the beatles and the open context model of learning - day one

8/14/2019 The Beatles and the Open Context Model of Learning - Day One

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The Beatles and The Open Context Model of Learning by Fred Garnett

The Beatles and The Open Context Model of Learning; Day One

One From Me To You

Is Tony in?Who are you?

I'm John Garnett, from Number 7, I'm a Beatles fan and I wonder if...Does our Tony know you?No, I'm at Harrogate Grammar School and Tony isn't, so I don't know him,

but I heard he has the new Beatles record and I'd like to hear it, please.What's that name again young un?

John, err, some people call me Fred. John Fred?Err, yeah...

Tony! She shouted indoors whilst continuing to guard the door, Tony, there'ssome lad your age at the door. Says he likes The Beatles.

Tony was at his front door in seconds. I'd say in his rush he managed it in abouttwo of our Earthly seconds. The door opened wide with one urgent, decisive pull.

You like The Beatles then?Whoa, YEAH!

Big smiles from both of us. Making friends took us about six words and two smiles.No time seemed to have passed whilst this happened.

I heard you had the new Beatles record. My Dad wont let me buy it!

Who needed to say more than that to a fellow Beatles fan?

Come in then! Come on and listen to it with me. Then he uttered a magicincantation.

Its a double A-side.Double A-side? What's that?

More mysteries from the Beatles.

Both sides are as good as each other. That's impossible! How do you turn the record over if it's got two A-sides

then?

Tony laughed at my naivety. But then I only owned two records. Well half of tworecords. Only one of which was any good. My qualifications as an arbiter of tasteconcerning music extended to one half decent record; mostly guitar with gooddrums and no lyrics. Didn't really make me a good judge of Beatles songs andrecords. Tony was a great judge of Beatles records, not least because, as it turnedout, he had all of them. Soon he was to become the epitome of cool amongst ALLof the twelve and thirteen year-olds in Gordon Avenue, Bilton and the

Learning Futures Festival Online January 2010 [email protected]


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neighbouring streets; all eight of us in fact. Tony was that cool.

OK! I'm going to play you a song and you have to tell me what it is.No, No! Please play From Me To You; I can't hear it at home at all, except on

Pick of the Pops. Thank heavens it's been number one for weeks.What about Saturday Club? Brian Matthews plays the Beatles.

Oh yeah we listen to that sometimes; when we don't go shopping or playfootball. But it's on Saturday mornings, when we're busy. Do you think it's goodthen?

It's really good! I listen to it all the time.

Obviously great then I thought. I made a note to try harder on Saturday mornings. Tony took the treasured single out of the soon to become iconic dark greenParlophone paper sleeve. It was the first time I had seen a Beatles single; holyplastic made flesh.

As it's a double A-side I could play Thank You Girl.

I didn't realise he was teasing me. He could see how desperate I was to hear FromMe To You.

In fact I think that is the better song so...How can it be better? From Me To You is the hit.Its a double A-side; you have to make your mind up which one you like.

Then I'll like both of them just the same. You don't have to!

Da da da da da dum dum da

Da da da da da dum dum da

The Beatles usual distinctively cheery opening but slightly slower paced and lessurgent than Please Please Me

If there's anything that you want If there's anything I can do

Just call on me and I'll send it alongWith love from me to you

Big smiles between us. We didn't need any analysis to know that Beatles songswere great. Tony had the classic Dansette. In red! We didn't. Just Mum's Philipsthat we had driven back with us from Germany. It was a good enough recordplayer; I didn't realise how good in fact, but it wasn't cool like Tony's Dansette.And we were in the Front Room.

Tony's Mum hadn't said a word when he had dragged me into the Front Room.Whichhad a bunch of records and the Dansette lying on the floor. He'd taken over theirFront Room to play his records! Strange things happened when Pop Music got into



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your house.

I got everything that you want like a heart that's oh so true

So he was playing his Beatles records anyway before I arrived. I was just adding to

the fun he was already having all on his own. Unlike me back at home. I had beenright to come round.


The lyrics are great aren't they? Just call on me and I'll send it along withlove from me to you.

Like you did! Just call on me, I mean...Oh yeah like I did! How funny... I hope you don't mind?Are you joking! It's fab you coming round. What made you call on me

anyway?

