Re: The Beatles Behemoth

[John Hughes <john@pureneasy.fsnet.co.uk>]

Lela, re

> > Plus, I think they were already more mature and thoughtful when they 
> > hit than The Beatles were.  "My Generation" is a classic, quoted in 
> > everything from stupid TV shows to award winning lit, but where's "I 
> > Wanna Hold Your Hand?"

I may be wrong, but I believe your question can be answered in two ways. 

One, the marketing arm of EMI are absolutely fanatical about restricting
access to the Beatles' music, which is (IMO) only to enable EMI to
overprice sales of the entire Beatles catalogue. 

But, in the context I think you mean though, the Beatles lyrics are
generally of the simple and (not unpleasantly) sweet vein, love songs
and songs about relationships. They generally have fewer themes of the
kind explored by writers like Townshend or Davies or Partridge or
Marriott/Lane.

The Who's early singles output did have an acknowledgement of the
prevailing industry requirement for simple love songs to fit the chart
ethos, they were, lyrically, and certainly up to Sgt Pepper days, more
advanced than most of the Beatles output.

Pete was - and is - an extraordinarily adept wordsmith, and for me, the
Beatles were more adept at the pop culture, i.e. the charts, appealing
to young and old alike, and it was only after Brian Epstein's death that
the chart discipline vanished, and the lyricism that came within songs
like Strawberry Fields Forever, and the harder and darker edges of the
White Album were allowed to flourish.

And I do find it significant that the Beatles' most lyrical work came
after Epstein's death, leading me to believe that Pete was never
confined by Kit Lambert the way the Beatles were confined by Brian
Epstein's, who came from a totally different background to Kit.

Something we should be grateful for, probably.

Cheers,

John