It was 40 years ago today that the Beatles came to play. | FerrariChat

It was 40 years ago today that the Beatles came to play.

Discussion in 'Other Off Topic Forum' started by Texas Forever, Feb 8, 2004.

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  1. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Apr 28, 2003
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    Texas!
    Actually, tomorrow will be the 40th anniversary of the Beatles playing on the Ed Sullivan show. I was 11 at the time. Ed Sullivan always came on Sunday night. Talk about all the right lines crossing at all the right times. That was the Beatles.

    I remember going to bed that night listening to Papa Don on WNVY radio in Pensacola (andbody here remember transistor radios?) who was playing nothing but Elvis because the king was dead. Elvis was out and the Beatles were in.

    Later that week I brought my first album ever -- Meet the Beatles. I took my Daniel Boone record off my record player, changed the speed to 33 1/3, and joned my g-g-g-g-e-n-e-r-ation.

    I paid $5 for that album which was all the money in the world and then some. Wish I still had it, but I left it out on my window sill with a Sugar Daddy candy bar on top of it by mistake. It never played very well after that.

    So come on all you Boomers, here's your big chance to wax nostalgic. Where were you 40 years ago when the Band came to play?

    Dr "Mop Top" Tax

    ps Nostalgic in Car Guy talk means to tell a bunch of lies. Thought I'd help some of you guys out here.
     
  2. wax

    wax Five Time F1 World Champ
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    It's my second clear memory/realization-something-is-afoot - first was the Kennedy funeral. Born in 9-60, I'd been wearing hearing aids for almost a full year & attending Hearing School from 2 1/2 by the time The Beatles arrived. Any recollection of my own little journey is vague as can be. It's like I think something may have happened in my case, whereas I know The Beatles were happening.
     
  3. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Texas!
    Good catch Wax. Actually, the Beatles and Kennedy were related in a way. One of the majors was going to run a story on the Beatles in England on... 11/22/63. Story got postponed.

    Indeed, the Kennedy assassination and the Beatles on Ed Sullivan were the two events that made TV into the force that it is today. When JFK was shot, the entire nation was glued to their TV sets for almost a week, which had never happened before. Then barely two months later, they estimate that 50% of the nation tuned in to the Sullivan show to see the Beatles.

    Personally, I don't remember was caused me to watch that show. I almost always watched Walt Disney on Sunday nights, and I recall that the Ed Sullivan show came on after Disney, but not sure. Maybe it was the buzz on the local radio, who knows?

    What I do remember is that it changed my life. Sounds silly, but I went from listening to my older sister's Hootenanny music (anybody remember Tom Dooley? Not to be confused with Mr. Doody of F-Chat) to rock 'n roll that night. All us guys liked Ringo, and the girls liked, who else, but Paul. I later became a big fan of John, but that's another story.

    Ah, the 60s. It really did seem like anything and everything was possible during those years.

    Dr "Misty Eyed' Tax

    ps I saw her standing there was my favorite. It rocked.

    pps Wax, I had forgotten about your hearing loss situation. More power to you, it sounds like <sic> that you are handling it very well. It turns out that I suffered nerve damage when I was a baby, but nobody knew it until many years later. Indeed, I didn't get hearing aids for the first time until I was in my early 40s. Definitely made the world a different place. However, my hearing loss made me a voraious reader, which led to becoming a writer (of sorts), but a horrible speller.


     
  4. wax

    wax Five Time F1 World Champ
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    No kidding! They missed it, aye? Yeah, back then nobody gave it a second thought, ever!

    "Oh, what a wonderful baby/toddler/mutant we have! Never gets bothered by vacuum cleaners, us having loud sex, shootings, etc. etc."

    Since 80's though, hearing is checked by snapping fingers behind baby within seconds of birth. As the story goes, mine was "discovered" by a couple who were baby-sitting me - their own daughter had nerve deafness which they'd discovered a month prior when she was 3. I was 2 1/2. I've always "scored" an 85% loss in both ears, she has historically "scored" 83%. I can communicate normally, she can't, as she is accursed with what honestly sounds like nasal dolphin imitations. That's the difference a few months makes with profound deafness. Same speech difficulties for those I went to Hearing School with (attended from 2 1/2 thru 1st grade {K and 1st in tandem with Hearing School}). I had the worst hearing on graphs, but ultimately had highest SAT's, let alone every other aptitude test County-wide. I firmly believe this was due to attending a public school and not special education - and as you can attest, a voracious appetite for reading, thereby, er, hopefully, improving writing itself.

