Day 5 - 52 -- Early Rock

Being outside made me think I should have a ball cap on -- the sun was blindingly bright and the temperature climbed to the mid-teens (Celsius). Activities involved a couple of errands, a meeting and working on an online learning course. When I took a break, I watched a movie that I'd meant to see for some time -- Nowhere Boy. The story presents the early days of John Lennon in Liverpool with the beginning of the bands before the Beatles. It tells of his living with his aunt and uncle and meeting his mother when he was a teenager. The wild antics of a teenage boy and the emotions of coming to terms with his family life made a great back story for the person the world came to know. The movie portrayed the story with compassion and a sense of veracity. It is worth a view.

Early rock and roll began in the UK with adoption of rhythm and blues from the US. I've heard an historian note that the UK then brought this sound back to the US where a whole segment of the population heard it for the first time because it was sung by "white boys." Up to that point, it had been termed 'race music'. If you listen to the very early recordings of The Beatles and the Rolling Stones and others who were part of the British Invasion, it is clear now that much of this was from R&B style. The simpler tracks became more elaborate as music and technology expanded and it all split into the many sub-genres of rock.

Pondering all this while walking to errands today, I kept coming back to the same song. The music and lyrics express some of the angst and growth from Lennon's formative years. So, while it may seem a no brainer from the title, there was some thought that went into this one <smile>. Enjoy!

Nowhere Man -- The Beatles (by Lennon and McCartney)