Beatles Present Ideas/Memories

Some of my favorite memories from Christmas these last few years has been from the gifts I've received that are Beatles related. I can't believe all of the Beatles things my family still can find that I haven't gotten in all of the years I've asked for stuff. Really, it excites me to think of all the new things that I'll get as presents.

When I first started liking The Beatles, this was back when I was still using a CD Player, way before I ever got an iPod or even an iPhone. Y'all think it's expensive to buy music on iTunes, but buying CDs are even worse, especially Beatles CDs. I got my first Beatles CD on my birthday, and my mother told me I had to wait until Christmas until I could get another one. THAT WOULD BE 12 MONTHS, since my birthday is in January. Unless I had my own money to purchase them myself, I couldn't wait until Christmas to see which one's I got. My favorite year was when I got The Beatles (also famously known as 'The White Album'), I remember staying up all night and listening over and over again to it. 

I'm here to give you some advice and clearense if you're a person looking for Beatles themes gifts and you have NO IDEA what to get them. I understand how you feel, trust me, finding gifts for people in general is hard enough and especially when they're Beatles gifts. I just happened to stumble by a website that has the best Beatles merchandise I've seen. With experience buying products from this website, I can promise you that you will be satisfied with what you get. To help you narrow down things that you should buy, I've made a list of 5 Beatles things that I'D want for Christmas this year. 

Product #1: Beatles Mens Varsity Jacket: Drop T Logo ~ Cost: $79.99 - I've always wanted a jacket like this and now I TOTALLY want one decked out with The Beatles. 

Product #2: Beatles Bag: 1964 Collection Shoulder Tote ~ Cost: $17.99 - What's cool about this bag is that it would match my Beatles picture, lamp and blacket. 

Product #3: Beatles Apron: The Beatles Yellow Submarine ~ Cost: $25:00 - I love cooking and baking, so I'd totally wear this! 

Product #4: Beatles Pins: Cartoon Collectable Pin ~ Cost: $39.99 - My friend gave me pins for Christmas a few years ago and these are so cool being The Beatles 60s cartoon. 

 

Product #5: Beatles Calendar: 2015 Wall Calendar ~ Cost: $16.99 - Every year I get a Beatles calendar to hang in my room so this is a necessary thing. 

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A Very Beatles Christmas

It's that time of the year again - Christmas is here and we all can't wait until having the huge Christmas dinner, don't dorget the best part of the night - opening up presents that you've been waiting all year for. I know that it was (and still is) the best part of the whole year. Another part of the holidays I enjoy is getting to visit and see all of your family members that you only get to see at this time every year. Time goes so quickly, I can't believe Christmas is already 5 days away!


Since my obsession of The Beatles started all those years ago, I can't go a Christmas without getting something that has to do with The Beatles. Even though that I don't make a list for Santa anymore, I remember when I used to that I would always put "The Beatles" at the beginning of the list every year. Of course it hasn't happened yet, but a girl can always dream. My mom used to joke and print off a picture of Ringo and paste it onto my Christmas stocking, it was really sweet of her, but I always hoped she got me Ringo for Christmas whoops. 

I keep a section of my closest full of Christmas decorations that I used to decorate my room. My room is Beatles themed, so of course all of the decorations had to do with The Beatles. I have 2 little Christmas trees that I put on my dressers that have pictures of The Beatles at the very top as the stars. On my Beatles large picture, I tape antlers over each Beatle's head and if you look at the right angle, it actually looks like it's real!



As I'm doing all of my tedious work (haha just kidding it literally takes me like 20 minutes to get it done), I  listen to a compilation of all of The Beatles Christmas Albums on YouTube. It's the only time of the year that I listen to it, and every time I do, I can't help but cry. It's stupid of me to do that, but it's so sweet and adorable and cute the way that they recorded the messages that you can't help but get a little choked up. 

I hope everyone has a FANTASTIC Christmas (or Hanukah) and have a safe beginning of 2015, I'll be back posting right after my Holiday Break (which I go back to school on January 6th), until then PEACE AND LOVE AND MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

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It's All Too Much vs Rain

It's All Too Much - Yellow Submarine, 1968 (recorded 1965) 

~written by George Harrison, sung by George Harrison

Rain - Single, 1966

~written by John Lennon, sung by John Lennon

Compare: Welcome to the turning points of The Beatles from early, swinging early 60s to peace and love, drugs haze later 60s. During this time, I think The Beatles produced some of the best of their music. It's All Too Much is a fantastic song made by George (which is one of my favorite songs ever made by him). Rain is a zippy, trippy song that of course came from the mind of Mr. John Lennon. It's All Too Much from its way to the soundtrack for The Beatles movie, "Yellow Submarine" and Rain has its own adorable, amazing music video, all decked out in hippie cuteness.