    Jordan is another who has been down a similar path - though his loss is different than Nerve Deafness. But it made him focus, and Mozart is his Dawg.

    What's funny is, that Friday night, Nightline did a special show devoted to the 40th anniversary of Beatlemania hitting the US. I was calmly but breathlessly describing the impact of The Beatles (appearance) as the introductory Nightline graphics danced on the screen to my fiancee and her son. Everything I said was echoed in what the Narrator said. This shows the universal agreement that the impact was sudden, decisive and left a lasting impression, in that moment and the years to follow. In other words - The Beatles, by definition are True Icons. I still like the Stones more, though. Can still hear my Pop saying "This country's going to hell."
     
  5. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Texas!
    .

    Well things were different back in the early 50s. Our parents didn't dote on us like we do with our kids. I pretty much left the house in the morning and then came back at night. But I'm proud of you for obviously overcoming your hearing loss. I'm sure that mine was never as bad as yours.

    The more I think about it, the more I believe that the Beatles coming to America was one of those seredipitous events that changed the world. Question: If the Beatles had not existed, would we have invented them?

    Good Nite All
     
  6. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Bump. I can't believe that I'm the only one here who is old enough to remember seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Am I?
     
  7. MARQ

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    Hardley, DrTax. I remember it well. Made sure I was in front of that TV with time to spare before the Ed S. show came on...wasn't gonna miss a chance to see the Beatles perform on TV. What a radical change to the music we were listening to at that time.
     
  8. FerrariFrank1

    FerrariFrank1 F1 Rookie

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    I was 3...almost 4 (will be 44 next week) But,after seeing them on Ed Sullivan,(it's a little vague,but my Family reminds me of it,and I can pretty much remember it) I wanted a Guitar soooooo bad! But,because I was a little kid,got a little plastic "Electric Guitar" with Nylon strings that wouldn't stay in tune...well...you couldn't really tune them,one of my older Cousins who played Guitar tried. It sounded like.......Beautiful music to me. Got my first Real Guitar when I was 10,and took lessons. Got my first Real Electric Guitar,and teeny little amp when I was 12. Then, added more Guitars. Bought bigger,and bigger Amps. Started a Garage band.(Alice Cooper,Deep Purple,Black Sabbath,UFO,Beatles,etc...tunes) Played party's,bars,whatever,whenever. (Chicks and Beer,mostly :) )I bought my son,(6,now) a 3/4 size Mini Strat and little Crate amp last Christmas. He loves it,but,I've been playing it every day. ALL because of seeing the Beatles,first,when I was a little kid. Got the "Bug",so to speak :).
     
  9. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    LOL, my friend and I were so pathetic that we used tennis rackets with a cord stuck in the strings to play rock 'n roll stars! Gawd, thought I had forgotten that one!
     
  10. Erich

    Erich Formula 3

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    I have no independent recollection of that night. I was 5.5 years old.
    My parents were in their 30's when I was born. Their musical tastes ran more toward Tommy Dorsey than Tommy. I do remember singing the lyrics to I wanna hold your hand at some point. (I got a lot of them horribly wrong too)

    The Kennedy assassination had a large impact on me. Cartoon programming was pre-empted for days. I can remember surfing to every channel on the dial (all 4 of them), they all had this horse drawn, flag draped wagon moving slowly along. I did not know what it all meant, I just knew that Bugs Bunny was GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Erich
     
  11. branko

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    I remember it well. I was 14 at the time and could hardly wait for the Ed Sullivan Show to begin. No other band in history has had the impact of the Beatles.
     
  12. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Texas!
    You had 4 channels! Man, you was rocking. Bet you ever had a color TV!

    Take Care
     
  13. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Texas!
    Branko, I was 11, but I have no memory of why I was watching that night. I normally watched Disney, but not the Sullivan show. Was there a lot buzz going around about the Beatles being on Ed Sullivan? I don't remember much buzz in Pensacola back in those days except for Mountain Dew and Sugar Daddy candy bars!

    Take Care, DrTax
     

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