I smiled back at my fellow Beatles fan. Our instant friendship was the best answerto that question.

Well I heard you had the new Beatles single and I just had to hear it. So Ithought I'd come and ask you. You had to be nice, if you liked the Beatles.

Tony laughed.

I'm not sure that makes me nice, but I definitely like the Beatles. They are

the best thing I've ever heard.

I got arms that long to hold youand keep you by my side

We smiled across our newfound friendship

I got lips that long to kiss youand keep you satisfied

I think I'd like to kiss a girl. Have you ever kissed a girl?

One or two...What's it like?A bit squelchy. But they smell niceWhat kisses?No girls. Girls smell nice. And they are nice to hold.Oh!

The conversation was getting a bit complicated for me. And far too sophisticated;I was out of my depth here. I regretted mentioning kisses. I'd only kissed that



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Italian girl Anna in Germany when I was six. And only because she had tricked meinto going down the cellar stairs with her on her sixth birthday. I didn't want to betricked into talking about that, so I concentrated on the sophisticatedcomplications of the lyrics instead.

If there's anything that you want

If there's anything I can do Just call on me and I'll send it alongWith love from me to you

Phew, no kisses there!

There is that magic harmonica again!From Me

I love the way they use harmonica. That's the secret to Please Please Me

you know.To You

Oh there are lots more secrets in Please Please Me...

Just call on me and I'll send it along

We smiled again at the reference about me calling on Tony.

With love from me to you

So who is your favourite Beatle then?Paul of course, he's the best.Why do you like Paul?Well he's the best looking. He's even better looking than Cliff.

At this point I'd spent more time looking at pictures of The Beatles than actuallylistening to them, which was partly why I'd invited myself over to Tony's.

My Mum likes him the best too. I bet he gets loads of girls.Do you like Cliff then?

Yeah and the Shadows! My brother and I like guitars and drums.

And the Beatles are really good at guitars and drums.And harmonica too! They play so many instruments. The Beatles are thefirst beat group I've really liked. I think I like them just because they are TheBeatles. Who's your favourite then?

John Lennon. John Lennon? Why? What's so special about John Lennon? My Dad hates

him. Well, I am pretty sure he does.

Tony laughed again. I frowned, what was wrong with Paul McCartney? Sometimes



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this Pop Music was even harder than Biology.

Well John Lennon has loads of confidence. That's the secret of life you know;confidence.

But Paul's a better singer, listen...

I got arms that long to hold youand keep you by my side

I got lips that long to kiss youand keep you satisfied

That's the two of them harmonising. That's another of their secrets.But John's voice is harsher. Paul's is really sweet and he sings nicer.It's both of them singing together, that's what makes the Beatles special. Its

not just Cliff or Elvis with some backing singers. Its all the Beatles, as a group,working together. Listen to it carefully.

If there is anything that you want If there is anything I can do


He was right! Their voices dropped in and out in various ways that emphasisedalmost every syllable differently. You could hear John and Paul both together andalone throughout the record. Blimey, such subtlety; no longer a simple lead singerto worship and adore then.

Do you think we could become Beatles too?We'll need guitars and drums. And a harmonica!

We laughed at the complexity of it all.

My brothers got a guitar, he likes Hank Marvin.Oh! What about drums?Um, well I'm a drummer.Have you got any drums?I've got drumsticks.

No drums then?Oh yes I've got drums. Not real ones though.Not real drums? What does that mean?Um biscuit tins. I've got two biscuit tins. But I know how to hit them

properly!

Tony laughed. Again! The record ended, cleverly reprising the opening whilstchanging it into punctuation.



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To YouTo You

And out in less than two minutes this time; by tiny fractions...

Can I look at it please Tony?

Yeah, here have a good look. The label design is really interesting. How longhave you liked The Beatles then?Since I first heard them silly!What since Love Me Do?No! Please Please Me, of course. Their first hit record and their first number

one.Love Me Do was their first hit record. Tony corrected my ignorance.Love Me Do? What's Love Me Do?

Their first hit record. I thought you liked The Beatles!?I love them, but I've never heard of Love Me Do.I've got to play it for you then. It's their first record, it's great.