Contrast: The difference between them isn't too much, but there is still a clear difference. Even though It's All Too Much was realsed on the album "Yellow Submarine", it was recorded in 1965. Yes, it's close to the year Rain was made and realsed as a single (same as its double "Paperback Writer") but the way that they sound is completely different. George always made his music about someone changing their life, "it's all too much for me to think, the love that's shining all around you. Everywhere it's what you make, for us to take it's all too much". Rain is talking about when the rain comes, "let the rain come as they run and hide their head, they might as well be dead. Let the rain come." 

Likes: These two songs are two of my very favorite Beatles songs. From 1965-1967 produced some of my favorite Beatles songs. It's All Too Much is one of the songs that I always put on and listen to whenever I feel bad. The way that George puts his emotion into his music always seems to comfort me and make me feel safe/better. Rain has been one of my favorite songs from when I watched Conon O'Brien's late night show when Ringo was on there and he confessed that it was his favorite song that The Beatles made. He commented that the drum part made the song the way it is, along with a pretty amazing bass riff from Paul.

Dislikes: For me, it is really hard to choose things that I don't like about the songs. Really, the only thing that didn't make me happy was that It's All Too Much was moved all the way to 1968 on the "Yellow Submarine" album, I wish they could have just put it on the late 1965 album "Rubber Soul". Same kinda thing with Rain, I wish they could have just put it on my favorite album "Revolver" published in 1966 - Rain and Paperback Writer could have made the album more famous. 

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Remembering John Lennon

It's hard to think that John Lennon hasn't been with us for 34 years now. December 9th, 1980 will be a date that no Beatles fan, or even a music fan would ever forget. What John did during his life time in music will make sure his memory will never leave our minds. I know that I think of every day if John was still alive, what our world would be today.

Little things that go on in my life every day reminds me of John, some even emotional enough that I do end up crying. Sometimes I really don't understand why it makes me so emotional, it's so hard for me to really think about how he passed and part of me wishes in some way...I could have maybe helped him (that's impossible but hey I can dream).

My favorite show is The Monkees (which has an extreme Beatles connection...DON'T WORRY I'LL TALK ABOUT IT SOMEDAY) and back in the 60s when the show was on, John Lennon always said that he loved the show and watched it every week. Um. So that means that whenever I watch the episodes, there is an actual chance that I could be watching the ones that John Lennon himself watched. Wow. I know that I sound a little crazy, but this reason makes me so happy. 

It's also weird of people I associate John Lennon with. I love watching Beatles movies/documentaries, and forever the actors in the movies I call "John Lennon". Such as Christopher Eccelston, famous for being the 9th Doctor on Doctor Who and the bad guy in Thor 2. But to me, he will forever be John Lennon, after playing him in the movie, "Naked Lennon". The next person is Aaron Taylor-Johnson, famous for being Kick A** in the Kick A** franchise and playing Pietro Maximoff in the highly acclaimed Avengers 2: Age of Ultron. But yet again, I will forever remember him as young John Lennon in the movie "Nowhere Boy" (which is one of my favorite Beatles movie in general).

I bought a John Lennon book at this half price bookstore in Ireland called, "John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman", which gives you a lot of information into John's childhood, Beatles life and even after. If you want to learn more about John Lennon (with even some information that you read about and wish you didn't). Really, I totally recommend it and suggest it if you love John Lennon.

I'll finish up this post with the poem I wrote about John - RIP 

"Johnny see,

Johnny do

With his guitar, he played with his heart 

Always from the start

Made people stop and listen,

For every piece of music he made

"Living is easy with eyes closed" 

Is something I believe

And I can see, even with eyes closed

He cared"

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Freda Kelly - A Woman Just Like Us

Fan clubs have been famous since way beyond my own years. If you loved a certain thing, of course there was a fanclub for it! During the time The Beatles were famous in the 60s, fan clubs were on the boom. Every Beatles fangirl would dedicate themselves to their own fanclub where they could meet up with their fellow Beatles-lovers and talk about them and obsess over them.

But there is one woman that stands out the most: Good Ol' Freda Kelly.

Many young girls at the time was EXTREMELY jealous over her. At the age of 17, she became The Beatles Fan Club leader and their manager, Brian Epstein's secretary. Can you believe how lucky this girl was? It would be an honor to hold those two positions and I'm glad she was the one who hold them. 

