Ob-la-di ob-la-da life goes on...

Ob-la-di ob-la-da life goes on - braLa-la how the life goes onOb-la-di ob-la-da life goes on - braLa-la how the life goes on          ~from song "Ob-La-Di Ob-La Da" by the Beatles

 Back in the 6th grade, I remember hearing about a band from England that had weird hairdos and were singing rock and roll songs. My earliest memory is hearing two people discussing how awful they were. Weird looking, non-conforming and British, they were greeted with some suspicion. By the time I was in the 7th grade though, I was a huge fan. I used to bring my little transistor radio to bed with me, plug in the earphone, and listen to WBZ in Boston at night, because they played Beatles songs and had interviews with them too.
                               
Beatles fans, at least the young girls, seemed to immediately fall into factions-- we all had favorites. I was a Paul Girl. He was considered the "Cute Beatle" and I thought he was dreamy... I read fan magazines about him, including his girlfriend at the time, Jane Asher. I cut out any photographs of him I could find and had them all taped to the closet door in my bedroom. When I turned 13, I received a record player as a gift, and so I used my allowance and baby-sitting money to buy records-- most of them Beatles singles (the old 45 rpm records...) A few of these were love ballads, such as "And I love her..." which I would put on the record player and then pull the arm off so it played over and over and over... (I am certain my mother, who did not share my passion, got really sick of hearing theses songs!) The summer between 7th and 8th grades the Beatles performed in Toronto, about 80 miles from where I lived. A couple of my friends and I saved our money (a ticket was $8!!!), conned one of the girl's mothers into taking us up there, and we attended the concert... our seats were up so high in the auditorium and the bedlam that came from hundreds of young teenage girls screaming and crying made for a rather unsatisfactory experience... but I can say that I really did see the Beatles perform live. A watershed moment in my life...

Time passed. I went to college and the Beatles broke up. I learned to enjoy lots of different kinds of music. The 33 rpm albums became tapes, and with new equipment I couldn't play the albums any more. But I managed to keep up a little bit with what was happening in Paul McCartney's life. He grew up too, formed a new band and played different music. He married, had a family. Me too.
                               
Sometime in the 1980's I attended a Paul McCartney concert when he was with his band Wings. I had lost that star-eyed worship of him by then, but I remember enjoying the concert a lot. What I remember most is that the band didn't play any old Beatle tunes. This was understandable, but those were the tunes I really wanted to hear.

Life went on. Paul's wife died. My first marriage ended. He remarried a supermodel, who apparently took him for a financial ride, and they divorced a few years later. He remarried again (brave guy!). I remarried too. His children grew up, so did mine. We are both grandparents. He performed at the Superbowl a few years ago here in Indy, and I remember thinking that he'd gotten OLD... (not me, of course...)

Which brings us to this past weekend. My dear husband surprised me with a wonderful dinner at a fancy downtown Brazilian restaurant, where the meat is served "gaucho style" (that is, brought to the table on spears and carved right there). When dinner was over, he informed me we weren't finished-- there was to be more to the evening. And then he escorted me to the basketball field house, and I discovered we were seeing Paul McCartney perform!

The show was brilliant. I am sure the music critics will disagree, as there is no question he has aged.  But... Dazzling lights and songs that were a mix of old Beatles tunes and old Wings tunes, with a few newer ones thrown in. I could sing along to almost every one. And he sang every one of the old ballads I used to play over and over and over... It was a little like being greeted by an old friend. He is old-- he's 10 years older than I am. His voice is considerably weaker than it once was... but his energy is still there. He played for 2 hours without a break, playing at least 5 different guitars, a ukelele and 2 different pianos. There was even a pyrotechnics display! I loved it... I sang to Lanny and he sang back to me.

The moment never lasts, but for an evening we could pretend we were kids again... What a gift that is to give to someone! Thank you to my dear husband Lanny for taking me to the concert, and to Sir Paul McCartney for somehow keeping the energy and the talent and the charisma of those long ago days alive in his performance!