Paul McCartney and Neil Young Covered the Beatles at the Perfect Time
Anyone who's lucky enough to have seen Neil Young and/or Paul McCartney play music on their most recent individual tours knows that the two legends-now in their 70s-have lost none of their ability as performers. Sure, they dodge some of the high notes, and yeah, they don't move around as much, but this natural aging of their ranges is offset by their sage-like presence on stage.
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It's rather overwhelming to see one of the most esteemed songwriters of all time stand before you and play a song that's lost none of its value in the decades since it was written. Within these iconic melodies we keep our own memories, and we use these songs to connect to, simultaneously, the past and the present. Listening to the Beatles' "A Day in the Life" always makes me think of the first time I heard the song, riding in my parents car, that orchestral arrangement swirling in my headphones. It connects me to an era I never saw, in which the world was fighting to overcome segregation, America was seeing a surge of progressivism, and the Beatles were playing their part in turning the world on to drug culture. The famous line today-"I read the news today, oh boy"-has entirely different meaning given the headlines reporting the fallout from last night's shameful presidential debate.
Which makes it entirely perfect that video would surface this morning of Neil Young and Paul McCartney playing "A Day in the Life" together at Desert Trip this weekend. That festival is one founded on nostalgia, on the sentiment that we must harken back to another time to experience positive feelings. But, Young and McCartney playing this song and transitioning into "Give Peace a Chance" shouldn't make people feel fuzzy for the '60s; it should be a reminder that these are the same ideals we need to fight for today-dreams that are still alive in our flesh and blood legends standing on stage singing them. McCartney and Young never gave up on what they sung about four decades ago. And we shouldn't either. But more importantly, we shouldn't get caught looking back when our present and future is far more challenging than our past.
Maybe I'm thinking too much into it, or maybe I just need some excuse to find something positive to think about after watching an orange demagogue attempt to divert attention from bragging about sexual assault by threatening to put his female political foe in prison.
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