The Beatles Meet Ed Sullivan and Other Associations

Fifty years ago I saw my wife (she wasn’t my wife then) standing by her locker in the high school where we both attended.  I didn’t know her name; I didn’t know her friends and we had no classes together. It took me awhile to learn her name and about six months later, and at the end of the school year, I asked her out on a date. OK, I was a little shy back then. Nevertheless, what Beatles song does that scenario bring to mind? (The photo included in this post is of her, not by her locker, but a few of years later.)

Also, fifty years ago, 'Yesterday' was still 2 years in the future. The British Invasion was underway and the linch pin to that event was the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964. Mind you, Ed Sullivan was not exactly cool in the minds of baby boomers still in high school, but he did bring to his show cutting edge performances that drew viewers to watch his show on many Sunday nights. Their appearance on the Ed Sullivan show signaled a legitimacy of sorts that this group had promise beyond one long playing (LP) vinyl album. I remember watching the Sullivan show that night and even buying the Beatles album, ‘Meet the Beatles.’ The album contained several memorable songs, including ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand,’ ‘I Saw Her Standing There,’ ‘and ‘All My Loving.’  What could not be known was that the Beatles would press 2 or 3 albums per year over the next six years, each with memorable songs and considerable sales. Their impact on the world of music was inconceivable at that time. Who could have known the songs that were in them: ‘Love Me Do, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love,’ ‘Hard Day’s Night,’ ‘And I Love Her,’ ‘Eight Days a Week,’ ‘I Feel Fine,’ “Ticket to Ride,’ ‘Help!,’ ‘Michelle,’ ‘In My Life,’ ‘Drive My Car,’ ‘Nowhere Man,’ 'Yesterday,' ‘Day Tripper,’ ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ ‘All You Need Is Love,’ ‘With a Little Help from My Friends,’ ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,’ ‘Strawberry Fields,’ ‘All You Need Is Love,’ ‘Come Together,’ ‘Hey Jude,’ ‘Here Comes the Sun,’ ‘Long and Winding Road’ and 'Let It Be,'.... All were still to be written and sung.

What I am remembering here is the unknowable potential they had.

 

Events in my life are associated with their music. Maybe they define in some ways those events. Funny things stick in my mind, like the ride in my uncle’s convertible one night as he drove over an eastern Tennessee mountain listening to ‘The Yellow Submarine,’ or the time early one morning I spent with a friend looking off a mountain bluff watching the cars below and talking about their album, Revolver. And then there was going to a Ravi Shanker at concert, because of his influence on the Beatles.

 

I think about this unknowable potential in the people around me. I ponder it when I am at the grocery check-out, at the coffee shop, and as I greet people entering my church.

 

Now the Beatles also made mistakes. They lived hard. They were also flawed. They, like us, went astray at times. And they, like us have also paid dearly. They had success. They had money, women and adulation. There was also this war. They had failures. The pulls on their lives were unimaginable. They grew up and some have died. They are like us, but what I want to say more than anything, they had incredible potential. They sang to their potential, saying much about our lives and culture. They shaped our culture. In 1969 they broke up. And so life is not so simple. It all takes a toll on the energy of life. They have a legacy.

 

A few weeks ago I served in an inner city project with the church my son and his family serve. The people there seem to get it. They see people living in the inner city as real people with hopes, dreams and most importantly potential. They love family, neighbors and the opportunities to serve also. What songs will they write and what will they sing? What are you writing and what are you singing about? The possibilities? There may even be a marriage in the mix.

 Scripture

Joseph is sold into slavery. – Genesis 37.28

After becoming Pharaoh’s son, Moses fled from Pharaoh to the wilderness of Midian. – Exodus 2.15

David was Jesse’s youngest son and was but a shepherd. – 1 Samuel 17.14-15; 17.33

God does not look at the things men look at. Instead, He looks at the heart. – 1 Samuel 16.7

Jesus, the son of an ordinary Jewish couple, was born and placed in a manger. – Luke 2.7

Jesus confronts Paul about Paul’s persecution of Christian believers. – Acts 9.4

Peter denies he knows Jesus. – John 18.25

 

He who has hope in Him becomes as He is. - 1 John 3.3