The Beatles: Time to let it be? [View all]

[dipsydoodle]

Imagine there's no Beatles. It's easy if you try. No "Hey Jude" below us. Above us, only Dylan. When John Lennon's totemic song rang out at the Olympics closing ceremony last week, accompanied by his image cast in polystyrene relief, it showed that no musical director can ever imagine a world without Lennon or McCartney. Which is a pity because isn't it time, on this 50th anniversary of the Cavern Club performance, that Britain finally got over The Beatles?

Maybe it's because I'm a Scouser. More than that, I went to the same school as Lennon, which used to be called Quarry Bank. Those of us sneaking out to Calderstones Park for a cigarette had to dodge busloads of tourists taking pictures.

Maybe I have always had enough of them. In any case, we Liverpudlians are already over The Beatles. When I ran a magazine in Liverpool, 20 years ago, we managed to fill our pages with cutting-edge music, from the new nightclub Cream to local bands, without once mentioning the Fab Four.

I'm not saying we shouldn't recognise their contribution to music, occasionally. They got there first, and some of their songs were sublime. But why must every national event, jubilee, X Factor series, or sporting occasion, have to feature The Beatles? How many of the athletes (average age: 26) in the Olympic stadium last week would have requested a Beatles song if they had had the choice? What did the teenage audience watching at home think? Did the rest of the world groan like me?

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/the-beatles-time-to-let-it-be-8060067.html

IMHO it was George who was the star anyway and he''ll be the one most fondly remembered.