Is it as good as Please Please Me?Not really. But if you heard it first, like me, then it's really specialOh! What's this Northern Songs on the label?Only their publishing company; wait a second what about this instead?

1!2!!3!!!4!!!!Well she was just seventeenYou know what I mean

And the way she looked was way beyond compare

Blimey that's good! What is it?I Saw Her Standing There. It's from the album

The album?Please Please Me!I raised my head and a sharp look passed from me to Tony

You've got the Album?

Tony lifted up the sleeve to show me

You've got The Beatles Album! Yeah! The only albums we've got at home are The Pajama Game and South Pacific.

How on earth did you get it?

I'd never known anyone who wasn't a grown up own an album before, not even



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Caroline, and she was fourteen. Tony, the seriously cool Tony of Gordon Avenue,Bilton, Harrogate, located on the very same latitude as Liverpool, and so part of all songs Northern, let out his radiantly secretive smile.

Listen, Do You Want to Know a Secret?Of course I do!

That's my secret!And he laughed; magic word secret.I was in awe of Tony from that day forth. He played me loads of Beatles songsover the next hour before I had to go home for dinner. I'd never heard so muchgood music in my life. Gordon Avenue suddenly had its own oracle of all thingsBeatle.I knew I only had to like The Beatles for everything to be alright in the future.



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Two Do You Want To Know A Secret?

Do you want to come and play games with me and my friends Dave?No, I'm going to play Lego.All right then. But I'll be gone for a few hours.Are you playing RISK again?

Hmm, probably, maybe, depends what everyone else says.What about that game of Monopoly in our garage? Are you going to playthat?

No, we're saving that for a rainy day, its got very complicated.Monopoly?

Yeah, well some people have lots of hotels now, even two hotels on onestreet, and it isnt obvious how we will get a winner. The four of us left in have allgot a lot of money. We're having to double the notes so we can play.

Double the notes? What's that?Oh one pound is two pounds. Ten pounds is twenty pounds and so on. Gives

us twice as much money to play with. We're all pretty rich. In the game anyway.

Like Double Your Money! Yes it is Dave; like Double Your Money! Good joke...We going to wait for a chance to play when we've got loads of time and see

if we can finish it in one go. I've never known a game go on as long as this.Well stop it then.But we dont have to this summer do we! We have several games on the go

in different places so we can play whichever game we feel like playing.I'm playing Lego, I'm going to build a fire station.

I headed off into Bilton, turning left happily at the top of the street towards Jimmy's. We could only play in the front room at Jimmy's and that soon got pretty

crowded, so we would probably have to play Go, as we had worked out how toplay it in there. A couple of the RISK fanatics wanted to play RISK all the time as itwas the hot new game so that was a possibility too. If we played RISK though itmeant a longer session and not every twelve-year old in Bilton could stay out longenough to conquer the world, or even invade a quiet part of the Kamchatkapeninsula. We played GO by rules we had made up when we didnt understandthe ones that were printed on the box and somehow we managed to keep bothgame play areas going on in parallel. Everyone loved that, so it always gave us acouple of good hours of fun. Jimmys front room got really hot and we got overexcited. We always finished within the time we had available as well. It wasintense, we all got to meet up and it helped the summer evenings, which were

now drawing in, go by in a series of short, sweet and memorable sessions playinggames.

Listen, Do you want to know a secret Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas! I cried cheerfully on entering Jimmy's

Do you promise not to tell,Whoa No! It isnt! Tony sang it back, contradicting me.



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Closer, let me whisper in your ear Tony is that you? So it must be the Beatles then! Is that George on vocals?

Say the words you long to hear Of course it's George, you're quite hopeless sometimes. Haven't you heard

this before?

I'm in love with youNo I haven't! He's very distinctive isnt he? Have you brought the album

over then Tony?Of course, that never leaves the house, but I've brought the EP over to

cheer you all up. You get far too serious about the games. And you play too manyof them. When I got you lot together it was meant to be fun, not so serious andtime-consuming.

I'm glad you are here! Are you staying with us for the whole game?If we're playing GO I'm staying for the whole game, anything else and I'm

going. I dont have hours to waste playing games with you lot.

Right, then GO it is everybody!

