50 Years Ago Today: A Review on Beatles White

While most music from previous generations rises and falls in terms of the popularity and recognition it receives today, the work of The Beatles in general and especially The White Album manages to transcend boundaries of age and time to inspire joy, imagination and hope in any audience that it reaches. The Beatles’ The White Album was released in 1968 and although times have greatly changed since then, the overarching themes in the album of social change and progress, as well as personal sacrifice and the complexities of relationships, are still just as relevant today as they were when the album was originally composed. One of the most prominent themes on the album is that of social change and the fight to achieve it. “Revolution 1” is one of the most recognized songs from the album and cries out for social change the most clearly. Today, the theme of revolution still persists in our lives as we are still very much revolting even just at Samo by challenging social stigmas and having conversations on controversial topics that matter to us, such as reproductive rights, the Women’s March for equal treatment, or our school walkout for gun control. Another song on the album, “Blackbird”, is arguably one of the Beatles’ most popular songs but according to Paul McCartney, the song’s muse is actually powerful black women who were striving for equality in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement rather than the more literal interpretation. Additionally, the theme of relationships intertwined with the sacrifices and complexities that come with them can be found in many of the album’s tracks. Both “I Will” and “Honey Pie” provide different perspectives on similar issues of love withstanding time and distance as well as personal sacrifice to preserve said love. The idea of the toll that distance takes on relationships is not one that’s far from the minds of many high school students as thoughts of college and seniors leaving our school, the state or even the country loom closer and closer as this school year comes to a close. Although at first glance the album seems to have a fairly peaceful tone, it has some less than peaceful historical connotations. The White Album has an unfortunate connection to Charles Manson who derived inspiration from his somewhat twisted interpretations of many of the lyrics on the album and especially saw the song “Helter Skelter” as a sort of apocalyptic prophecy. There are also quite a variety of influences that The Beatles took into consideration when composing the album, widely ranging in terms of both time period and style of music. The first song on the album, “Back in the U.S.S.R.”, is a parody of the care-free and laidback tunes of The Beach Boys, and The Beatles actually got some help from a member of the band Mike Love on the track. “Honey Pie”, a song that comes later on the album, alludes to the vaudeville style of music favored in the early 1900s that both Lennon and McCartney had quite an affinity for. Additionally, a majority of the album was written while the band was attending a transcendental meditation course in India and the influence can be clearly heard in both the lyrics and musical aspects of many of the songs. The Beatles had a significant impact on the world but especially on teenagers as they were one of the first boy bands to develop such an extreme cult-like following, mainly composed of teenage girls. Being able to express the unbridled admiration and adoration that many of these girls had for The Beatles was extremely liberating for young women across the globe. The passion that these teenagers pioneered has lived on in a major way and while it may not be directed at the same subjects, can be seen in many Samo students to this day. No matter what your age, gender, beliefs or music taste, The Beatles’ The White Album truly has something to offer for everyone whether that be learning to take things day by day as is suggested in the song “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, or the simple optimism of “Dear Prudence” in asking us to “greet the brand new day” as many of us are learning the importance of in the tumultuous time that is high school. The reason The White Album appeals to such a wide audience is because of its cry for justice, equality and peace that simply cannot be ignored because as The Beatles so eloquently put it in their song “Revolution 1”, “We all want to change the world.”