It’s hard to believe in many ways that it’s been sixty years since the Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, on February 9, 1964. I actually missed the airing, because it was on a Sunday night, a school night, but the girls in the firth grade could talk of nothing else the next day. Each had to excitedly say which one was their favorite. One even chose Ringo, perhaps just to be different.
73 million people watched the show that night, which was 40% of the country’s population, and there were lots of folks who didn’t have televisions back then. For some reason their playlist differs from source to source, but I believe they began with All My Loving,'” then “Till There Was You” and
She Loves You.”
At the end of the show they came on again and played “She Loves You, ” leaving out what had just become their first US #1 hit, “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
It’s hard to comprehend the sustained impact the four members have had over sixty years. They just won another Grammy this week for a song they cobbled together using an old vocal track by John Lennon. Each was became genuinely accomplished musically, but the dual geniuses within Lennon and McCartney, together and separately continues to inspire to this day and likely will for generations, even as musical tastes evolve.
I wish I’d seen them that night, but I’m glad to have been around for these 60 years and for the soundtrack they gave to my life.