The Games Club we'd set up that summer meant that we had half-a-dozen qualitygames to choose from as each of us had at least one distinct decent game, andwe had half a dozen different locations across Bilton in which to play them, whichgot us out of the house much to our parents mutual delight. Dinky had droppedout of the club when the rest of us had mocked Totopoly, his favourite game, forbeing a game that didnt require any skill. I ask you, what skill is there in turning aclunky wheel round and round in order to shake metal horses and jockeys across abit of green cloth? None whatsoever. And the same horses kept falling over as wellso it was miserably predictable. No skill, no strategy, no chance to make a

difference to the outcome, and you couldnt even mess around with the rules as itcould only worked one way.

GO!? Wait we havent discussed this yet. Is everyone here?Looks like it if Tony and Fred are here.Come on lets play RISK instead.No Go! Why do we always play Go at Jimmy's?It's coz his Mum comes back early from work.I want to play RISK too.RISK is pretty boring you know, it's always the sameNo it isnt.

Yes it is, the pattern is always the same, its exciting at the start, when weare all picking up and losing territories, but then the pattern sets in... There isn't a pattern to RISK, what pattern are you talking about? There is only one way of winning. You have to get hold of one of the two key

continents and then you can start controlling the game.Oh yeah, you do! Never thought of that.So the game ends up being between which ever two of us get the key

continents. After an hour you know if you are in with a chance of winning or notand that's it really.



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Yeah, that's true, sometimes, but there are other strategies you can use.Put it on again Tony, I want to hear all of it properly.

Brannnggg,You'll never know how much I really love youDIDLL DIDLL Brannngg, Branngg,

You'll never know how much I really care...George really worked on his note there. Hes not as strong as John and Paul is he?

Listen dmm dmm dmmhDo you want to know a secret?Do you promise not to tellWoah WoahCloser let me whisper in your ear Say the words you long to hear the words you want to hear

I'm in love with you

Tell you what lets play Go now that there are all eight of us. The room isreally crowded. The RISK crowd can take over when we've finished.

But we wont get RISK finished tonight.No but if we start it off in Bill's garage we can finish it off at the weekend.OK! GO it is then.

And I wouldnt have to join in when RISK started either. Result!

ListenDoo Dah Doo

Oh is that John and Paul on backing vocals

Do you want to know a secret Tony just looked at me

Doo Dah DooIt is John and Paul!

Do you promise not to tell Tony continued looking at me with dismay, dumbfounded as I continued toexpress my ignorance of all things Beatle.

Come on Tony this is the first time I've heard it. You've had it for ages

Doo Dah Doo woh ah woh ohI've had two copies of it for ages, I thought you were a Beatles fan!

Closer Doo Dah DooI didnt say anything



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Let me whisper in your ear I cant believe you only recognise Billy J Kramer's copy.

Doo Dah DooI liked the style of the song with George being followed by John and, although thesound was a bit thin for The Beatles.

Dinky's brother has Billy J Kramer's version

Say the words you want to hear I'm in love with youI've heard that down at Dinky's several times

Oh ah Tony gave me another dismayed look;

And Little Children I bet?

I've known the secret for a week or twoOK Fred, I'm going to tell you a secret

Nobody knows just we two The new Beatles record is out next week

ListenDoo Dah Doo

That's not a secret Tony

Do you want to know a secret?

Oh you do keep up with some things then

Doo Dah DooWell I am going to Banks to get it on the very Friday that it comes out.

Do you promise not to tell Doo Dah DooNext Friday? On the way back from school?

woh oh wohoFirst thing in the morning, when I'm on the way in to school. I'm going to

get it at nine o'clock I hope. With a bit of luck I'll only be a few minutes late for

school.

Closer Doo Dah DooLucky? Why lucky, they'll have loads wont they?

Let me whisper in your ear Doo Dah DooLast time there was a queue when I went to buy it after school. The Beatles

singles were on the counter and they sold them non-stop til they sold out.



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Say the words you long to hear They put the Beatles singles on the counter! How come?

I'd never heard that before

I'm in love with you!

