In my career in broadcasting, I was fortunate to meet some very interesting people, some famous, some infamous and some not famous at all, but never the less, they were all interesting, especially this man. One the best afternoons of my life was lunching (and drinking) for most of the afternoon with Sir George Martin, the producer of the Beatles.
Martin had little or no contact with the world of rock music when he signed and then produced the Beatles for a division of EMI/Capitol Records. His boss told him "to see what he could do with these boys".
Sir George taught the Beatles about music, the Beatles taught him about music. They had mutual respect for each other, he was their guidance counselor, their teacher and co-collaborator.
Sir George said the thing he was most impressed with the Beatles was their desire to learn. He talked about John Lennon going from barely able to pick out scales on the piano, to playing beautifully on Beatles' records. He talked of their work ethic, constantly practicing, working on lyrics and songwriting. Martin taught them about musical structure, he taught them how a recording studio works, he taught them to channel their energy onto the tape.
He said none of it was easy, but it was always creative and as hard as they worked, for all the hours put in, day and night, week after week the songs were the reward.
He said none of it was easy, but it was always creative and as hard as they worked, for all the hours put in, day and night, week after week the songs were the reward.
We were all given the gift of great music by the Beatles with Sir George Martin by their sides all the way.
That afternoon was one of the best of my life. And Sir George wasn't quite as "posh" as he seemed to be. I'll leave you with this.
Cool that you were able to meet sir George. Good post and thanks for the link
ReplyDeleteIt was better than dinner with George Harrison, who paid more attention to my wife than to anyone at the table.
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