‘It was fifty years ago today, Sergeant Pepper’s taught the band to play….’
Fifty years ago this month Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band album, the album with the wonderfully coloured cover and the surreal, evocative music of a mystical stage in the Beatle’s musical journey, was released.
Following the anniversary in the media I began to reflect on how the Beatles’ journey had aligned with my journey through adolescence and young adulthood. Suddenly, my ideas about what to write about moved from being in Madrid in the volatile period before Spain’s referendum to become a democracy in 1976; or from changing from angora twinset and pearls to duffle coat and desert boots to join other students in the Monash University Library demonstrating against budget in 1968.
You see, ‘I was there’, outside the Southern Cross, on June 24th 1964, when 10,000 people (including me) waited patiently for, then gazed with wonder, when John, Paul, George and Ringo appeared on the balcony above street level to wave to the crowd.
Fifty years ago this month Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band album, the album with the wonderfully coloured cover and the surreal, evocative music of a mystical stage in the Beatle’s musical journey, was released.
Following the anniversary in the media I began to reflect on how the Beatles’ journey had aligned with my journey through adolescence and young adulthood. Suddenly, my ideas about what to write about moved from being in Madrid in the volatile period before Spain’s referendum to become a democracy in 1976; or from changing from angora twinset and pearls to duffle coat and desert boots to join other students in the Monash University Library demonstrating against budget in 1968.
You see, ‘I was there’, outside the Southern Cross, on June 24th 1964, when 10,000 people (including me) waited patiently for, then gazed with wonder, when John, Paul, George and Ringo appeared on the balcony above street level to wave to the crowd.
I was 16 and a half, in Year 11. I’d travelled in to Melbourne on the Dandenong train line, meeting my high school friends on the way, walking with them in great anticipation from the station to the new Southern Cross Hotel’s entrance in Exhibition Street. We decided to stand on the far side of the road in front of some cars parked along the kerb. The crowd began to swell and we gradually became hemmed in. At one stage there was a movement in the crowd which pushed us forward –feeling frightened, I retreated back to the kerb, though my friends stayed with the moving crowd. Always the observer, this suited me, as I was able to monitor the scene quietly – both what was happening in the crowd and when the Beatles appeared, on the balcony. I can remember watching George Harrison intently – he was the Beatle I was most passionate about! I don’t remember screaming – I’ve never been a really good screamer – but perhaps I did? I remember waiting for my friends after the Beatles moved back into the hotel observing dents in the roofs and bonnets of cars parked along the curb used by members of the excited crowd seeking higher vantage points.
When I arrived home a drama was clearly unfolding. I hadn’t been aware that my younger sister, Janette, 13 at the time, had also gone to the Southern Cross with one of her school friends. I would have been so worried had I known she was there! It seems that she was one of the younger ones who was swept up on to a police horse and taken to safety in a police van. The police had taken her home. My recently widowed mother was horrified!
When I arrived home a drama was clearly unfolding. I hadn’t been aware that my younger sister, Janette, 13 at the time, had also gone to the Southern Cross with one of her school friends. I would have been so worried had I known she was there! It seems that she was one of the younger ones who was swept up on to a police horse and taken to safety in a police van. The police had taken her home. My recently widowed mother was horrified!
Other symbolic stories of the impact of the Beatles ? Photos mark the transition of my year older brother and his friends from Brylcreemed comb backed Elvis inspired hairstyles to Beatles fringes. My friend, Cathy, who had an envied long Jane Asher style hairdo had asked Michael, who had a long Beatles hair do and was much admired by the other girls, to the end of year school social in 1964. When Michael arrived to collect her, his Beatles hairdo was non existent, as were her long Jane Asher locks. Parents had insisted they have hair cuts!
And then later in life, sadness when John was killed in New York and George died of cancer.
The early years of the Beatles music formed the soundscape of my mid to late adolescence. Their transition to more mystical music, marked by the release of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band, formed the soundscape for young adulthood when, as a university student and then new teacher, I partied with my friends and learnt about love, lust, romance and relationships. I can remember sitting in the foyer of the upstairs cafe at Monash in a huge crowd who'd gathered to hear the Maharishi yoga, the Beatle's guru. And I am still as mesmerized by the introduction to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds….‘Picture yourself on a boat by a river…’ fifty years later as when I first heard it when I walked into the room at a party as a 20 year old.
….‘ It’s Sergeant Pepper’s lonely hearts club band, we hope you have enjoyed the show…..It’s Sergeant Pepper’s lonely hearts club band, step back and let the evening go….. ’
And then later in life, sadness when John was killed in New York and George died of cancer.
The early years of the Beatles music formed the soundscape of my mid to late adolescence. Their transition to more mystical music, marked by the release of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band, formed the soundscape for young adulthood when, as a university student and then new teacher, I partied with my friends and learnt about love, lust, romance and relationships. I can remember sitting in the foyer of the upstairs cafe at Monash in a huge crowd who'd gathered to hear the Maharishi yoga, the Beatle's guru. And I am still as mesmerized by the introduction to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds….‘Picture yourself on a boat by a river…’ fifty years later as when I first heard it when I walked into the room at a party as a 20 year old.
….‘ It’s Sergeant Pepper’s lonely hearts club band, we hope you have enjoyed the show…..It’s Sergeant Pepper’s lonely hearts club band, step back and let the evening go….. ’