No one was buying anything else that I could see, everyone was queuing just to buy the Beatles single. They just put them all on the counter because itwas easier for them. I'm betting that She Loves You sells even faster, so I amgoing in to buy it on the way to school. It will be enormous you watch, everyonewill buy it.

oh h oh ooOh I hope so, I might get one then! She Loves You is that what it is called?

oh h oh ooSo I did tell you a secret after all...



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Three I Like It (Thank You Girl)

Who do you like best then Fred?What do you mean?Christine Keeler or Mandy Rice-Davies? Who do you like best? I like Mandy

Rice-Davies best.

I like that name, Mandy Rice-Davies. What a nice name. I bet she'd like myDads Malaysian Curry. He makes that with rice. Yeah, but which one do you like best?Dunno, Mandy? What difference does it make?

That hot summer term first and second year boys debated the highly respectedmerits of Mandy Rice-Davies, the blond, and Christine Keeler, the brunette.Apparently they had done something exceedingly naughty but we never got todiscuss that. It must have been something really exciting like making a movie astheir pictures were in the press most days all summer long. We watched inamusement as the second years held long and heated discussions about them;

coalitions were formed and broken on the outcome of their debates. We first yearsmostly expressed a simple preference. I have no idea if the third year boys andabove ever discussed such serious public affairs as they never mixed with us, orlet on to us about anything whatsoever.

We've got our own Christine and Mandy here as well you know, Dinky saidconfidentially

Have we! Where?Here at the school, two sisters, Caroline and Sara Altham. Our very own sex

bombs.Who are they?

Caroline is Head of House and Sara is captain of the School IntermediateHockey Team.Wow! Our own Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies? I've never seen

them.

Despite being a mixed school the boys and girls in the lower school voluntarilylived almost entirely segregated lives. I rarely saw girls during breaks. Mostly Iplayed football. And cricket was just starting to occupy us at break as summerwarmed up.

I'll show them to you at afternoon break, mind you we have to go up to the

girls lockers on the top corridor.

Strictly speaking we could go to the top corridor at any time, but if you did go thegirls usually wanted to know what you were doing there, so you needed to havean excuse ready. I never went up there but I knew Dinky would have something tosay. He had an elder brother who worked in a hotel and wore Levi jeans; heprobably walked pass girls all the time, if he wasnt stopping to kiss them.Not until the third form did I notice, let alone talk to, any girls in my class. Dianewas moved down from her class to join us; she should have been a fourth former.



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She looked ten years older than me with her untouchable glossy nails and jinglingbracelet. The first time she joined us, after we were all seated ready for the firstclass of the year, a shiver went down the spine of every boy and every girl in theclass as she walked across the room; but for entirely different reasons. Shemaintained this grand entrance all year and always looked as though someonewas about to sweep into class and whisk her off to somewhere exotic, like

Scarborough. She probably knew Dinky's brother too.I like it, I like it I like the way you run your fingers through my hair Dinky was right about Caroline and Sara, even though they were both blonds.Caroline had long, sleek, finely brushed hair which she was always running herfingers through, and she tossed it back just like Christine Keeler. She seemedincredibly sophisticated and I saw the likeness straight away. I took a real shine toher. I knew I would because I'd had crushes on Carolines before. The girls on thecorridor seemed to hang on to her every word, and the corridor was crammed fullwith loads of girls, it was overwhelming, I could see why I'd never come up here

before. I told Dinky that I had seen Caroline previously but thought she was ateacher, she seemed so very grown up and was obviously bossy. I could imaginelooking up at her on the screen at the Odeon though.

Stop looking at Caroline Fred, she'll notice us! Thats why we are here, I whispered backBut we cant get noticed, they'll scratch us.Oh OK! Where's Sara then? We'd better go and look at her too.Cant see her, oh hang on she's down there, back the way we came. Look

like you've just remembered something you've forgotten and turn round!

Executing Dinky's command as instructed, good patrol leader Dinky, I turned myback on Caroline and headed back down the corridor with him. I hadnt beensurrounded by so many girls since my Mum had taken me to a Ladies toilet in anemergency in Doncaster several years earlier. I was starting to get flustered inthis slightly suffocating no-mans land.

Look there, she's the tall blond with the short hair, opening her locker .

Sara was willowy and athletic looking with naturally rosy cheeks. She wasnt asstunningly good looking as her film star elder sister but she was just asnoticeable.

