I think what astonishes people who were Beatle fans at 14 (me) was not that those songs were great (which they were), but the extraordinary growth in the next four years. It is the whole arc of their work that stuns. To go from "Love Me Do" to "A Day in the Life" is so staggering. The only equivalent I can think of is Keats' from Endymion to Ode To A Nightingale in three years. Where the hell did that talent come from? They just pour the stuff out, as fast as they can write it. "Lads, we need a song for the film." Lennon goes home, writes "A Hard Day's Night", they record it the next day.

Their greatest claim to fame I think is that they bequeathed a model of incessant creativity to their generation. We have always had that model in front of us, and it is a good model.

"In My Life" and "Here,There, and Everywhere" are classics -- in the league of Cole Porter, Schubert. Simple, heartfelt, with a fine shape to them.

yours,

Peter T.