At about this time, in a far away Galaxy, a long time ago ... (clap clap clap) -- musical analysis by the sage of Pineville, LA, Byron A. Marshall, Jr.

[Michael Eisenstadt]

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        In a far away Galaxy a long time ago
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This morning I was walking around my neighborhood in
the rain and relative chill and I couldn't get this
tune out of my head. 

So I was singing the words, what I could remember.

That's because on the radio they've been reminding us
that this was around the time that the Beatles came
and conquored.

The song of course was "I wanna hold your hand."


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Around this time the pop scene had some interesting
things going on ... the surfer songs from the West
Coast ... the twist. But a lot of pop music was now
very "produced." The first age of Rock 'n' Roll was
fading away. 

And something else I remember -- pop music was
beginning to attract, just barely, college student
types (or ex-college students.) But this was unusual,
and their songs were considered freaky. The songs
these first college types did were "too intellectual"
(with the exception of "It's my party and I'll cry if
I want to.")

The Beatles would change that after the first year or
so.

College types liked "jazz." Jazz was "sophisticated"
and good for drinking and trying to lay college or
high school girls, as I was told by an upperclassman
my Freshman year.

Pop was for kids.

College participation was something that would come
back with a vengeance after the Beatles established
that everyone had to like pop. Not that it was
necessarily a move to a higher standard. Rather, the
college-educated abandoned their pretensions to
culture. Pop culture, already certified as the
intellectual glass ceiling for the species by the
public school system, would now claim everyone.
Ignorance would soon be everyone's goal. What might be
good for the back beat would not be so kind to the
country's future.

Soon after the Beatles established the new world
order, another college genre would capitulate when
folk musician Bob Dylan went electric. A music
dedicated to serious protest (if you didn't notice his
smirk) would turn into a music dedicated to ... shades
and irony.

But, in this case of the Beatles themselves, the
musicians would turn out to be clever, witty, and
subversive people.
 

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At the time of the Beatles' arrival, just as there
were few college types interesting in pop, the college
attitude was that pop was for kids. Our college
station wouldn't play any pop. This changed after the
Beatles.


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The first thing you noticed about the Beatles (and "I
Wanna Hold Your Hand") was its roughness, the lack of
smoothness in the sound. It even had this jerky,
cranky beat. It wasn't liked, especially by those in
the know. Studio professionalism had become the
standard. This didn't faze the Beatles at all, who
were full of confidence.

And the music had energy. It was back to a small band
-- the orchestra wouldn't be reintroduced for a few
years, and then, by the Beatles.

Also it was very downbeat. The enthusiasm was there,
but musically it felt downbeat. Even the tune went
downward.

Also we Americans began to realize this was music from
a "club scene" -- all these groups were playing for
various locations in England but also Germany.

The Beatles weren't kids, either. They were youthful,
and full of energy, but not kids. 

The first *audience* was kids.

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Almost as much a part of the music itself was the
audience: the scream.

The girls produced this high "white sound", a clear
sinus rattling continuous scream. At the concerts you
couldn't actually hear the music at all. The Beatles
grinned.


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Another part of the first wave was the Twist. This is
what you danced to it. If you could. If you didn't
dislocate your back. At dances now, dominated by 
the Beatles, at some point professional athletes
(dance types from theater) would take over and do
things you didn't think were humanly possible.

The hula hoop and the twist and the Beatles all seemed
to be related.


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And finally, there was this downbeat side to it. Was
it the working class British point of view? 


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And finally, the Beatle hair cut. The first Beatle
hair cut wasn't very long, but it was no longer short
hair for boys.

I remember walking to work one morning around this
time and a car pulled up so its driver could shout at
me, "Hey, Beatle!" (This wasn't a compliment.)


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Within a short time the next most distinctive thing
besides the SCREAM and the TWIST was the look.

Boys in particular.

Boys now had long hair. And tight jeans.

News headlines every day described outraged city
officials and school superintendents raging against
boys wearing those tight cordorory jeans. "It... it
just is so ... so obvious!" they would sputter.

It is interesting that now, in a different time, the
fashion in boys' pants is to be so baggy that it
probably isn't even there. Emasculated pants for an
emasculated populace and an emasculated world and an
emasculated president. But the smirk is there.


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One thing about "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was the
disjointed words. Another was the way the tune line
would just hang there. And then go to that scream 
producing upward repeat.

And then there was the neat slide downward. 


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But ....those with some musical training might be able
to answer this.


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What was the "beat" or "meter" of "I Wanna Hold Your
Hand?" 

What made it distinctive? And it did sound
distinctive.

What were those three hand claps (I think there were
three. Were there three?)  Was this the cha cha cha?

And what if anything can you say about the drums and
the beat in general?


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--Byron

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