A Hard Day's Night

Rating: Null/10 (30 August 2005)

The first Beatle song I heard was "From Me To You" in the summer of 1963. I thought they were black. By October, I knew something big was going on in England. In January, 1964, I saw a clip on the Jack Paar show. It was unbelievable! The Beatles were going wild! Girls were screaming and throwing jelly beans! It was The Beatles' sound. It was the long hair! I started letting my hair grow that night. Beatle records flowed into America. The Beatles revived the rock & roll of the late 1950s, the fire. John Lennon sang Chuck Berry. Paul McCartney sang Little Richard. They took it to a new level. They had their own songs, incredible songs! They filled albums! Cousin Larry and I saw A Hard Day's Night in August, 1964. The theater was packed with teenage girls. They screamed for 90 minutes! We could not hear one word of the dialogue. It did not matter. This was Beatlemania, and there would never be anything like it again! "You Can't Do That" was cut from the film. It was my favorite. John Lennon's jealousy and possessiveness were too potent for the young audience. His primal scream at the start of the solo says it all.