We had to push up against the outside corridor wall in order to ease past herlocker and her things. She was talking with a friend. They both had tennisracquets.

Oh yah, that's great! Yeah I really like I like it too

And I like the way you tickle my chin And I like the way you let me come inWhen your mamma ain't there



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She sang the lines with her friend and they squealed together softly .

Oh it's a really good party record isnt it. We'll have to buy it this weekend,how does the next bit go?

Do that againYou're driving me insane

Kiss me once moreThat's another thing I like you for

Thats another thing I like parties for!

They giggled at the thought, then Sara noticed us squeezing by

Sorry, didnt mean to spoil your song. I like it too...

She cast a cool and somewhat reserved glance at me. I smiled weakly as we triedto scrape by without a scratch. She liked Gerry and the Pacemakers then. Shemust like Pop Music. She was Mandy Rice-Davies' perfect twin. I knew who Ipreferred, or as they say at Grammar School, whom I preferred.

I like it, I like it I like the funny feeling being here with you

Gerry was right, I liked the funny feeling on the girls corridor.

Come on Fred, whispered Dinky! Lets get out of here. You've looked enough. You've got to make up your mind.

I have done, I whispered Yes I know, said Dinky, Sara Yes Sara, obviously, I agreed

And I like it more with every day And I like it always hearing you say You're likin' it tooYou're likin' it too

Sara liked it too, that was obvious.

I'm askin' youWhat do you wanna do?

Michael, I asked, who do you like best?Christine Keeler. And before you ask Caroline.How did you know I was going to ask that?People talk of nothing else, its easier to have an answer ready. What about

you? What do you tell them?I dont know. I like looking at Christine Keeler and Caroline as they look like

film stars, but Mandy looks more fun and Sara likes Pop Music.

Pop Music! You two Do you take all your decisions based on Pop Music?

Of course!



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Do you agree?That the world was made for you and me

A rumour spread like wildfire through all the boys groups the following Mondaythat Sara had bought both From Me to You and I Like It and played it at the partyshe had been giggling over. She and Mandy were definitely going to be my Feel

Good Hits of the Summer.I like it, I like it I like the funny feeling being here with you

And I like it more with every day

That summer the boys charged around in the breaks as though gripped by someinvisible testosterone-fuelled fever. They ran after each other like bulls careeningaround on invisible outdoor Scalextric tracks passing on rumours of where theirfavourite sex bombs would appear next. Sporting equipment was barely touchedas groups formed and reformed around the ever-changing favourites.

And I like it always hearing you say Sara! Mandy! Christine! Caroline! Sara...

You're likin' it tooYou're likin' it too

And so it went on throughout the summer. Cricket averages failed to rise, I failedto beat the school record in the 880 yards and only the end of term finally stoppedthe giddy madness that had seized all of us boys in one way or another.It was our very own intrusive celebrity culture. Some of us must have gone on to

become paparazzi; you couldnt have had any better training for it.Whoa-oh, I like it

Are you likin' it too?



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Four Everything's Alright

2B1, So I am a B student then. It's official. But a first class class B student mindyou. 2B1; in with Dinky and Mike. I started in the top class and worked my waydown, Dinky started in the bottom class and worked his way up and Mike, in hisown solid way, started right in the middle and would stay there for his entire

school career. We even occupied those respective thirds within the class until Ileft. Just when they wanted me to move me up again and start me on Latin. Goodtiming there for a change.Since being turned into a B student by the Grammar School I had found myself aquiet niche in the top ten of the class, 6/34 in the Spring Term and then 5/34 inthe Summer Term. A nice safe place in the class where I wouldn't get noticed. Ireckoned fourth, fifth or sixth in the class were the best places to be. First, secondand third you got noticed for being a swot, but when you were in fourth, fifth orsixth place no one could say you werent trying and Dad was happy. Perfect. Youcan get on and do interesting things on your own and with your mates. Mind you Iwasnt going to stop winning races to avoid being noticed; winning races was as

easy as doing maths I couldnt help that. Anyway it was a family trait. Dad was arunner who'd had a chance at an Olympic place racing Gordon Pirie, who went onto win a Bronze Medal, Dave would win long distance races before becoming atriple jumper and my hero was Roger Bannister. Worlds fastest miler and a doctor.Or Stirling Moss; what a great name. Worlds fastest driver with a penthouse inMayfair. I couldnt wait for the day when a policeman would stop me and sayWho do you think you then, are Stirling Moss? One of those two was my hero,but it changed from day to day. Soon it would be John and Paul.

