This weekend, my wife and I went to the Nashville Symphony with her dad. We do this quite often, as it is always a great performance in a great venue. However, this performance was a little different. The Classical Mystery Tour is a band that impersonates The Beatles with the backing of an orchestra.
I had read great reviews about the show but was not prepared for how cool it was. Impersonators can be hit or miss, and these guys definitely hit. They had the voices. They had the mannerisms. “Paul” played a left-handed guitar when he was actually right-handed. They also had the clothes. The band started with the mid 1960s suit look and changed into the Sgt. Pepper look. Then, they went to a 1970s style with “John” wearing his famous white suit.
I liked the entire show, but a few moments stood out. Hearing “Live and Let Die” with an orchestra was awesome. I know it is not a Beatles song and saying it was my favorite could be considered sacrilege, but it was awesome. I also liked “Imagine”, another solo effort. When it comes to actual songs by The Beatles, their rendition of “The Long and Winding Road” was great.
It was during “The Long and Winding Road” that my mind starting going to places other than the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. It went to a young man lying in the dark with his headphones on. That was me, and that is what I used to do every night before going to sleep. I cannot count the number of nights that I woke up with music still playing in my ears.
“The Long and Winding Road” was exactly the type song I would listen to. It is slow, melodic and, in my mind, kind of sad. Of course, I like all kinds of songs and have a fondness for heavy metal, but the slow and sad ones have always held an attraction for me.
As I listened in the dark, I would imagine myself being the sad one in the song. I would bring up any heartbreak or hurt that I had experienced and used it to bring up a melancholy mood. It may have been fatalistic and was definitely emotional martyrdom. However, that was me. I was always bad about imagining myself as the one in the movie who gave up the girl for a later cause. I guess that would make me Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca.
In the dark, I would listen to these sad songs and play movies in my mind. In those movies, I was always the one who watched others walk away or was the one who was doing the walking away. I guess that is why I ended up having a good time in therapy.
I do not do that anymore. I still listen to sad songs, and they still entertain me. However, I do not place myself inside of them. I listen to them as an outsider who is happy with where he has ended up in life. Placing myself in sad songs probably meant that I was not happy with where I was in life. Now, that is not the case. I am happy with where I am.
That is a song with a different verse. That is also where my mind went as “Paul” sat at the piano and sang “The Long and Winding Road” as the orchestral sounds filled the room.
SBI: A Thinning Crowd 
“The Long and Winding Road” is a great song headphone song. It is one of those songs that when I hear I stop and just listen.
It is one that pulls you in and makes you listen.
I remember Beatlemania at the Wintergarden in New York in the 1970s. That was great too, though the original guys were still live then even though they weren’t playing together. I still fall asleep to music, usually classical but lately the Beatles Blue album. Nothing puts me in a trance like music. Music with words is harder for me to get inside, but classical music can suck me right down into it. I can’t listen to it when I drive. I’ll drive right off the road. I get lost in the music.
We watched the recent Beatles tribute show and it was great, but sad. Ringo looks really spritely.
The tribute wasn’t the same without all of them. And I kept wondering if Yoko was trying to dance or swim. Just about any music can take me away.
I would love to hear Live and Let Die” in an orchestral setting. That song has a “go big or go home” quality to it, for sure!
It was awesome. For a moment, I was wanting a martini, shaken not stirred.
Of course you did!
This made me listen to Rolling Stones for some time. 🙂
That’s an excellent group to listen to.
Sad songs are greatest when you really are sad and can just curl up in them and let them wrap you like a blanket. Even saying that sounds cheesy but I’ve felt that way myself.
It’s the best way to deal with such times. Just wallow in the music.
I never really liked the Beatles until McCartney reissued ‘Let it Be’ album without the orchestra accompaniments. That was a defining moment for me and I bought the entire back catalogue. A few years later they disappeared into my son’s CD collection!
That tends to happen when there are kids around.
You can love sad songs without being sad, I think. In fact I know! Sad songs are the best songs.
They are what songs should be.
I still have songs from their early albums on my stick – like Twist and Shout. All the songs aren’t all written by the Beatles, of course, but there’s an energy there that is amazing. A freshness and excitement. Didn’t even matter when it was Mono either – still came through. As a matter of fact, I prefer some of the Mono quality sound to the polished re-released re-mastered stuff that has been put out. It just sounds RIght. ??
I understand. Sometimes, a song with its bare bones is better than a song with complex arrangements.