Lennon - part two - (May 2 @ Club Barts)

Here's the thing: I'll ask YOU now...

What do the Beatles mean to you?

...

Do you...immediately...know how to answer that? Sure, eventually, you'll get your thoughts together. But it should be emphasized that no one comes to the full comprehension of this mere pop band's impact, or influence, upon their lives with any great ease or articulation.

Is it because it's innate?

On the Facebook profile page for local singer/songwriter Jesse Shepherd Bates, under Religious Views, it reads: "...Beatles..."

And that effectively sums up the gravity of the band, in his life, and why, on a night like the Lennon Tribute Night (May 2 @ Club Bart), he'd be nowhere else, but on the stage.

It's cheesy and it's hyperbolic.

The cliche for bands in their songwriting processes would be: "Oh, well, the Beatles already did it..." -The same goes for any dope attempting to WRITE, merely write and reflect, in essay-form, about the Beatles... because most of THAT, in turn, has already been written, or said.

Or just merely felt.

Bates' earliest memories include soaking up Beatles records and tapes, "listening to them all the time." When any kind of "Beatles debate" arises, he "can't really participate. Because it's like, if you're born believing in Jesus, then nobody can tell you that Jesus is made up or if you're a jihadist follower of Islam, it's hard to argue with you against the concept of martyrdom. I'm just really hardcore about the Beatles..."

Bates quickly notes: "What a John Lennon tribute night means to me is that Paul (McCartney) gets a really bum rap! He's never mentioned as one of the great rock n roll bass players of all time!"

He breaks it down: "Paul was more wrapped up in the stardom, maybe, while George shied away from it and found his own inner peace and Ringo was maybe sort of a dude along for the ride--who had an awesome backbeat. John figured it out early, not that the world's a stage, but that this "showbusiness" thing...was a circus. He never took himself overly serious. I think that's what people relate to...but I also think people look past a lot of his antics, especially through his solo career. He actually became a bit of a douche-bag through the mid 70's...pretty ridiculous actually."

"I don't know if I'm being Devil's Advocate, but...as one of my deities, I have to look at all of Lennon's aspects. I challenge people's fixed views of him, while also saying that I completely worship him...well, I worship his brain, really."

The key, Bates echoes many sentiments: people can relate to him.

~

Matt Luke (of Legendary Creatures/Pupils), performing And Your Bird Can Sing - "You feel like (John Lennon)'s songs are something all your own, maybe even yours-only. And yet, the Beatles are/were the biggest group of all time. To this day, if I'm feeling happy, I put on some Lennon and the joy swells. Or, if I'm feeling down, it's like he's always on my side."

"Even his early work with the Beatles, which some people dismiss as fluff, is so masterfully composed that the notes themselves carry their own message."

Indeed, as Golden's Phreddy Wischusen put it later on-- if you read the lyrics from "In My Life" as though they were stitched onto a pastel doiley in your step mother's house, you'd probably roll your eyes - what is it about the full SONG that hits you....?? The Notes? The Melody? What?

What??

"Throughout his career," Luke continued, "John became progressively more candid about his lyrics, but even early on there was always a sense of, 'I feel things quite deeply, and this is how I'm trying to let you know!'... "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" and "I'm a Loser" are good examples of this......So then, I chose "And Your Bird Can Sing" because Revolver is the first Beatles record I actually owned, and I can remember sequestering myself away in my bedroom as a teenager for hours at a time, and just singing my heart out along to it. To me, that was where I felt free..."

Say the word and you'll be free

"And," he said, finally, "I chose to do "Grow Old With Me" because it might be the most beautiful love song ever written..."

~
May 2 @ Barts - Ferndale