Lessons from the Boys from Liverpool

I love music. I am routinely humbled by the incredible musicianship and artistry that so many of our students show in practices, recitals, assemblies, and inspiring performances. Plato said, “Music gives soul to the universe and wings to the mind.” My love of music came from playing the trumpet from third grade through twelfth, and from picking up a guitar and teaching myself to play, as well as from a lifetime of listening to music. As a kid, I would put on my parents’ records and stare at the record sleeves for hours.

When I decided to buy my own first album, I was in third grade, and the year was 1978. I liked the Beatles, and I saved up my allowance to go the local record store for this momentous purchase. I didn’t know the album names; I just knew I liked the song, “She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.” When I got to the store, I couldn’t figure out which one to buy. I just picked up the White Album thinking it might be a “greatest hits” collection. The plain white sleeve had only the band’s name embossed; it didn’t even list the tracks. Side one started with “Back in the USSR” and “Dear Prudence,” but then, from a third grader’s perspective, the remaining six songs got pretty weird. I would say really, really weird. Songs like “Wild  
Honey Pie” is bizarre; then there is “Happiness is a Warm Gun,” which has a fifties-style melody, but the lyrics freaked me out! By side three, I am listening to “Helter Skelter.” By side four, “Revolution #9” made me really wonder what I just bought. This was not the Beatles that I had seen clips of on TV: those relatively, clean-cut lads from Liverpool with a funny sense of humor and catchy melodies.

This was the Beatles of 1968, who had been through a range of experimentation and were writing at a violent and divisive time in world history. There were divisions within the band 
as well, but the Beatles at this point were at the top of their game artistically. George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and Lennon’s “Revolution” are just incredible songs. Listening to that album at age nine opened questions in my mind about the nature of artistry and personal evolution, and ignited a life-long interest in rock music.

Recently, I finished the first of an expected three-volume biography on the Beatles by Marc Lewisohn, entitled Tune In. It is an amazing piece of scholarship that recreates the world of the Beatles. There is a section that actually explains the pre-1971 British monetary system, so readers understand the poverty in which each of the Beatles grew up in post-war Liverpool, England. Even if you don’t like or appreciate the Beatles, this is a book that is worth your time, because it describes in amazing detail the emergence of four major creative individuals who, together, reshaped pop culture and the music industry.

As a teacher, I am intrigued by it because it follows John, Paul, George, and Ringo from their births to their breakouts as recording artists in 1962. What is most fascinating is how difficult their early lives were. Two of them, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, had experienced the deaths of their mothers during their teenage years. Some had positive home environments. But, John Lennon lived in a dysfunctional situation with his aunt. All four of the Beatles lived in poor conditions. Many Liverpool homes lacked indoor toilets and appliances like refrigerators that were ubiquitous in America at the same time. Ringo suffered from two significant illnesses and spent long periods of his childhood in a hospital bed.

The stories of their schooling are very captivating from my perspective as a teacher. John Lennon was a deep reader and thinker with a brilliant and sharp mind. Yet, he and the other Beatles, with the exception of perhaps Paul, were horrible students. I am talking about failing out, never turning in work, and not really caring about school. One of Lennon’s report cards from the Quarry Bank High School for Boys (found on the web) reports: “Certainly on the road to failure ... hopeless ... rather a clown in class ... wasting other pupils’ time.” Harrison was a better student, but hated school. In his memoir, he wrote that one of the schools he went to “moulded [students] into being frightened.” Schools in England at that time were not nurturing places, nor were they supportive of outside-the-box thinking. Education was about conformity, not creative expression.

When I read this history of the Beatles, it was during the winter, when our senior class was in the midst of managing the college process and 
a significant workload. I was struck by the contrast of the Beatles during their childhood and teenage years and their journey versus yours. There was very little encouragement for them to pursue careers as artists or anything other than the few employment opportunities that existed in the manufacturing community of post-war England. Teachers were authority figures, rather than the teachers you have at CA who take an interest in you and try to cultivate your talents. At CA, we celebrate students who think differently and pursue their passions. That is because we know that encouraging individuals to pursue their interests can only lead to good things.

For the Beatles, their love of music changed their lives and the history of the world to some degree. They didn’t set out to be to be the band they eventually became. They just wanted to play music and maybe cut a record. Along the way, they did it all on their own terms.

Every graduation speaker throughout the history of time will encourage graduates to pursue their dreams, but I don’t think many draw attention to the risks that are associated with it, and the single-minded focus on excellence that one needs to actually realize those goals. These guys worked hard, but they found something they loved to do and they did it amazingly well. The road to finding a meaningful life is not a straight one. Don’t fall into a trap thinking it is. It has curves. It has cliffs. There can be drop-offs on either side of the road. Stay focused and determined. We are excited for you on this day because we know from experience the tremendous potential and opportunity you all have. As T.S. Eliot once noted, “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”