With The Beatles still reverberating throughout much of our collective culture and consciousness, we thought it timely to publish this gem specially written by the late Nilo S. Ezequiel for the Ateneo de Naga High School Class 1967 Golden Jubilee Yearbook in 2017. As announced in fact a few days ago, “Beatles ’64,” a documentary by Martin Scorsese, will premiere in November 29, 2024. It will focus on the band’s first trip to the United States in February 1964, when they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. The new film follows Peter Jackson’s “The Beatles: Get Back,” the 2021 documentary series on the making of “Let It Be.” It was also announced earlier that each member of The Beatles will be the subject of his own biopic as part of four separate theatrical movies to be directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Sam Mendes. Casting has already begun and the first release is scheduled in 2027. Newly released in November 2023, “Now and then” by The Beatles debuted at #7 of Billboard’s Hot 100. It was recorded based on the 1977 demo made by John Lennon using technology developed in the making of Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary. — The Editors
The Beatles – Virtual Members of Class 67
The Beatles, that phenomenal British band of the 1960s, conquered the music world at roughly the same time as we entered high school. They have remained in our consciousness because their music and song genre defined our culture when we were in high school and college. They came barging into the music scene with drums rolling and horns blaring. The band, composed of John, Paul, George and Ringo from working-class Liverpool, England arrived at the scene in 1964 with their long mop-style hairdos which effectively dislodged the Elvis Presley-era backswept hairstyle (with pompadour top) that was in vogue since the mid-1950s.
We first met the band vicariously when we read about them in foreign newsmagazines like Time and Newsweek. They had invaded America and took it by storm in concerts that saw their young audiences screaming their heads off. A couple of months later, their music hit the local airwaves with ditties such as: She Loves You (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah), I Saw Her Standing There, and Boys. And boy, were swept off our feet. Then came the screaming sounds Of Twist and Shout and Mister Moonlight along with their ode to materialism in Money That’s What I Want and Baby You Can Drive My Car as well as their make-believe lamentations in Help!, No Reply, and Misery. Our parents and the elderly felt relieved when the band came out with more melodious sounds like: Yesterday and Here, There and Everywhere or the existential themes found in Nowhere Man, In My Life, and Eleanor Rigby. The band could compose proper songs after all, including poetic ones that came out later such as Strawberry Fields Forever and Let It Be.
Their most significant album according to various critics was Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band because it was trailblazing, with innovations in song composition, music production, and cover design, among other things. The album included such hits as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, With a Little Help from My Friends, and the title song itself.
In high school, we oftentimes listened to the Beatles on radio or phonographs. In our senior year, two or three times a week, we would proceed to the house of a classmate near the campus and eagerly listened to the band for a couple of hours before heading home. Of course we also listened to other bands like the Rolling Stones, Herman’s Hermits, Dave Clark 5, Beachboys, Monkees and the singers from Motown, but without the commitment with which we embraced the Beatles. Many were particularly enthralled by Mick Jagger of Rolling Stones but his contortionist moves and pouty facial expressions were too edgy for some. To this day, we could hum or sing-along with most Beatle songs when we hear them. That’s how closely we identify with this quartet. Sadly, two of them have departed to the great beyond, probably still playing their kind of music, while their guitars gently weep.
Header image: A collage of The Beatles’ photo with the album artwork of their record Revolver (credit: EMI Records).
About the author
NILO S. EZEQUIEL graduated from the Ateneo de Naga High School, where he was active in the debating team, the Blue and Gold publication, sanctuary society, and catechetical instruction. He went to UP Diliman to take up Economics and Business Administration. His significant professional engagements included being President and Chief Operating Officer at Pryce Corporation (a publicly-held company listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange); and, Treasurer and Head, Corporate Finance of Philippine National Construction Corporation.
He wrote about his life story in the ADN HS 67 Golden Jubilee Yearbook, “I retired in September 2015 and now spend most of my waking hours sucking my thumb. I miss golf but I can’t play the game anymore because of lumbar problems.” Before his passing in 2020, he also lamented in his famously sardonic style, “My kids are grown up and are working abroad. That leaves me in an empty nest with two housemaids. My life can be summed in the song by the Rolling Stones, “I can’t get no satisfaction… so I tried, and I tried, and I tried. I can’t get no!”
