiffons’ song, He’s So Fine, and making it My Sweet Lord.
Two are dead, one tragically and one from excess. Paul is making a fool of himself with putting down President Bush, and Ringo is doing so by going around saying Peace and Love, Peace and Love.
I still like to hear them, but they are living proof that singers, though talented people, were just musicians.
Anytime we try to elevate musicians and actors above what they do, we get in trouble. Expertise in one thing
does not guarantee success in another. The Beatles were proof of that.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
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Musicians are, as you say, just musicians. I thought Rich Mullens put it well when he said that when people asked him theological questions he told them he was a musician, not a pastor. Musicians need to remember that their expertise is music and not necessarily philosophy or politics.
ReplyDeleteElla Cliver