Last Saturday study abroad went on a Beatles walk in London. If you will permit me a little personification, I will offer what I think is an acurate picture of the cities of Liverpool and London: Liverpool is about the Beatles, London is about London. What I think I'm trying to say is that Liverpool tourism centres on the Beatles, whilst London tourism includes the Beatles. When we were in Liverpool all of the tourists were looking for the Beatles. Being in London was different because we were a part of the relatively few tourists watching where the Beatles have been.
Our first stop was Soho square. One of the buildings on Soho square says "mpl" on the front, but is otherwise rather non-descript. "mpl" stands for "McCartney Publishing Limited" and it is the current offices of Paul McCartney's music publishing business. This was a really interesting part of the tour for me because the guide was telling us all sorts of things I didn't know. For instance, mpl doesn't own any of the Lennon-McCartney catalog. Aparently Paul McCartney told Michael Jackson to get into the music publishing business and MJ bought the rights to publish Lennon-McCartney songs. Another thing is that Paul McCartney once had a concert on the rooftop of the mpl building. Also, there is a replica of his favourite recording studio, Abbey Road's studio 2, in the basement of the mpl building.
We went to visit the site of the former Bag of Nails Club, which is now called the Miranda Club. I can see you now, zoning out a bit. So what? you're thinking. I will tell you so what. Paul McCartney met his wife Linda Eastman at the Bag of Nails, which is something I did not know until going there. I know that Linda Eastman isn't as famous as Yoko Ono, but Paul and Linda didn't get up to as many public antics as John and Yoko did, so I think Linda got the better deal.
Going to Abbey Road was like being back in Liverpool because everything at Abbey Road was about the Beatles. Tourists are constantly clogging up traffic by crossing the road and the wall in front of the studio is covered in graffiti. The tour guide says that the cover of Abbey Road is the most copied photograph in the world and I have no trouble believing him.
One of the things I learned about in London was how John got his iconic glasses. You know them, the perfectly round, wire rimmed John Lennon glasses. Well it seems that the songwriter happened upon this style quite by accident. There was once a pretensious club called the Ad Lib club that turned John Lennon away. A comedy group decided to parody this and dressed a public restroom up as the "Ad Lav" club, and placed John Lennon in front of it. They had him wear the circular wire rimmed glasses, and he decided to keep wearing them. A formerly unpopular style of glasses became extremely popular and, of course, iconic of John Lennon.
Visited 3 Saville Row was amazing, I couldn't believe I was really there. For anyone who hasn't been steeped in Beatlemania for the past month, that is the former address of Apple Corps, the Beatles' company. If you're still not sure of the significance of that building; the Beatles very last concert took place on the roof of that building. When we were there I kept looking up towards the top of the building, trying to imagine what it would be like to be walking the streets of London and then hear music from somewhere. At the end of the concert, John Lennon being typical of John Lennon said something witty to the crowd; "Thank you, I hope we passed the audition." Yes John, you passed the audition. Congratulations, you are a part of the most famous band in the world. And now the Beatles are no more. At least they left us their music.
I agree with you that there is a difference between Liverpool and London when it comes to the Beatles and the way they are celebrated. I understand that one is a city of 500 thousand and the other is a city of 8 million and that alone makes a difference. But in a strange way Liverpool is a city that seems more musically alive and able to celebrate the pure joy of what the Beatles were and are. London felt like New York or LA to me, but Liverpool felt like Nashville or Mem. where people enjoy music for what it is.
ReplyDelete