What were you doing when you first heard the Beatles?
Beatle Ringo turns 70 today—quite a milestone for folks in my generation. Many of you are too young to have known what an amazing thing it was to hear the Beatles for the first time on the radio, but for those of you who are old enough to remember, exactly where were you and what were you doing in your life? I, myself, was sitting in a tiny apartment in New York City, which I had left my Texas hometown to conquer. I was KNOCKED OUT by “I Want to Hold You Hand.”
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16 Answers
I was lusting after the pretty girl who was playing the record for us. She was soon after killed in an automobile accident in Mexico.
I was watching our only TV (B+W) in my parent’s bedroom. We were watching the Ed Sullivan Show! I was 12 or so I think.
I was 19. A million years ago!
Kicking around in a cradle probably.
I was in church choir and Roy Wills sang Beatles back in the 70s. Norwegian Wood.
Wrote a thing on E. Rigby in h.s.
Sgt Peppers with BeeGees was big in my jr high years.
As I was born in 1966, and my mum would have the radio on a lot, I was probably doing the general sort of things that newborn babies tend to do. I would lay bets that I first heard the Beatles during my first week of life.
I dare say I was just out of nappies (diapers)! I discovered them more in their latter days.
I wasn’t born until Paul and John were privately fighting about Allen Klein’s vs. Lee Epstein’s management, and during the production of Abbey Road in the summer of 1969. I probably heard them on a car radio or something as an infant or toddler. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know who The Beatles were. Or had been, as the case may be.
If you’re a Beatles fan, rent “Two of Us,” a fictional meeting between John and Paul at John;s New York apartment some time after their breakup. Written and directed by a guy who had traveled with the band, so he knew his subjects well. Terrific film.
Like a few others here, I was still in diapers when they started their rise to fame. The sister 14 years older than me kept a scrapbook of newspaper articles on “The British Invasion.” The one 6 years older would buy their latest album put out in the late ‘60s, and I’d play them over and over.
@Austinlad Thanks for the recommendation. It sounds like a good gift for my British bloke who is a Beatles trivia expert.
John had been dead for just over five years when I was born.
I don’t remember not knowing Beatles music. My daddy liked to play “Blackbird” on the guitar, and would jokingly sing lines from “Paperback Writer” to me whenever I talked about being a writer when I grew up.
Early seventies, I watched A Hard Day’s Night on TV and was disappointed, as I was expecting it to be a Monkees’ film.
Got my first tape deck for Christmas that year, when asked by my parents which music I wanted to accompany it, I could only name the Beatles. No eight year old ever played the Red Album as much as I did that year, it was never out of the tape recorder.
Love you Ringo. Peace and Love.
Early ‘64 before the Ed Sullivan apprearance, ” I Want to Hold Your Hand”. I was in High School.
I was downstairs in the living room with my parents. My younger sister was upstairs watching Ed Sullivan and screaming. I think I heard the screaming much more than I heard the music. As a resister of popular trends, I let several years pass before I went out of my way to hear them voluntarily. I bought Sgt. Pepper when it came out, and that changed everything.
I was always brought up on The Beatles’ music. They are my mom’s favorite band. (And mine too) She first saw them when she was nine when they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.
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