From: edc@evolution.bchs.uh.edu (edward s. chen)
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles
Subject: Re: Beatles (the dark side)
Date: 14 Apr 92 20:58:41 GMT
Article-I.D.: menudo.1992Apr14.205841.1635
Organization: Little to none, or maybe not......

In article <_-yjyn=@lynx.unm.edu> ehenry@hydra.unm.edu (Elizabeth Henry CIRT-IRC) writes:

>In reading the article "Paul is dead?!?" I decided there
>is an aspect to a few Beatle songs that invokes a sense of
>darkness or dread.  The first two that come to mind are "Eleanor
>Rigby" and John's portion of "A Day in the Life".  John's "Rev.9"
>scared the hell out of me when I first heard it as a child.  I remember

[portion deleted with "songs about death"]

>by both John and Paul pertaining to their own unresolved
>issues concerning the deaths of people close to them.
>As you know both lost their mothers early on.  Later there
>was the death of B. Epstein.  
>

[portion about drugs deleted]

>From what I've read, it was soon after Brian's death
>that the group began started to experience internal struggle
>and conflict.  Any thoughts?
>

Interesting thought.  The only time I've really seen this explored
in anything remotely approaching a serious way is in the laughingly
bad "Paul McCartney -- Dead" magazine published in 1969.  Among all
of the "clues" and other "Paul must be dead" articles was a story
entitled "The Beatle Death Curse", which summarized all the people 
close to the fabs that had passed on.  High on the list are certainly
Julia [Stanley Lennon] Dykins, Mary [McCartney], and Stuart Sutcliffe.  

The impact of Julia's death was very large upon the young John Lennon.
IMHO, he often wrote about it in a very abstract way from 1962-1967.
It was his involvement with Yoko Ono which allowed him to finally come
to terms with the death of his mother.  (ie: "Julia" from the white album)
However, he wasn't to fully excise that demon until 4 yers later, after his
involvement with Dr. Janov and "Primal Scream".  The song "My Mummy's Dead"
effectively brings that pain to the fore, effectively ridding himself of that
nightmare in the same manner "God" allowed him free himself of the other
broken dreams of the past.  ("I just believe in ME, YOKO and ME, and that's
reality).  More of this is evident in "Mother", although that song is as much
about John's "loss" of his father, as it is about his mother's death. 
Interestingly, despite John's later denial of Dr. Janov, he was able to escape
the pain of his mother's death, and he never really wrote of it again.  

Mary's death was a bit more abstract for the young Paul.  He internalized his
own pain tightly, only occasionally allowing it to the fore.  However, it was
always there.  As an example, the infamous "Mother Mary comes to me" was about
Paul own mother, rather then the traditional christian version.  Probably the
first time Paul really wrote about death was "Here Today" on the "Tug of War"
album.  He still wrote abstractly as late as 1989, on "Flowers in the Dirt" 
where he mentions "Heavenly Father, look down from above", again describing a
dead parent rather then the traditional version.  However, in the recent
"Liverpool Oratorio", he truly bares his soul for the first time.  McCartney
has admitted the first half of the work is definitively autobiographical, and
the Macca stand-in "Shanty" experiences a number of emotions which I previously
described in this manner:

[ IV) Father: 1959: As mourners arrive for the funeral, Shanty thinks on
    his confusion, fears, and upset at the death of his father.  He reflects
    and worries about the relationship they had, distressed at his father's
    mortality.  Finally, he realizes his father was only human, and forgives
    him.

Neither Beatle forgave their respective parent for dying so early in their
life.  Parts of this movement remind me of "Mother", a personal type of
writing Paul has never previously approached.  Further, it is known that
John attended Julia's funeral, while Paul did not attend Mary's.  (Not
positive about this fact, but we know Mike was not at Mary's funeral, and
nothing indicates that Paul did go.) ]

The other deaths were certainly a blow, but nothing to the degree of the loss
of parents.  As far as Brian Epstein's death causing the Beatles breakup--not
likely.  The four had already started down that path, and the breakup would've
probably happened even if Epstein had lived.  Personally, I think the pain
due to others deaths (eg: Stu, Mal Evans, George Stanley) was really secondary
to the pain of loss of a parent.  But, I will leave that as the topic for
another day.

<ESC>
-- 
I want a short-haired girl (who) sometimes wears it twice as long
                                               -- George Harrison