What is your favorite Beatles song?

Who was your favorite Beatle?

The first question can be answered by anyone because regardless of age, everyone knows who the Beatles were, and most everyone has a favorite Beatles song. Like Elvis, the impact on musical culture made by Elvis and the Beatles was profound and long-lasting.

Imagine (coincidentally, another Beatles song), but it has been sixty one years since Dick Biondi, a DJ at 890 AM radio in Chicago, became the first DJ to play a Beatles song on American radio which made WLS the first American radio station to play a Beatles song.

The song was “Please Please Me,” and while musical trivia buffs may disagree because they believe the song, “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” was the Beatles’ breakthrough in America, it reality, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” wasn’t played until much later in 1963. It was Carroll James of WWDC in Washington, D.C. who played it on December 17 of that year.

We did ask a second question: “Who was your favorite Beatle?” and the answer to this question probably depends upon one’s date of birth.

Why?

The Beatles’ last live televised performance was on August 14, 1965 on The Ed Sullivan Show.

The Beatles’ last televised (not live) appearance was aired on The Ed Sullivan Show, this time on March 1, 1970 when promotional videos for their songs, “Two of Us” and “Let It Be” were broadcast.

Our point is that people born after 1970 never got to attend or see a live performance of the Beatles, and certainly not as often as those who were of a certain age in 1963 when the Beatles made a huge splash in the USA. It’s hard to form an opinion, let alone establish a favorite performer, when one hasn’t seen enough of a musical group to make such a determination.

“We” (as in those of us who were fans of the Beatles in real time), however, knew who the most popular Beatle was because we polled our friends, read magazines, and heard for ourselves which Beatle got the most squeals when a television camera focused on him.

Hands down, it was Paul McCartney.

Polls will say that it was McCartney who had the most successful and enduring solo career. He has written the most number-one hits (32) on the Billboard Hot 100 chart which set an all-time record. His tours, especially with Wings in the 1970s, were hugely successful and helped maintain his popularity. And in a YouGov poll, 45% of respondents chose McCartney, 27% chose Lennon, 17% chose Harrison, and 11% chose Starr.

But “we” who favored Paul liked him because, let’s be honest, we thought he was cute.

On these pages, we like to highlight notable people and the dogs they owned because it’s interesting in a trivia-of-pop-culture sort of way.

To that end, we’ve already written at length about Paul McCartney and his Old English Sheepdogs, but in this post, we focus on the band member who might have been the most unheralded member of the Beatles,  “the quiet Beatle.”

With his reserved demeanor during interviews and public appearances, George Harrison was frequently overshadowed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney not only because they were the group’s primary songwriters, but because both had outgoing personalities. Over time, we learned that Harrison often felt frustrated by the lack of recognition and opportunity within the group, but Harrison’s contributions were significant.

It was Harrison who introduced Indian instruments, particularly the sitar, to the Beatles’ sound. It was Harrison who expanded the band’s “palette” by introducing the Moog and ARP synthesizers. It was Harrison who influenced the band’s direction by embracing Indian culture, philosophy, and Eastern spirituality.

It probably wasn’t until after Harrison went out on his own that fans came to appreciate his singular talent. Though he had written, “Something,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and “Here Comes the Sun,” while he was part of the Beatles, his iconic song, “My Sweet Lord, ‘on his solo album, “All Things Must Pass” became the best-selling record by any former Beatle.  He was ranked second among the Beatles in number of solo number-one singles, and many forget that it was George Harrison who formed the supergroup,  The Traveling Wilburys, with music legends, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne.

George Harrison owned several dogs throughout his life, including a Yorkshire terrier named Winston in the 1990s, but our sense is that Harrison had a special affinity for Border Collies, particularly during his time as his estate, Friar Park.  We don’t have permission to share the photos of Harrison with his Border Collie named Shep, but you can see one here and at the previous link.

It makes sense that someone who wrote the following lyrics would own a Border Collie:

“Without going out of my door
I can know all things on earth
Without looking out of my window
I could know the ways of heaven”

From “The Inner Light” released in 1988

And before we forget, easily the best movie ever made that offers a taste of what Beatlemania was like was the 1978 movie, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.” Below is a trailer for the movie, but it’s been hard to find it on-line:

 

Image: Border Collie by © Yana Lysenko/Dreamstime