"Anyone unlucky enough not to have been aged between 14 and 30 during 1966-7 will never know the excitement of those years in popular culture."
— Ian MacDonald
Yes, it's true: those of us "unlucky" to have been born outside the window from 1936 to 1953 will never have the opportunity to experience this level of excitement first hand. (We also didn't have to live through the era of tuna and lime jello salads as luxury dining so it's not all bad though) Instead, we had the chance to swallow it up whole.
I am a second generation Beatles' fan. Only for the first three-and-a-half years of my life did I live in a world in which they were all still alive. The earliest association I have with John Lennon is that he was that he was dead. (He was probably the first person I can recall being dead and this was a year or two away from discovering that I, too, will one day die) The eighties became the decade in which unspeakable tragedy brought The Beatles back only for the pop scene to carry on having as little to do with them as possible before eventually accepting that there was simply no getting rid of them.
The Fab Four discography was in a shambles during my youth. Those weird seventies' compilations — Rock and Roll Music, Ballads — were still available as were the American albums. No one seemed to own the entire catalog. My mum had a half dozen old records that looked like they'd been played and scratched to death but did have newer copies of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 compilations and, for some reason, Beatles '65. She also had Rubber Soul, Hey Jude and Rock and Roll Music on tape. This meant that I had much to explore but far from the whole thing. (It wouldn't hear The White Album in full until I was eighteen when Mum gave it to me on CD for Christmas) Rather than getting into them chronologically, I made due with what was made available to me. Not ideal but at least I never lived through the rush of Beatlemania which left fans prone to eventual — if misguided — disappointment.
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The time between the release of the Revolver album and their first single of 1967 was by far the biggest gap since The Beatles reign began. For much of late '66, the foursome went their separate ways. Famously, John Lennon accepted a role in a movie which led to him spending several weeks in Spain where he began wearing his trademark granny glasses. It was also where he worked on "Strawberry Fields Forever". Returning to England that November, he presented his latest composition to the others who were immediately impressed by it. Paul McCartney then went off and wrote his reply "Penny Lane". Both songs were inspired by their childhoods spent in Liverpool though from suitably different perspectives. Yet, they're very much two sides of the same coin (or, better yet, two sides of the same 45). Whatsmore, it marked a turning point: far from being from Liverpool, now The Beatles were Liverpool.
On any given day, it is said that you can spot tourists from all over the world wandering around Liverpool in search of The Beatles. I'm sure the majority are aware that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr no longer reside there — or, indeed, that none of the Fab Four have made Merseyside their permanent homes in over sixty years. Yet, visitors still turn up to see where they grew up, where they went to school and where they cut their teeth as just another struggling band who happened to go on to become the biggest thing in popular music. Visitors to London, Hamburg and New York may also take Beatles' guided tours but Liverpool has the lion's share of the landmarks and is probably the one to go to. (Though, admittedly, I wouldn't know since I've never been on one)
But beyond simply taking in the spotless middle class home of John Lennon and a replica of The Cavern, more adventuresome types may also indulge in visiting spots mentioned in Beatles' songs. In truth, there aren't all that many, with arguably the two best known sites coming from both sides of the same single. While the Salvation Army-run Strawberry Field — just a stone's thrown from the Lennon home — might still retain a mysteriousness that shrouds the song of (almost) the same name, there's no way on earth that the real Penny Lane manages to evoke the sunshine absurdity of McCartney's composition. If there happens to be a nurse selling poppies from a tray then she'll only be there in the fortnight or so leading up to Remembrance Day. Curious tourists may pop into the Tony Slavin barbershop to see if they do indeed have photos of "every head [they've] had the pleasure to know" but that's the case with every hair salon the world over. (Had "Penny Lane" been written a few years later by a North American it could easily have had a line about the drycleaner with "every celebrity headshot they've had the pleasure to know", even though it isn't quite as catchy)
If the real Penny Lane is indeed a disappointment to tourists then you can bet that they'd sooner blame the Liverpool town council and/or visitor board than The Beatles themselves, which may not be entirely fair. While Merseyside may wish to brand itself to the Fabs, there's no possible way they could recreate the area to satisfy the song that immortalizes it. This extraordinary composition paints a picture of a world that never really existed beyond the mind of its creator. Penny Lane may be in his "ears" and in his "eyes" but it is so far gone from any real person's interaction either then or now to be unrecognizable.
For all of its plaudits, "Penny Lane" is somehow still the weaker side of what is The Beatles' finest single. Paul's song is glorious and it should be listened to on as close to a daily basis as possible but "Strawberry Fields Forever" is simply streets ahead of anything a pop mind has ever come up with. Yet, young fans weren't ready for either of them. They were unprepared for how unusual their sound had become but they were equally bemused by the way the group looked with their mustaches and psychedelic gear. Though listeners grew up with The Beatles and could go along with how they had changed, in this instance many weren't ready. They had long since left much of their competition in the dust and now even loyal followers were being left behind — if only temporarily.
Thus, this brilliant double A side broke a lengthy run of consecutive UK chart toppers, managing a peak of just number two. Meanwhile in North America, the two were split up. On the Hot 100, "Penny Lane" gave The Beatles yet another US number one while its companion managed to go no higher than number eight. On RPM, it was much the same, except that "Strawberry Fields" didn't even merit its own chart position. Being at the top of the charts in both the United States and Canada is fair enough but it could only manage one week on top. (While single week number ones was still commonplace in '67, the massively inferior usurper to "Penny Lane" managed to hold on to the top spot for three weeks, as we'll be seeing soon) Even at their breeziest, peak-of-powers best, The Beatles couldn't dazzle everyone everywhere, ludicrous though this may be to those of us second and third generation fans who really did grow up with them.
Score: 10
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