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From left: When John got his driver\u2019s licence in 1965, George, Paul and Ringo showed up to offer congrats.<\/p>\n
I often think how lucky I am to have been born during the Beatles era. It\u2019s like winning the musical lottery, or being in 18th-century Vienna during Mozart\u2019s day. Perhaps it\u2019s just that you identify with the heroes of your own time, and yet the Beatles always seemed to speak directly to me.<\/p>\n
And still do, both as a group and individually.<\/p>\n
I spent the weekend with The Boys of Dungeon Lane on repeat. Paul McCartney\u2019s new album is an injection of hope at a time when many of my musical idols are already gone or are octogenarians (and, thankfully, showing us how vital and creative those years can be.)<\/p>\n
The Rolling Stones, Elton John (a mere 79), McCartney and Ringo Starr all have new albums this year \u2014 with Paul having played bass on the last two Stones albums. How mind-blowing is that? (\u201cYou start playing and they show you the song, and I start thinking, I\u2019m playing with the Stones!\u201d Paul told an interviewer at the New Musical Express, reliving his own fanboy moment.)<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t remember when music was not a driving passion in my life. Because I had older siblings, at first, I listened to the world through the songs they loved. Don\u2019t Pull Your Love, by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, always puts me in the back seat of a big white car being driven down dusty rural roads by my soon-to-be brother-in-law, when he and my oldest sister were courting. A Spaceman Came Travelling, by Chris de Burgh, blew my mind (no illicit substances required) as a kid wearing headphones, lying on the carpet exploring the album collection of another sister\u2019s boyfriend.<\/p>\n
I remember the pattern of roses climbing up my bedroom wall and the thick fog blanketing the ocean at dusk the first time I heard the atmospheric I\u2019m Not in Love, by 10cc, and thinking it sounded like a Paul McCartney song.<\/p>\n
I remember the first tune I heard when Newfoundland\u2019s first FM radio station went live \u2014 Is She Really Going Out with Him?, by Joe Jackson. The first music video I ever saw was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers\u2019 Refugee, when videos were used as late-night filler on the local private TV station, six years before MuchMusic launched in Canada.<\/p>\n
I loved David Bowie throughout his chameleonic career. Space Oddity was the unofficial theme song of a friend\u2019s dorm-room parties \u2014 with said friend now having retired after a noteworthy career as a prosecutor.<\/p>\n
When did we get old?<\/p>\n
As a teenager, I drove my poor mother mad with my incessant fandom. I bucked the trend and crushed on John Oates of Hall & Oates, vowing I\u2019d marry him some day. (But I was fickle; my love was not true. I\u2019ve matured musically and now prefer Daryl Hall.)<\/p>\n
On a boat tour in Bath, England, the guide asked if we were there because it\u2019s the setting of the Regency romance series Bridgerton.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I said, incredulously. \u201cI\u2019m here because of Tears for Fears.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to see many of the artists I love: Burton Cummings (four times), Gowan, Leonard Cohen, Sir Elton, Tears for Fears, Bowie, Tina Turner, Chris de Burgh, Paul Young, Sting, The Waterboys \u2014 all vivid memories that have stayed with me (thus far).<\/p>\n
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I never got to see Paul McCartney live \u2014 my biggest musical regret \u2014 and now his voice has lost some of its range and strength. (Listen to 1968\u2019s Helter Skelter or 1973\u2019s Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five if you need a reminder.)<\/p>\n
Still, standing in the kitchen and listening to the plaintive, Eleanor Rigby-ish strains of Momma Gets By or the Blackbird-esque Days We Left Behind from his new album, I am moved anew by his empathetic songwriting, his unmistakable voice and musical ingenuity.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing stays the same,\u201d Paul sings. \u201cNo one needs to cry \/ Nothing can reclaim \/ The days we left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps not, but it sure as heck is wonderful to hear new music from an artist whose work has enriched my life a thousandfold.<\/p>\n
Pam Frampton lives in St. John\u2019s.<\/p>\n
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Pam Frampton Pam Frampton is a columnist for the Free Press. She has worked in print media since 1990 and has been offering up her opinions for more than 20 years. Read more about Pam<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pam\u2019s columns are built on facts, but offer her personal views through arguments and analysis. Every column Pam produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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