Anthology 1 The opening song for the first anthology sets a good mood for continuing with the video. “My Life” is a very moving song that portrays the love the Beatles’ members had for each other and how they always stuck together. The line, “But of all these friends and lovers, there is no one compares with you” stuck out to me most and just shows how much all of them cared for each other and cherished the times they had together. In the beginning they described each of their childhoods and what their young life was like. It was difficult to decipher which voice belonged to which band member, but I was able to figure it out. Each of them had a very different life growing up. John was raised by his aunt after his parents split up when he was young. His mother visited him often and taught him to play the banjo and then the guitar. Paul was born in Liverpool and his mother was a nurse and midwife. He traded in his harmonica for a guitar so he would be able to sing and play at the same time. George lived down the road from Paul in Liverpool and his father was a bus driver. When he was 13 or 14, George was fascinated with guitars and would always draw different designs of guitars. Ringo lived in Liverpool with his father who was a cake baker. He became ill at a young age with appendicitis causing him to fall behind in school. At 13, Ringo bought his first base drum. It was interesting to me to learn about the different lives each of them had growing up and to know they weren’t all friends in their younger years. It also caught my attention to know that each of them knew they loved music and had musical talent at a young age. They all started to play when they were young and in their early teens. Another story that I found very interesting was told by Paul. He said they would travel across Liverpool by bus to meet with a man who could teach them a new guitar chord, B7. Today, anyone can learn guitar through the internet but back then it was more of a challenge to learn to play and especially, learn new chords. When they were playing in Germany, I found it interesting to hear that there was a curfew. George was younger than John and Paul so he was under that curfew, not even knowing it. After Ringo had played with the group a few times, they decided to invite him into the group permanently. At this time he was still playing with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and gave them three days to find another drummer. When Ringo went to play with the Beatles again after that, Andy White was there to play with them and there was some confusion about who was going to play. Ringo did play with them from then on. I had never heard the story of how Ringo joined the group so it was interesting to hear all of this. At the end of this video, they recorded “Please Please Me” and it became a number 1 hit. The girl being interviewed did not like this because they would be famous now and they wouldn’t belong to those girls anymore. I had never looked at it from this perspective; that the Beatles becoming famous would be a terrible thing. Now that I have, I can see what the girl would be thinking, that everyone else in the world would love them now and the Beatles would move on to bigger and better things, not just playing at a small venue in Germany. Overall, this video was very informative and was definitely worthwhile. I learned a lot about the Beatles and their early years that I would never have known otherwise.