The Beatles and Me

My friend Susanna posted a Facebook status about teaching the kids in her class in Israel to sing “She Loves You” by the Beatles. One of the little kids perked up and sang that falsetto “ooooh.” It was the same one that made girls squeal back in 1963, back when the Beatles were starting to get their footing in the United States.

My sister and I may not have been children of the ‘60s, but our parents certainly were. We listened to music of that era, and it was played throughout the house. My parents didn’t always like the same music (mom liked singer-songwriters, dad liked showtunes), but they always came together for the Beatles.

As a child, it was John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr who taught me the power of imagination. There were yellow submarines to travel on and tangerine trees and marmalade skies to find. It was constantly playing in the house, whether it was the early albums or when I got older and began listening to the White Album.

As I got older, the Beatles’ music amazingly grew with me. Very few things from childhood stay with you, but I always grin when one of their songs comes on the radio. Sometimes I hear songs and feel like I’m discovering them all over again. I play them when I’m in the kitchen cooking and sometimes Ari and I will dance like goofballs to them. It’s happy music.

But the most incredible thing is that the Beatles seem to bring out the best in everything. If you ever pick up the book “Where the Girls Are,” by Susan Douglas (which is a great read, so I recommend you pick it up through Amazon), her love of the Fab Four resonates on the page. It’s where she makes her some of her best arguments regarding the beginnings of feminism in the 1960s – how the Beatles were unusually androgynous, fun-loving and, above all, loved and cherished their female fans, which made them go ga-ga for them. One of my favorite lines in the book talks about how all the Beatles wanted to do was hold our hands and be good to us, unlike other threatening sex symbols.

Susan Douglas connected in her own way to the Beatles, and I always am amazed how each person connects to the music. Whether it’s my younger cousins when they were little to how my father listens to the music and muses about how the Beatles seemed to understand the stories of others, it touches us. It moves us in a way that feels so far away in current popular music, and although I love the stuff that is currently on the scene and there are plenty of talented artists out there, much of it can’t even begin to hold a candle to what the Beatles did.

The reason why they can’t understand is simple – it’s because the Beatles understood life and the world around them. They didn’t just write about going to dance, drink and have fun. They sung about love, peace and changing the world. They mused about small towns and about days in the life. They spoke of freedom, new beginnings and, yes, even about sex sometimes. They knew more about the human condition than most people, and never shied away from even the dark parts of it. And the simplicity made it work. It made them the soundtrack of this world, to the point where you could probably go to almost any place in the world, start singing a song and have people nearby echo it.

Even in my darkest times, it gives hope to me to know these four guys from a working class town in England could understand this world and then find the power to inspire others. So my hope to you is that you take the Beatles’ power and find your own way to change the world. You may not get everyone in the world to sing your song, but to reach out and change a few people to spread the word can make a difference, too.

In honor of the Beatles, I’m putting on my mom’s rice and beans recipe – the ultimate in simplicity and humble roots, but still hearty and delicious. Also, it’s vegan, so even Paul McCartney could eat it.

BEANS AND RICE

1 bag dried Great Northern, Cannelini or white beans

1 large onion

3 stalks celery

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 can tomato sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt and pepper

2 cups rice (white or brown both work)

Reconstitute the beans either by allowing them to soak overnight in water or boiling them for one hour. Meanwhile, dice the onion and celery.

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot. Add the onion and celery, allowing the onion to become translucent. Add water and the beans in a 2-1 ratio. Add tomato sauce and sugar, along with salt and pepper.

Cover and cook low and slow for five to six hours – the longer you cook it, the tastier it is. When you get closer to the time you eat it, prepare the rice according to package directions. Serve hot.

QUICK TIP 1: This recipe is so simple that it can be varied in many different ways. My mother sometimes makes the beans with marrow bones so it adds some extra flavor, if you don’t mind the meat. But feel free to experiment and use different spices to go along with the beans – Italian spices would probably be super-tasty.

QUICK TIP 2: When you make the rice, feel free to toss in a consumme cube with the water you use to boil it. It gives a little extra flavor to the rice.