When I was 11 years old I walked into the living room to find my parents
watching the Beatles anthology (The 4 part TV series they showed on ABC in
1995). Out of curiosity I sat down. The video for the song �Hello, Goodbye�
came on and I instantly fell in love with the crazy lyrics. It was an
instant attraction. The Beatles made me smile.
Vidcap from Video for "Hello Goodbye"
Of course I knew who the Beatles were. I use to watch Ringo Starr on the
kids show �Shining Time Station� where he played the lovable �Mr.
Conductor�. My mom told me that when I used to see the Beatles on TV as a
small child I would shout out in excitement �LOOK! There�s Ringo Starr and
that Band!�. So that Christmas (1995) I took my 25 dollar THE WIZ gift
Certificate and proceeded to buy �Sgt. Pepper�s Lonely Hearts Club Band�,
and �Magical Mystery Tour�. These albums are still two of my favorites. I
spent the next year absorbing the music; I learned all the words and danced
around to the CDs, never getting sick of them.
Once I reached Junior High School, my musical tastes took a turn for the
worse. Like any average teenage girl I got caught up in the whole
phenomenon of pop music, I inhaled the simple melodies, and repetitive
lyrics like a cheap drug. It was like the more and more I listened to it
the more lost I became. Then in December of my junior year of high school
they released Beatles 1�s a CD full of the Beatles greatest hits. I bought
it immediately because �Hey Jude� (my favorite Beatles song at the time)
was on it�It was like an awakening. For the rest of that year I started
buying Beatles albums, and books.
Now all this seems great right? I started listening to good music again, I
found the mind I had once lost�but wait it was more then that. All of a
sudden I wanted to write better songs! I had always written songs but I had
been listening to all that pop music and all I had were about a hundred
songs that sounded like Britney Spears and Nsync rejects. Maybe I just woke
up and it hit me but I knew that because of the Beatles I wanted to be a
real songwriter. All of a sudden I didn�t care if I was rich and famous, I
just wanted to write really good songs, that made people smile, that people
would never get tired of. I wanted to be like them�they were my musical heroes.
They still are. At times I feel as if I have missed out, I never got to see
them perform live, John Lennon died before I was even born, so there was
never any hope of a reunion. I never got to feel the anticipation or
excitement of knowing that a new Beatles album was coming out. I even feel
sometimes like I have no right to love them the way I do because I didn�t
live through it all, but then I put on the White album, sing along, and
forget everything that is bothering me.
In conclusion I would like to say that this portfolio is very
important to me because these four people have changed me, they have made
me realize the real importance of music, something no other singer or group
has been able to do for me. Some of the things I feel I can�t even put into
words because music is such a huge part of my life, and to be influenced
the way they have influenced me is just amazing.
Thank you for reading, I hope you learned something.
