Fab Foundations # 7: “The Real Deal”

(Personal reflections inspired by Beatles songs)

Song: “I Should Have Known Better”
Album: A Hard Day’s Night
Release Date: July 1964

A majority of my formative memories are of the outdoor variety, including countless evenings out and about with my closest friends. There were rare occasions, however, when I would talk my compadres into spending an evening indoors at one of our homes to watch any in a then short list of rock and roll films. Most of these movies we would rent from what were at-the-time, state-of-the-art video stores. One repeat viewing for us was the Who’s the Kids Are Alright (my all-time favorite film).  We also took in Neil Young’s Rust Never Sleeps, Led Zeppelin’s the Song Remains the Same, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and the Who’s Quadrophenia, among others.

These films allowed us to stretch out our understanding of songs we loved that were featured in those films. The viewings were also a way to get to know the musicians better. All of this was a big deal to me. It would ultimately make the inevitable/eventual concert experiences of a number of these acts’ far more compelling than would otherwise have been the case. I suppose you could equate it to learning the history and geography of a city, country or region before travelling there. The additional knowledge gained beforehand makes the experience far more rewarding.

The Beatles as a band were involved in 6 films: A Hard Day’s Night (1964) Help (1965), Magical Mystery Tour (1967), Yellow Submarine (1968), Let it Be (1970) and the Anthology box set (1995). Over the course of this Fab Foundations series, I’ll be visiting (or revisiting) each of these movies. I’ll do this in chronological order, starting here with A Hard Day’s Night.  My goal is not so much to critique these movies as it is to garner thoughts and ideas to write about (much like my approach to this Music and Memory blog site in general in relation to songs and albums).

On the latter-day bonus cd for A Hard Day’s Night, George Martin - who produced the sound-track album for the movie (of the same name), along with a vast majority of the Beatles musical catalog - states in an interview that he was originally attracted to the Beatles not so much as talent per se, but as people. As an early instance of this, he mentions that when he first met the band, he asked them if there was anything that they were not comfortable with in the studio room of EMI (where they would be cutting their first record).  George Harrison responded “well, for starters, I don’t like your tie”. 

I find this both hilarious and courageous. The Beatles had not even signed a record deal yet (and had already been rejected by a number of other record companies), and George Martin, who had quite the authoritative presence about him, was pretty much in control of all the cards. So, there was more than a little risk in such an offhanded comment. But this was who the Beatles were, and Martin found it refreshing.

In a nutshell, this is the type of uninhibited genuineness that is exhibited by all four band members in the film A Hard Day’s Night.

It was pretty clear to me as I watched George Martin make that statement about George Harrison that he was driving at something deeper. He was driving at what made the Beatles…. THE BEATLES! We all search for genuineness in the people we meet, the music we listen to, the art we observe. Real success in any endeavor comes hand in hand with letting your guard down, entrusting and respecting others involved in the process, and connecting with them on the level, and in ways aside from the obligatory professional one. It can be quite amazing how fast you can bond with someone you have just met in the work place when you approach the new relationship this way. It ends up opening all sorts of doors that would otherwise remain closed. Herein lies the upspoken deeper meaning in Martin’s reflection; this notion that we all have amazing gifts that will eventually be noticed by others, but to allow this to happen we first must shed the shackles of conformity and just be ourselves, which in turn lets others to be themselves too. 

This truism feeds my fascination in what it takes to be successful in a group setting, such as what we witness with dynasties in the world of sports, or what some of us get to partake in with an unusually gifted team in a standard office work environment, or my favorite one to analyze…. a top-tier band.  Genuineness is a large component of this powerful, albeit fragile dynamics of the group setting. My general fascination with group dynamics is why three of my five blog series focus on bands (vs. the two series that focus on musicians who are known more for their individuality: Bob Dylan and Neil Young). Outside of talent, those three bands had core reasons that could explain their success.  For the Rolling Stones it was attitude. For the Who, it was in the conscious and subconscious ways that they pushed each other to excel at their craft (particularly on stage), and in the case of the Beatles, it’s all in that genuineness, which was spread out pretty evenly among all four band members.

The all-in authenticity of the Beatles increased exponentially the number of new doors they could open. This was proven again and again by the Fab Four as the 60s unfolded, whereby they would crank out one great accomplishment after another. The Beatles were the real deal because they were real with themselves, with each other, and with others. They caught lightning in a bottle finding and then feeding off one another, and they knew that as long as they stayed true to their collective authenticity, that the sky was the limit.

Ok, I guess I should talk a bit about the movie itself. To my knowledge, A Hard Day’s Night captures something no other film has before or since: Fever-pitched fan frenzy. The phenomenon was so unique, that someone had to come up with a term for it, which will forever be known as Beatlemania. It remains quite fascinating to observe - if only on film - be it through watching this movie or other concert footage of the period.

As I watched those screaming girls earlier this week, it got me thinking “wow, the state of mind that humans are capable of can sometimes be utterly impossible to comprehend”. Hmmm…perhaps not though. Here, I’ll give it a try: In that frenzied Beatlemania state, those teenage girls were displaying an early realization that something new and revolutionary was playing out in front of their eyes. Something they tuned into first. Something that would change the world forevermore. Something that would one day set me to writing hundreds of blog writeups, inspired while listening to rock and roll music, to try and capture it all in my own words.

And so, as I see it there are two big ticket items that A Hard Day’s Night brings to the table in terms of human nature: Beatlemania and that aforementioned door unlocking that comes with genuineness. These two concepts cut to the core of why this should always be considered a classic film.

My favorite scene in A Hard Day’s Night is near the beginning, with the Beatles performing “I Should Have Known Better” on the train ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68cqDJvzJao&list=RD68cqDJvzJao&start_radio=1 ). It brings together and captures beautifully those two big ticket items. That’s Pattie Boyd sitting inside the freight cage with the band as they sing.  Her brief stint in the movie (including another earlier scene) is a pleasure to watch, seeing as it was Boyd’s introduction to the Beatles, forever captured on film. Soon enough Pattie Boyd would be tied to the hip with George Harrison. And eventually, she would be the topic of some of the greatest love songs in Rock and Roll history (“Something” and “Wonderful Tonight”, among others).

Yes, the Beatles came across as comfortable in their own skin in A Hard Day’s Night. This is what appeals to people and reminds us of personal experiences we all hopefully share of the same nature.

- Pete