Editor’s Note: Song lyrics denoted in bold italics.
Had I come of age in the early ’60s, I’m sure I would have been swept up in Beatlemania. I’m sure it was pretty similar to Bieber Fever and all the pictorial evidence seems to support my theory — lots of fans legit screaming their heads off and getting themselves worked up into downright hysterics. It was quite the time, I’m sure!
Although I didn’t grow up during that time, my parents saw to it that I had a healthy diet of Beatles tunes throughout my childhood. They filled car rides with everything from A Hard Day’s Night to Magical Mystery Tour and everything in between. We all seemed to have our favorite Fab Four member too — I loved Paul while my father’s favorite was always Ringo — and our favorite song, of course. Mine have changed over the years. I went through a huge “Something” phase and another phase where “Please, Please Me” stood out above the rest as my main jam, but through it all, one song kept looping in my brain. It’s the song I’d always come back to over and over. It was my constant. And now that I’m older, I’m starting to see why…
The Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
From Meet The Beatles
I don’t remember the first time I heard the Beatles, but something obviously clicked during that first listen because they’ve been a part of my musical library forever. Remember how my sister and I saved up to buy almost all of their albums? In high school, I must have listened to Rubber Soul on repeat for days. I remember sitting in our living room, putting the CD in my disc-man and falling into the mesmerizing lull of “Nowhere Man.” As I got older, though, I realized that “I Want To Hold Your Hand” is really where it’s at.
Oh yeah, I’ll tell you something
I think you’ll understand
When I’ll say that something
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
Oh please, say to me
You’ll let me be your man
And please, say to me
You’ll let me hold your hand
I’ll let me hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
There is such a sense of innocence to this song, isn’t there? It practically screams of the power of young love. You know, those jitters and butterflies — and, yes, sweaty palms too! — of something as simple as just being around the other person. Maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it or find the right words to describe it, but you know that you’ve found something pretty special.
Plus, it’s such a simple request. You want to hold their hand. You aren’t asking for anything more than that. If you ask me, that’s a beautiful thing to ask of another person.
And when I touch you I feel happy
Inside
It’s such a feeling that my love
I can’t hide
I can’t hide
I can’t hide
I’ve often wondered what it must be like to have that kind of affect on someone. To have such power over someone and have them completely enraptured by you; it’s no small feat, that’s for sure. And something tells me that this sort of pull is strongest at the emotional level — beyond all that superficial surface-y stuff.
Because when you get down to it, that’s really the only connection worth having in the long-run, don’t you think? Sure, you could try to build some kind of life out of pure physical attraction, but I doubt that would ever be truly satisfying. I just envision getting really bored really quickly. You can’t build an entire life on something as fleeting as looks. I thank John, Paul, George and Ringo for teaching me this lesson so early in life. They probably saved me from A LOT of heartache and disappointment! xoxo