Down Memory Lane with ELAshley

ELAshley's 910th post is, aptly enough, a YouTube video of the Beatles performing "One After 909" (get it? 910 is one after 909! Get it? Well I was slow on the uptake!), during their fabled Rooftop Concert. ELA's posting whimsey is refreshing! And watching the video brought back some wonderful memories. Remember, as you watch that video - yes, I do expect you to follow the link and enjoy it there! - that the song was written some time before anyone had ever heard of the Beatles. So it's an old song, one that had never hit a Beatles album, and these five (Billy Preston on keyboards!) Rockers make it sound fresh and exciting.

Below you'll find, from that same Rooftop Concert, the final song performed that day. The quality is not as good as it is on the Phil Spector-produced album of "Let It Be". But listen carefully at the end, as the guitars are taken off their shoulders, to what John Lennon says into the microphone. Also, be aware that, as they began this song, the Bobbies had shut off George Harrison's amp. Watch how he handles this. By now the Beatles were old hands at handling problems "onstage".



In the mid-1970s, the TLA Cinema in downtown Philadelphia aired the film, "Let It Be", and I saw it twice. First with some school chums, second with a beautiful young lady I was dating (she was also a Beatles-phile, as I am). Since I was smoking in those days, I carried in my pocket a lighter. At the opening of the film, as each Beatle would cross the screen for the first time, the moviegoers would hold up flickering lighters. A tribute, I suppose. And I did it, too.



Ahhh, memories of innocent days, long gone, but not forgotten. I wish I could find an affordable DVD of the film. But that seems impossible. So for now I will go to YouTube for my Beatles fixes.

Enjoy!