Ah little baby You know I've been away

Ah little baby You know I'm home today

Home today? I wonder if he's come back from Germany then. I bet he's back inBritain after a tour overseas. Great piano and drum intro to it, just like TobaccoRoad in fact. I wonder why Dinky prefers Tobacco Road? It's by the Nashville

Teens, so they have to be American, still who are The Mojos, what on earth doesthat mean? Are they from Manchester? Watford? Liverpool? Dunno. But they arebetter than the Nashville Teens; more joyful. Mind you Tobacco Road has greatqualities, like being a proper song about a road for a start. That makes a nicechange. Solid drumming from the beginning, the piano sounds weird and it's noisy

all the way through. Cant fault that.

And dont you know that Everything's alright Everything's alright Everything's alright

Let me hold your hand Be your loving man



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Let me hold your hand Be your loving manLet me hold your hand Be your loving man

They're right, everythings alright now, yeah, yeah, YEAH! Loads of Pop Music

everywhere. And its so cheerful. Beaty, joyful and intense. Lots I can spend mytime listening to now that I've got school sorted.Listening to Pop Music was getting amazingly popular in late 1963. Everyoneseemed to be interested in it now. No more waiting for a single half decent song tocome on a jukebox, if we were lucky enough to even find one. No more relying onCliff and the Shadows to give us a decent break from all those syrupy Americanlove songs. These are the days arent they; lots of friends interested in Pop Musicand no trouble from school, no trouble at all. I'm a good B student and they dontmind that.Pop Music was simply everywhere. There was Saturday Club, Pick of the Pops,which was getting better and better as Mersey Beat took it over, Crackerjack, Juke

Box Jury and Thank Your Lucky Stars. Even Two Way Family Favourites was mostlyplaying good Pop Music now. Well a little bit too much Frank Ifield and Elvis, butnot bad for Sunday lunchtime. You could hear Pop Music almost every single dayof the week now. Could it get any better than that?

Ah little baby You know I feel so good

Ah little baby I never knew I could

I never knew I could either. I smiled to myself as I played Everything's Alright back

to myself in my head. From my satchel I surreptitiously took out my borrowed,battered, paperback copy of Live and Let Die, the James Bond novel by IanFleming that I was currently reading. This was shaping up to be the best of the lot,really gripping story with loads going on as always, but a little more mysteriousthan usual thanks to all of that incomprehensible voodoo stuff with Solitaire. I hadno idea what was going to happen next in the better James Bond stories like OnHer Majesty's Secret Service. I'd sworn by Biggles when I used to go to the JuniorSection of the wonderful Main Library in Harrogate but since someone lent meMoonraker at School I'd been racing through the Bond novels like they were GrandPrix circuits. Once I found an author that I liked I tried to read everything by them.Enid Blyton, Richmal Compton and now Ian Fleming. Ian Fleming was God. This

was writing for the 1960's. The Beatles and Ian Fleming, what a combination for ayoung boy to grow up on.We had to read James Bond novels in secret though as pulp fiction wasntapproved of then, so I devoured them in all sorts of places, like right now on theschool bus when it looked like any other second hand paperback, and duringbreak when they weather was too bad to play football outside on our own speciallittle bit of grass at the back of the School.

And dont you know that



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Everything's alright Everything's alright Everything's alright

That's a great chorus. We should have made that the theme tune for BiltonDynamos, we'd have won the league singing songs like that.

Let me give you lovingLike nobody canLet me give you lovingLike nobody canLet me give you lovingLike nobody can

What a great drum roll into the middle eight. They really build the song into it. Ohand it's on piano, sounds incredibly original; that will be why Dave doesnt like itthen; very decisive Dave. Guitars, good. No guitars, not good. Simple. Still guitars

and drums are the best combination in Pop Music. I'm glad he's got a guitar.Here it comes again. Got that non-stop intensity of good Mersey Beat

Let me give you lovingLike nobody canLet me give you lovingLike nobody canLet me give you lovingLike nobody can

Well no one has sung a chorus more confidently than that, not even John and Paul.

