“Dr. Robert” and the Sad Men and Women of Revolver
For me, the Beatles captured ninth grade
I think I had all the Beatles albums from the time they made it to US shores. But it took me a while to make the Fab Four part of my consciousness: one of the lenses through which I viewed the world.
I saw that first performance on Ed Sullivan. I was a snivelly brat at the time (middle school, you know) and I thought they were pretty silly, bobbing around with that hair. I was waiting for the Broadway actors from OLIVER! to do their thing. (And I don’t apologize for that dimension of my taste — those singers were pretty great.)
But by the time HELP! hit the big screen in my small Maine town, I was down with the Beatles. I loved that album and wore it out on the old living room record player. Still — it didn’t really get to where I was living inside, an awkward tomboy girl in a rapidly changing world.
Then came Rubber Soul. I woke up this morning, almost sixty years later, thinking about Rubber Soul. I haven’t listened to the album as one piece in many years, but I still know know each transition from track to track. I loved the album cover. I was bemused and challenged by “Norwegian Wood.” Frankly, I was right to feel that way. I was puzzled why I loved the song but resisted the message. I just couldn’t, somehow…
