1 Mother 2 Another

The other night I was putting Cora to
sleep and we were lying there snuggling, chatting desultorily and
nuzzling together. Suddenly Cora sat up abruptly and said,
“Mommy, did you know the Beatles broke up?”


For those of you who don’t know us well, my husband and I are
rather strong fans of the Beatles. I think their music is
incredible, great artists, blah blah blah. My husband can recite
all the miniscule trivia that surrounds the band – who played
which licks on the ALTERNATE takes of “Love Me Do”,
what George was eating when he came up with “Blue Jay
Way”, who “Martha My Dear” is really about (the
dog, by the way). I know it kills him that the girls like songs
like Miley Cyrus’ “Party In The USA”, and
he’d threatened recently to take charge of their musical
education.


So I wasn’t completely surprised to hear Cora talking about
the Beatles. I grew increasingly uneasy, though, as the
conversation went on.

“Yes, honey,” I replied,
“The Beatles broke up. But it was a long time ago, so
don’t worry.”


“BUT” Cora said distressedly “They will NEVER get
back together again! You know how I know?” Resigned to a Fab
Four history lesson, I shook my head and indicated she should go
on.


“See, one of the Beatles died. He was a genius. And then the
other front man, his wife –well, at least the wife that he
REALLY loved – died, and he’ll probably never want to
write again, so you see, the Beatles will NEVER get back together
again! I’m serious!” And with that she lay down and
tragically folded her hands, contemplating a world with no more new
Beatles songs.


Which we all did, FORTY YEARS AGO.


So here’s the question – what, exactly, has Brian been
teaching her? I confronted him immediately, of course, and he
denied ever saying anything about Linda McCartney ever being
Paul’s “wife he REALLY loved”. He also said he
never discussed the delicate politics involved in discussing the
placement of the Beatles within the band – calling Paul a
“front man”, while perhaps accurate, goes against their
“all for one” ethos, at least between Paul and John.


So I’m not sure who she’s been talking to, but
hopefully that’s all she’s heard about them.


And please, no one play “The Day The Music Died” for
her.