And look; there's the poster for the new James Bond film. From Russia With Love ison at the Odeon. I wont be able to see it though. Certificate A and Dad will nevertake me. I didnt even know that they were making Dr No into a film until I sawthe poster last year. It must have been a really big hit for them to make a followup. And From Russia With Love is one of the better stories, so it must be a goodfilm. I wonder if they'll make all of them into films eventually? Cant wait to see OnHer Majesties Secret Service then, thats the best James Bond story I've read sofar.

The poster was at ground level by the side of the paper shop half way up KingGeorges Drive. The poster, as most film posters were, was a Technicolour marvel,

lighting up the black brown stone of the wall it was posted on. I made sure Ilooked at the poster on the way to and the way back from school every day. Ichose my seat accordingly. They were full-coloured, sometimes even hystericallycoloured, windows on the future. Every time I looked down at a film poster fromthe bus and mused on its images my head was filled with ideas for new places togo and new things to do. Wonderful Land's, There's a Place's and Caribbean Liveand Let Die's. Come one September I'd drive a Rolls Royce and sing Multiplicationtoo. And kiss Gina Lollobrigida, or some other girl from Rome, for hours and hours.



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No No No No No NO!Got the love its trueNo No No No No NO!I'll be good for you

That's really headstorming that bit. All the Mojos are going mad in there! They've

built up a real head of steam, what a great noise, like Mallard whooshing past therecce. Still there'll be no James Bond at the cinema for me I expect. I'll just haveto stick to the books.In fact I read all the James Bond books before I became a teenager. Read them allbefore I could go and see the somewhat tamer versions in the cinema. Greatstunts though.

Everything's alright Everything's alright Everything's alright Let me hold your hand be your loving man

Let me hold your hand be your loving manLet me hold your hand be your loving man

What a joyous two minutes and nineteen seconds of crash, bang, wallop that is.More great Pop Music to help fill the glass of 1963 right up to the brim.

Tony had been right of course, he obviously could feel it coming. A Tsunami hitBritain in the Autumn of 1963 and it was called She Loves You. It would happen tothe Americans five months later with I Want To Hold Your Hand but in Britain it wasShe Loves You that did the trick. Christine and Mandy were swept aside when wewent back to school. The singles had been stacked on the counter at Banks when

Tony went to buy it on the Friday morning of its release, and they were all gonebefore midday. It went straight in at number one! Another Beatles original.Absolutely everyone said it was the best Beatles record yet; better beat than FromMe to You, better harmonies than Please Please Me and more exciting than even ISaw Her Standing There. All the Beatles best bits in one more original song. Andthe way they shook their moptops when they sang ooohhh was the mostuninhibited thing seen in Britain since, well, probably since the war. And they evenhad a catch phrase, Yeah, Yeah, YEAH!; that should satisfy all of those musical hallbuffs who said a catch phrase was essential if you were ever going to be popular.Well the Beatles had one; Yeah Yeah YEAH! and now all the kids in the country hadone too. It was the rallying cry of 1963 and permeated the aural landscape of the

country for months. Even Beatles doubters like Dinky sang Yeah Yeah YEAH! justto wind people up.Having done something new with Pop Music they were doing it again all over us.And we loved it; we were well and truly rallied by their cries. They were the TownCriers of Pop Music, and many other metaphors besides.And She Loves You worked just like Everythings All Right. Use the music to kickthe song off and get into a memorable verse within ten seconds. A TKO rightbetween the ears in seconds, simply overwhelming.



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Everythings all right...Everythings all right...

Yeah, ok Dinky was right. Tobacco Road is the better song, they're going to build anew town in the future, their Island of Dreams. Sound like constructive lads, thoseNashville Teens; bet they work on a building site when they aren't singing. They

sound really hard working. Dynamite stuff. They sound like they dont waste theirtime chasing girls.But, however worthy the Nashville Teens had been, this was a better performanceand today, at last, and joyfully so, Everythings Alright for me.

the beatles and the open context model of learning - day one

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