I feel bad about this, but myself didn't learn about who Freda was until a short time ago. I had heard and read her name before, but I never really understood who she was. The one place I remember hearing her name was in one of The Beatles Christmas Album when John thanked her for all the work that she had done that year. 

I would love to see the new documentary that was made about her called, "Good Ol' Freda Kelly" - a little taste of what her job was and what she did during the 60s as working for The Beatles. Miss Kelly was known as "The Most Coveted Girl in the World" and is one of the last remaining people who stayed with The Beatles from the very beginning.

Just like The Beatles themselves, Freda is a little Liverpuldian girl who gained stardom that she never expected. She never wanted to be a millionaire, but after waiting so long to write her memoir, she fears becoming one.

If you want to learn more about Freda Kelly in this cute interview and how famous her signature is wanted and needed, check out this article! - http://www.gulfcoastnewstoday.com/area_news/article_537bd654-6e52-11e4-887e-8380d915ad4d.html 

This article is also pretty good, it goes more into depth about Freda Kelly herself  - http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/nov/17/beatles-secretary-freda-kelly-story

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The Fool On the Hill vs Yesterday

Here comes another round of compare and contrasting songs! If you're not familiar with me doing this, basically I put my Beatles songs on shuffle on my phone and pick the 2 first songs and compare and contrast them, then talk about some of my likes and dislikes on them. Remember, THESE are my own opinions and they may be totally, 100% different than yours so no hate please!


The Fool on The Hill ~ written by Paul McCartney - Magical Mystery Tour, 1967


Yesterday ~ written by Paul McCartney - Help!, 1965


Compare: Here is another round of Paul McCartney songs. If you listen to songs written by Paul (and the same thing with John), you can always tell who the writer is by the style. Yesterday is a CLASSIC Paul McCartney song that is one of his most FAMOUS Beatles song to date. the Fool On the Hill tells a story about a man who everyone doesn't like and how he goes through his life without anyone's help. Both almost tell a story as well.


Contrast: There are two completely different styles to these songs. Yesterday is a 100% a love song, a love cry from someone who wants their love back and regrets what happened between their love and will do anything to have that day back "I long for yesterday...". The Fool On the Hill that tells about a man who sits on a hill, no one ever wants to talk to him, but he enjoys being alone anyway. He always seems to be off into a distant land, forever lost in his own mind , "well on the way...head in the clouds...".


Likes: Both of these songs are very enjoyable to listen to. Whenever you have heartbreak and need a good love song to listen to, I'm pretty sure any Beatles obsesser/anyone who has ever heard Yesterday, would go right to that. The Fool On the Hill reminds me of The Beatles movie "Magical Mystery Tour", a memorial scene in the movie where you can see Paul running around a mountain (that was shot in France which is so beautiful).


Dislikes: I have listened to Yesterday so many times (it is also one of my mom's favorite Beatles songs so she listens to it all the time) so I actually don't like the song...it kinda bothers me. The Fool On the Hill is also one of those Beatles songs that I have listened too so many times that I just cannot listen to it anymore.


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Beatles and Charity Work

With all of the fame The Beatles has received over the years, it makes their position very easy to help out with communities and even with some different charities. I find this extremely heartwarming to know that even though they are such big stars that they will do anything to help people out.


In 1970, George Harrison did a charity concert called, "The Concert for Bangladesh" in which he got a group of his famous musical friends and had a concert to raise money for Bangladesh. He first found out because of this cause from his good friend Ravi Shankar and from that point on, he tried his best to help out. I actually own the DVD for the concert and it is one of my favorite videos ever and the music is fantastic.


Another thing I remember reading about a couple of years ago, that Ringo signed a boys drum set for charity and then got to spend the rest of the day drumming with him. During this time I was in a band as the drummer, and I told my mom that I would give anything to have Ringo sign my own drum set and even get to be in the same room with him! Who knows, maybe someday I will get that chance (I would probably die on contact if I did).


A lot of Beatles things are sold for a lot of money when it comes to charity work. I know that lately some rare pictures of The Beatles were sold for charity along with a piano that both Paul and Ringo signed. Imagine being able to own something that The Beatles gave to a charity and go to help out for a fantastic cause and get to keep and own a piece of history for the rest of your life (unless you decide to sell it...if you do, I'll take it!).


If you want to learn more about Paul and Ringo's new charity work with signing the piano that I referenced in this post, check it out right here! - http://www.nola.com/community/st-tammany/index.ssf/2014/11/beatles_paul_mccartney_and_rin.html

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