THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511140277
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover story
SOURCE: BY JOHN HARPER, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 213 lines
CALL IT flashback city. There is a Beatles buzz on the beach.
Fans, here and around the world, are gearing up for ABC TV's 6-hour documentary on the Fab Four. The special, to be shown in three 2-hour installments, airs Nov. 19, 22 and 23.
On Nov. 21, a double-CD of outtakes and alternate versions of the hits, plus two new songs, will be released. Thirty-one years after The Beatles' brilliant debut, the boys are back.
Weather forecasters must have been scratching their heads on that cold Feb. 9, l964. Nothing showed on the radar screen, and it was late in the season for a tropical storm. But there it was, bearing down on the East Coast of the United States with the force of an Atlantic hurricane.
When the storm finally made landfall after several months in Europe, America had some new heroes: The Beatles.
On that night 31 years ago, we caught our first glimpse of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Ed Sullivan introduced them to the 73 million viewers of his Sunday night variety show. In Ed's words, ``We have a really big show.'' But could Sullivan have known how big?
From Studio 50 in midtown Manhattan, 728 frenzied fans welcomed The Beatles to America. As the studio audience screamed, America watched as the four 20-year-olds with shaggy hair and collarless suits launched into ``All My Loving,'' ``Till There Was You'' and ``She Loves You.'' And before we could catch our breath, they tacked on ``I Saw Her Standing There'' and ``I Want to Hold Your Hand.''
Talk about a revolution. In just 12 minutes, The Beatles changed music, fashion and social attitudes.
``My mouth just dropped open,'' says Patricia Rawls, remembering the Beatles' first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. ``I may even have drooled a little bit.''
Rawls was 14 then and living in Newport News. She's 46 now and lives in Kill Devil Hills with her husband John and three daughters: Amy, Edith and Gywn. She sits in her ``Beatles room.'' Pictures of Paul (her favorite), John, George and Ringo hang next to pictures of the three beautiful daughters.
``They had looks, sex appeal,'' she says. ``And the music was unlike anything ever before.''
Rawls remembers sitting transfixed as she and her family watched The Beatles' debut.
``Daddy had a reel-to-reel tape recorder, so he taped the show,'' she says. ``My cousin's husband took stills of the television screen.''
Rawls saw the Beatles twice in 1964, once in Baltimore and once in Washington.
``Fortunately, my mother was a fan, too,'' Rawls says.
America's relationship with The Beatles in 1964 is what Carl Jung calls ``synchronicity,'' a perfect combination of time and events. The powerful rock 'n' roll of the Beatles, at once new and familiar, was just the ticket to bring a nation, numbed by the assassination of John F. Kennedy just a few months earlier, out of its mourning.
America let out a '60s version of a group primal scream, and it ended ``yeah, yeah, yeah.''
The music was a celebration. From the poppy ``I Want To Hold Your Hand'' and ``She Loves You'' to the aching ``This Boy,'' each Beatles song etched its way into our collective soul. We as a nation stood as one, mesmerized by the freshness and originality of these four young men from Liverpool.
The Fab Four appeared twice more on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964. Record companies released Beatles' records at breakneck speed. Radio stations everywhere fought to be THE Beatles station in the market, giving each new song the highest priority.
Boys quickly adopted The Beatles' moptop hairstyle. And the boys that didn't comb their hair down on the forehead could forget about getting the girls, who by this time had picked out their favorite Beatle.
Rawls spent every spare momemt listening to the radio.
``All of us were on pins and needles, waiting to see what the new album would sound like,'' she says. ``They were all so different.''
America waited for each new release. The Beatles, with a little help from friend and producer George Martin, stretched the boundaries of rock 'n' roll.
By 1966, The Beatles were a studio band. 1965's ``Rubber Soul'' marked a milestone in the group's recording career, as it was the first in the transition from electrified rock 'n' roll to a more sophisticated musical and lyrical content with an acoustical emphasis.
``Revolver,'' recorded in 1966, showed The Beatles' individual tastes for the first time. McCartney penned and sang two terrific ballads, ``Here, There and Everywhere'' and ``For No One.'' Lennon's sardonic wit surfaced on ``Love You To,'' and ``Tomorrow Never Knows.'' George Harrison proved himself a songwriter of the first rank with ``Taxman.'' And Ringo Starr sang lead on ``Yellow Submarine.''
From 1966 to 1970, The Beatles recorded the sturdiest body of work in rock 'n' roll. Each album became more challenging, more sophisticated, more distinctive. And like the mileposts on the Beach Road, each song marked a spot: the first school dance, the first kiss, graduating from high school, the first solo trip in the family car.
Consider the studio albums from 1966-1970: ``Magical Mystery Tour,'' ``Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,'' ``The Beatles,'' (``The White Album``) ``Abbey Road'' and ``Let it Be.''
``Their music didn't stop with rock,'' says Manteo Booksellers manager Steve Brumfield. ``They added new styles, more and varied instruments.''
Brumfield listened to The Beatles on the big AM radio stations in the Bay area of California.
``There was one station,'' he says, ``that would play three or four songs an hour from each new album. They didn't start until midnight, so I was up half the night.''
Brumfield started collecting Beatles' records then, and he hasn't stopped. His collection numbers about 200.
