Why I love The Beatles

MANILA, Philippines – I am a 10-year-old boy living in an era where One Direction and Justin Bieber are very popular.

But I still love listening to The Beatles’ music.

I stumbled upon their music when a very close friend and classmate of mine in Claret, Bernard Feliciano, brought a book called The Beatles Beat. 

I borrowed the book and searched the title of the songs that sounded familiar on YouTube. I realized that I missed a lot of wonderful music.

I’m not interested in today’s music, though some I still listen to. But I usually listen to (and sing) The Beatles songs.

Here’s why:

1. Their music is timeless.

The love songs they released when they were just starting out as a band in 1960 are still appealing to music lovers today.

Some titles I can think of are “Love Me Do,” “‘Til There Was You,” “Here, There and Everywhere,” “If I Fell” and “Hello, Goodbye.” 

2. You will never get tired of listening to their songs.

They made songs that you can listen to again and again.

These songs can help you bond with your parents, too.

The best examples for this are “Hey Jude,” “Across the Universe,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Come Together.”

3. They were the band that starred in funny movies.

The Beatles starred in movies about their wacky adventures, although “Let It Be” in 1970 was about the album they were putting together.

They wanted to make us laugh.

These movies were “A Hard Day’s Night” in 1964, “Help!” in 1965 and “Yellow Submarine” in 1968.

“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in 1978 was a movie musical starring the Bee Gees, built around the Beatles’ music (the movie also used music from Aerosmith).

4. Their songs always deliver.

The songs of The Beatles always set off emotions in the listener, whether they’re sadness or happiness, sorrow or joy.

Some of their sad songs are “Here, There and Everywhere” and “In My Life.”

Some of their happy songs are “Obla-di, Obla-da” and “All Together Now.”

5. Each Beatle had his own personality.

When they sang, the personality of each band member really showed.

For example, Paul McCartney did ballads as well as upbeat songs such as “The Fool on the Hill,” “I’ll Follow the Sun” and “Back in the USSR.”

John Lennon did folk and rock songs like “Twist and Shout,” “Revolution” and “Norwegian Wood.”

George Harrison did joyous and yogic songs such as “Within You Without You,” “I Me Mine” and “Here Comes the Sun.”

Ringo Starr did carefree songs like “Yellow Submarine,” “With a Little Help from My Friends” and “Act Naturally.”

Right now, I am reading a book called The Mammoth Book of The Beatles. It contains information on how they composed each song and put together every album, their cartoons, movies and how they rose to stardom. 

Even if John Lennon was assassinated in 1980, and we lost George Harrison to lung cancer in 2001, The Beatles are still as popular today as they were 50 years ago. 

My favorite Beatles song is “When I’m Sixty-Four.” How about you?

Watch the video and listen to Basti’s favorite Beatles song:

– Rappler.com

Patrice Sebastien “Basti” Olaguera is 10 years old and is a grade 5 pupil of Claret School of Quezon City. He loves reading (currently obsessed with Gaiman and Edgar Allan Poe), watching movies and toy reviews (by FXFranz and his son on YouTube) and listening to music (The Beatles, The Care and Human League, among others). He loves watching movies with his mom, Rappler’s Kai Magsanoc. Their daily nightcap is reading their favorite books, side by side.

What is your kid into? Rappler welcomes contributions from kids, for kids. Send us your child’s artwork, poetry, short story or even YouTube video to desk@rappler.com with subject heading RAPPLER KIDS.