Reprinted from AfterFiftyLiving.com,
I still remember the first time I heard The Beatles on the radio as a teenager. My mother had just told me that my boyfriend had arrived for our Saturday night date. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” came on the radio and I was transfixed. I had to hear the whole song before I went downstairs.
It has been 50 years since The Beatles first visited the United States, but their music is as alive as ever. Although the Beatles stopped performing as a group in 1970, and John Lennon and George Harrison have passed, their music is today enjoyed by the Baby Boomers who saw them perform, and our children and grandchildren.
The power of music to evoke memories is great, and one of the most moving of the Beatles’ songs is Let It Be, Paul McCartney’s tribute to his mother, Mary, who died from an embolism when he was 15. After his mother came to him in a dream during a difficult time in his life, he wrote the song to share her advice with the world. Each time the song is performed, played or heard, it keeps alive the memory of his mother.