``It's really their music that lives on in so many ways,'' he says. ``Not only is there still a huge number of fans who grew up with The Beatles, but there is now a growing number of fans discovering and loving the music of The Beatles.''
Tommy Midgett, 34, of Nags Head, is among them. His home is filled with Beatles records, CDs, posters and trading cards. Midgett, who grew up on the Outer Banks, first discovered The Beatles on WGAI in Elizabeth City.
``I sort of remember the Ed Sullivan Show,'' he says. ``But WGAI really cranked out the tunes. That was the only station we could get then.''
And Midgett, who now runs his parents' motel in Nags Head, grew up with The Beatles. ``A guy in Room 9 of the motel had `The White Album,' '' he says. ``I couldn't believe how cool it was.''
Midgett is also a professional musician. He plays a few of his favorite Beatles' songs on an electronic keyboard.
``Their best songs are incredible,'' Midgett says. ``Even their bad ones are good. Those songs just ring in my ears.''
John Lennon is Midgett's favorite Beatle. A picture of Lennon, sitting at his white baby grand, hangs on the wall above the keyboard.
``He seemed to have more of a conscience,'' he says.
``Listening to The Beatles now is still cool,'' he adds. ``You realize we've all grown old together.''
Brumfield and Midgett never saw The Beatles play live, although Brumfield saw McCartney perform in 1990 and 1993. Rawls, along with Edith, Amy and Gywn, traveled a long and winding road from Atlanta to Chicago to see McCartney 12 times on his 1990 tour.
``I'm sorry I wasn't there in the '60s,'' says Edith, 20. ``But I'm glad I got to experience something that meant so much to Mom.''
Mom and the three girls formed their own fab four, singing Beatles' songs along the way.
``Of course, we know all the words,'' Edith says.
Paul finally embraced his past in 1990, dusting off Beatles' chestnuts and playing them with a 1964 enthusiasm. McCartney and his new band played many Beatles' songs that had never been performed live.
I saw McCartney on that tour, when he stopped in Raleigh. The man sang 31 songs that July evening, including a dozen Beatles songs and half-dozen Wings songs. A crowd of 54,000 swayed, danced, laughed and cried that night.
My life flashed before me.
``Can't Buy Me Love'' took me back to 1964 and an argument with my father about the length of my hair. ``Yesterday,'' recorded later that year, brought back the memory of a girl I liked telling me how much she liked my hair.
As I sat, and stood, in that audience that night, I was overwhelmed by the joy that The Beatles' music has provided for me. I wanted everyone I knew to be there.
Paul played ``Let it Be'' that night. At the piano, he sang The Beatles' swan song to an audience beaming with thousands of lighted candles. He thanked Ringo, John and George and played three of his favorite Lennon songs. It was a collective embracing of yesterday, when all our troubles seemed so far away.
The Beatles broke up 25 years ago. It was a quiet dissolution. No one said anything. They were just gone.
In a week, the three surviving Beatles will tell the story themselves for the first time in the ABC documentary. George, Paul and Ringo have added their voices to John's demo versions of ``Free as a Bird'' and ``Real Love,'' which will be released as Beatles records.
But even without the documentary and the new songs, The Beatles' music tells a story. And it is different for all of us.
We can all sing a chorus of John Lennon's ``In My Life.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by DREW C. WILSON
Tommy Midgett, 34, of Nags Head, who first listened to The Beatles
on WGAI, shows off the first Beatles record he ever owned.
Tommy Midgett, who is a musician and operates a motel, has filled
his home with Beatles records, CDs, posters and trading cards.
Patricia Rawls of Kill Devil Hills had a photograph that she took of
Paul McCartney blown up to poster size.
Patricia Rawls, who has a ``Beatles room'' in her Kill Devil Hills
home, saw the Beatles twice in 1964, once in Baltimore and once in
Washington. Rawls remembers sitting transfixed as she and her family
watched The Beatles' debut on the Ed Sullivan TV show on Feb. 9,
1964.
Graphic
LOCAL FAVES
Asking someone to name a favorite Beatles song is like asking a
parent to name a favorite child. But, here are some top-of-mind
responses from some Outer Banks Beatles' fans.
Webb Fuller, town manager, Nags Head: ``Rocky Raccoon.''
Susan Vaughan, artist, Kill Devil Hills: ``I Will.''
Hunt Thomas, WNHW program director, Nags Head: ``Let it Be''
Jim Fineman, potter, Manteo: ``I'll Get You.''
Paul South, Virginian-Pilot staff writer, Manteo: ``In My Life''
Jim Williams, owner of Hairoics, Nags Head: ``She Came in through
the Bathroom Window.''
Tim Walters, president of Seamark Foods, Nags Head and Kitty
Hawk: ``Here Comes The Sun.''
Buzz Bessette, professional musician, Kill Devil Hills: ``In My
Life.''
Lee Lovingood, WVOD program director, Manteo: ``Baby, You're a
Rich Man.''
Donald Evans, podiatrist, Nags Head: ``Eleanor Rigby.''
Richard Blackmon, Britthaven administrator, Nags Head: ``A Day in
the Life.''
Marty Slayton, owner of Cavalier Surf Shop, Nags Head:
``Norwegian Wood.''
Angel Ellis Khoury, publisher of Outer Banks Magazine: ``Hey
Jude.''
John Harper, Coast entertainment columnist: ``Julia'' and ``The
Long and Winding Road.''
by CNB