Which Beatle Are You?

Which Beatle Are You?(1,210)

July 17th, 2011

It has been over fifty years since four young gents from Liverpool landed in the Colonies to inform us that “She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” and they really wanted “To Hold Her Hand.”

The Beatles—Paul, John, George and Ringo, otherwise known at Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Richard Starkey (Mr. Starr’s real name). They created a mania. Maybe they WERE a mania. Perhaps a mania existed, looking for an outlet. I’m not sure. But they truly were the perfect storm of four individuals uniting in a common purpose, gaining direction from one another for their orbit.

Paul was the heart. He was the romance, the dreaminess, mingled with raw talent that still manifests itself in little inklings and dribbles to this day.

John was the soul, if one perceives the spirit to be a roving rebel of blowing wind searching for a cause, while finding no personal place to lay his head.

George was the mind—inquisitive—desiring to tap both the natural and supernatural in order to incorporate as much of the world as possible to enhance his gift, which he deemed limited.

And Ringo was the strength—the beat of the Beatles, if you will—a rather simple chap who realized he was a good drummer who had snatched an opportunity to be in a great band.

They were the heart, soul, mind and strength of rock and roll. Can you imagine what a mish-mosh of hog-wash-commercialism the medium of contemporary music would have been without these grandfathers setting a tempo—and a goal for a bit of mission and message along with their musical mastery?

But which Beatle would you be? Would you be Paul, the heart? John, the soul? George, the mind? Or Ringo, the strength?

Could you be as talented as Paul was and still give room for John’s eclectic soulfulness to come through, without feeling jealous because some folks preferred it?

Could you be the soul, like John Lennon, without resenting Paul’s emotion, which really touched the humanity of the average person?

Could you be the mind, such as George Harrison, and know that more than likely you’re not as valuable as the heart and soul, but when renewed, you can come up with “Something” that is both memorable and everlasting?

How about being the beat? Can you sit back and rat-a-tat-tat and rummy-tum-tum, giving the back-beat to a sound not necessarily of your making, but certainly of your enhancing?

The Beatles worked. And that is why, fifty-plus years after their inception—two of them already passed away—their music is still celebrated by a generation of young people who are barely impressed with anything.

At the height of their fame, John Lennon once said that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. You know, in that moment he was probably right. But when you step back and look at history, Jesus probably wins the day. It’s because Jesus was like Paul—he brought heart to God. And Jesus was certainly like John—a spiritual rebel, objecting to the excesses of the religious system. Undoubtedly Jesus was George, because he told us to “consider the lily and how it grows.” And I will tell you that Jesus was our Ringo Starr, because when someone deigned to call him “good,” he just said, “There is none good but God. I’m just a drummer in a great band.”

And having done all this, he achieved something that the Fab Four were never able to accomplish. He left an example of how you and I can gain our own heart, soul, mind and strength, and through his power, become the Fab One.