Beatlemania

Beatlemania: It's back, for me at least. I've always loved The Beatles. I grew up with my dad playing Beatles CDs. I read John Lennon: The Life in my twenties and I learned a lot about Lennon's upbringing and about the formation of the Fab Four. When Get Back came out I was eager to see (and hear) it.

The documentary shows The Beatles in sessions composing the album “Let It Be” and culminates in their last live performance as a band, atop the Apple Corps studio roof. Cameras are rolling seemingly the whole time and the viewer gets a peek into the foursome's writing process as well as their relational dynamic. The young men are playful; they giggle a lot. They drink and smoke. They invite in their girlfriends, groupies, Paul's kid at times. Yoko Ono is a constant, mostly silent, presence throughout the film.

The Beatles' approach to song-writing seems surprisingly casual. Yet they work incredibly hard to perfect each tune, playing each song repeatedly. And when they don't have a song completed, or memorized, they wing it. Lennon sings literal gibberish for a bit during the live performance.

After spending eight hours watching The Beatles create magic and, for lack of a better term, shoot the shit, I miss them. The film lets us in on the small moments, the jokes, the band members putting themselves out there. The Bealtes' humanity is on show. John Lennon reveals his insecurity when he asks for a "nice big" cymbal to "give [him] the courage to come screaming in." Even a musical icon could use a courage boost now and then.

The Beatles play around with lyrics, using "cauliflower" and "pomegranate" as placeholders in the song “Something” before settling on “no other lover.” The four men are quite young, but seem mature beyond their years. They're not divas at all, nibbling on stale toast in a bare bones studio for hours each day. They're relatable, timeless and full of love.

AES, Beatlemaniac

P.S. The Beatles were fellow TM practitioners and even included a mantra in “Across the Universe” meaning “hail to the Heavenly Teacher:” Jai guru deva, om.