Hey Jude, Don't Make it Bad....

My niece, Jud (16), god love her, has taken the first step in discovering Beatledom and is currently teaching herself about anything Beatles. It makes me so proud, being a big Beatles fan myself. It all came about when she chose to study the Beatles as an art project and has been looking through album covers and artwork done by Lennon and so on. She has now ventured into teaching herself all there is to know about them. Go her!

In steps good ole uncle Mal with his many books on the Beatles, including the sizable Anthology, which weighs a ton. She has asked for them so she will receive along with any info I can give her myself. Only last night she was asking about Lennon’s death, which she seems morbidly fascinated with lately and I answered what I could. She asked about Sean and Julian, Lennon’s sons and what they did after he died and whether McCartney made amends with Lennon before his death. I was happy to help out.

One thing that perturbed me was that she mentioned that she and her friend had been debating about who was better John Lennon or Kurt Cobain... What! I was flummoxed about why anyone would even side with Kurt when Lennon’s on the table too. There’s Lennon who had 20 years worth of performing and making a difference by trying to “give peace a chance”, whereas Cobain had a very short period in the limelight, most of it he spent being depressed and wasted. The Beatles influenced nearly all bands to follow for years and decades to come. Nirvana influenced some but not all bands and his death carries the most importance when remembering Nirvana. I could argue all day about it, but is it worth it?

Luckily Jud stuck up for Lennon and is carrying on debating for me against her friend. With my tid-bits of information given to Jud I hope to help her win. Out of interest... What are your views? Cobain or Lennon?

Thinking back to around 2001, I remember taking my first Beatles tour of Liverpool with Jud and my ex from TX who I was with at the time. I was 18 and Jud must have been around 7 ish. We struck a friendship with a shop owner from Matthew Street because we visited that area a lot around that time. He agreed to personally take us on a tour of all of the major Beatles landmarks. It’s a shame I don’t have any photographs. I took some good ones of Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane. It had a lasting impact on Jud and she still remembers it all to this day.

I myself have been a fan since I was 8 when my dad first let me listen to The Beatles’ Red Album compilation of all of their number ones and I was hooked from then on. I, like Jud took it upon myself to learn more and more. I have a few LPs, Hard Days Night and an untouched Sgt Peppers (unfortunately it is a reissue). I have the anthology Beatles book, which I’m going to lend to Jud plus all of their albums on CD. I did have my own website that I made on Homestead around when I was 18 called From Me 2 You, but it’s been deleted since.

That’s my Beatles history. Nothing to report on, lonely nights, watching TV, films and music, which is why I’m going over old ground again. It’s good to reminisce and I hope I’ve give you an insight into one of my interests. Thanks for reading.