John M. Borack - The Beatles 100: 100 Pivotal Moments in Beatles History

this is a genuine rare bird book

Rare Bird Books
453 South Spring Street, Suite 302
Los Angeles, CA 90013
rarebirdlit.com

Copyright 2021 by John M. Borack

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof
in any form whatsoever, including but not limited to print, audio, and electronic.
For more information, address:
Rare Bird Books Subsidiary Rights Department
453 South Spring Street, Suite 302
Los Angeles, CA 90013.

Set in Minion

epub isbn : 9781644281802

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the following folks for their assistance and support. I truly could not have done it without you.

• Tyson Cornell and everyone at Rare BirdThank you for the opportunity to write about the greatest band ever.
• Michael SimmonsMy Beatle buddy, fellow Popdude, and someone who has done more for me than I could ever repay. Your friendship means the world to me.
• Lynn Seeden, Donnae Menchaca, and Michael BulbenkoThanks for your expertise in photographing some of the memorabilia included in this book.
• Christy BorackThank you for your patience as I completely immersed myself in this projecttwice.
• Steve CoulterThanks for the introduction to the Rare Bird folks.
• Mike FernandezIt took me almost a decade to use it, but many thanks for providing some of the memorabilia photographed in the book.
• Kirk WaldropThanks for the use of some of the quotes from your excellent Paul McCartney tribute discs. Much appreciated!
• Jeff TamarkinI am indebted to you for giving a clueless kid with no experience the opportunity to write for a national magazine all those years ago.
• Susan Sliwicki, Peter Lindblad, and Patrick PrinceThanks for feeding my passion for writing about music.
• To everyone else who has lent a hand, provided encouraging words, or offered me support in my writing endeavors over the yearsmany thanks. You know who you are, I know who you are, and I appreciate you.

This book is dedicated to my amazing children, Kayla and Michael Borack.
You are the inspiration for everything I do, and I love you more than life itself.

Foreword

When I commenced writing my first Beatles-related book ( John Lennon: Life is What Happens ) in mid-2009, I felt extremely fortunate. Having been a fan of the Beatles since the tender age of five, I had almost literally cut my teeth on their music, so being given the opportunity to chronicle the life and times of one of the legendary Fab Four was a thrill to say the least.

The peerless music of the Beatles (as well as their solo efforts) certainly became an integral part of my formative years, as it was for millions of others. At age twelve, my band the Solar Reflection (hey, it was the seventies, okay?) took a whackquite literally, unfortunatelyat recording Get Back and Band on the Run, with the results best left unheard by those with functioning ears. The previous year, I had been called to the principals office for having the gall to bring a copy of Wings Hi, Hi, Hi to a fifth-grade dance; this unwanted dustup with the school administration was due to my teacher mistaking the word funky for another, somewhat more threatening f-word being sung by Paul. (Apparently she had glossed right over the I want you to lie on the bed / get you ready for my body gun stanza, the Im gonna do it to you lyric, and the not-so-subtle drug reference in the chorus.)

In high school, while other kids were reporting on literary giants such as Steinbeck and Shakespeare, this Beatles obsessive in the making penned a book report for a freshman English course on Hunter Davies 1968 biography The Beatles . My instructor Mrs. Pearlman begrudgingly gave me an A- on the report, but scrawled at the top of the title page, Youll never get anywhere reading stuff like this, John. (Shades of John Lennons Aunt Mimi and her famous A guitars all right, John, but youll never earn your living by it comment.)

When my daughter Kayla was an infant, I would regularly rock her to sleep while singing Beatles songs. Even though my voice is no great shakesokay, its terriblethe sound of me whisper-singing Beatles ballads never failed to lull her to sleep. I seem to recall And I Love Her being one tune that particularly soothed her as she would drift off to dreamland.

From that seemingly innocuous beginning all those years ago came a passion that Kayla and I have grown to share: a love of the music of the Beatles, and especially Paul McCartney. Weve attended Beatles conventions together (where she has met folks such as George Harrisons sister Louise and former Wings man Denny Laine), listened to countless hours of Beatles music in the car, attended numerous Beatles tribute band gigs, and purchased Beatles-related birthday and holiday gifts for each other nearly every year.

The two of us have watched the Fab Fours films together, including an ancient VHS copy of Magical Mystery Tour I unearthed in our garage a few years back. (Her reaction to the movie: Dad, that was weird. Shes not wrong.) As Kayla hit her teenage years, I watched and listened with immense pride as she sang Let it Be, Here Comes the Sun, and John Lennons Grow Old with Me at various local concerts and community events.

But for meand its a safe bet that Kayla would agreethe highlight of our dual Beatle fandom has to be the three times weve seen Paul McCartney in concert together: in Las Vegas in 2011, and at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in 2014 and again on July 13, 2019. The first two shows were certainly memorable, but McCartneys most recent LA appearance is the one I think well look back on as something very special. One for the ages, as they say.

As the show began with the rush of the ever-so-familiar guitar chord that opens A Hard Days Night, I glanced over at Kayla and saw that she had tears streaming down her cheeks. As she reached for my hand, I sensed these were happy tears. I smiled slightly, squeezed her hand, and wondered what the evening would hold in store for us. Would it be solely a nostalgia trip, with the stories Id heard of Pauls failing old man voice proving to be true? Would we be disappointed in the seventy-seven-year-old former Beatle if he could no longer cut the mustard on stage?

As it turns out, my fears were allayed before the show even reached the halfway mark. The setlist was strong and varied, with the three new songs from Egypt Station sounding fresh and slotting in quite nicely alongside Beatles and solo Paul chestnuts such as Band on the Run, From Me to You, the explosiveliterallyLive and Let Die, and Ive Just Seen a Face. Happily, McCartneys voice showed little signs of the wear and tear wed been warned about, especially given that this was the final night of his tour. As a matter of fact, one chill-inducing moment during the eveningand there were several for mewas a little falsetto vocal bit Paul tossed in toward the close of the iconic Maybe Im Amazed. I teared up a little, and it was at that point that I realized this was no ordinary rock show we were witnessing.

Simply put, it was magical.

As the thirty-eight-song set ebbed and flowed, songs such as Got to Get You Into My Life, Call Me Back Again (both powered by the addition of a horn section), Let it Be, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Ive Got a Feeling, and Let Em In were rapturously received by the sellout crowd. I stole looks at Kayla every now and again, and saw that she was clapping, happily singing along, and getting lost in the musicjust like her dad did and still does. Because, you see, the bulk of these songs were not simply a part of my life; in many ways, these songs were my life.