Yes, I'm blogging about the Beatles.

How many blog posts must there be about this band?

I never got too much into the Beatles. I mean, growing up, I heard the hits on the radio (how could you not?), and I liked what I heard (how could you not?). But I never dug any deeper. In a way, with how saturated radio is with Beatles music, you don't have to dig. It's just there. Furthermore, I was rocking the metal or punk or hardcore or indie rock.

But later in life, I decided to give the Beatles a closer look--and listen to albums as albums, not just pop songs one at a time. And I had to admit that they were/are amazing songwriters/performers, and were/are painfully creative and inventive. And John Lennon had a crazy good voice.

The whole reason I took this closer look was when I first heard this song on the radio. "Don't Let me Down". It sounded like the Beatles, but I hadn't heard it before. I remember the moment. I was in Los Angeles on a business trip. I was riding around in this silver convertible Mustang that one of my fellow out-of-town co-workers had gluttonously rented (it was during those late 90's glory days of the internet boom). The song came on the radio and I was blown away. After a bit of research, I found out it was recorded during LET IT BE, but was released as a b-side on a single at the time. I think that's accurate?

Then, I forgot about the whole thing.

Then, a couple of days ago, I remembered it again. And I looked and found this video of the song/performance on youtube. Dang. It's so good. Everything about it. The song. The look of the band on that day (they're like some kind of weird superheroes or something in those strange clothes, fuzzy coats, nasty locks of hair... and shaggy Paul just in his suit alone). The quiet commentary of the normal-looking spectators on the side. And how tightly they perform this song and how much fun they seem to be having making it happen. I'm not sure, but I think, just after this, everything started to unravel for them. Seems weird, seeing as how cool they seem to be with each other here. Moments to enjoy:

Paul's shuffle around 00:53-00:54.
Some dude in the background mock-drumming at 01:22.
Ringo's stalling, ramping up, and mouthing along at 01:32.
The shameless snickering of George, John, and Paul at the lyrics around the 02:30 mark.

I know, it's dorky going on like this. And who hasn't said great things about the dang Beatles after all? Well, even if you've seen it or heard it, it's worth taking another look or listen.