Rev Peter Godden gave us a magical mystery tour through the all too brief six and a half years when the Beatles ruled the charts. From their beginnings when the ‘man from Decca’ famously made the worst business decision of his life by turning them down for a record deal to the heights of Beatlemania and the group going their separate ways in 1970.
Peter’s love of the Beatles music shone through as he took us through their discography playing extracts of their songs, talking about the quality of their musicianship, creativity and extraordinary song writing. We were reminded that the Fab Four were only in their twenties at the height of their powers and this only served to emphasise the maturity expressed in their lyrics.
Peter also shared some interesting background facts about the Beatles and their songs. For example, did you know that the harpsichord sound in ‘In my life’ is actually a piano played slowly with the recording speeded up to give the required tonality, or that in April 1965 the top five songs in the US Billboard charts were all Beatles songs – a record that still stands if you exclude downloads.
Peter was also appreciative of George Martin’s influence on, and input to, the Beatles’ music. He provided inputs such as the baroque style accompaniment to ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and the cataclysmic conclusion to ‘Day in the life’.
Peter gave us some new insights into their music and was envious that most of us were around to experience the Beatles first hand when they were storming the charts.