lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void...

I was earworming “Ob-La-Di Ob-Bla-Da” this morning. It’s not my favourite Beatles song by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s definitely a step up from the version of “Strangers in the Night” with all the words replaced by doobie-doobie-doobies, sung in the style of Frank Sinatra that’s been stuck in my head for the last few weeks. One of my team asked me what I was humming so I told them, adding that I didn’t think that it even makes my top 20 of songs by the Beatles, perhaps not even the top 50. It’s above “Old Brown Shoe”, but not by much. This immediately led on to a discussion about our favourite songs by the band. “Eleanor Rigby”, “Let It Be”, “In My Life”, “Tomorrow Never Knows”, “Hey Jude”, “Something”, “Help”…. All sorts. Pretty much everyone had a view and chucked in a suggestion, except for one member of my team, who came up with nothing. She just looked blank and shook her head.

“Can you name a song by the Beatles?”
“No”
“Not one?”
“No”
“But you know who the Beatles are, right?”
“Yes. I’d know it was them if heard something, but I can’t think of any song in particular”
“But you can’t name a single song?”
“No”

I listed a few song titles, but she just shrugged at me. You wouldn’t think it was possible to grow up in the UK and be completely unable to name a single piece of music by the Beatles, but apparently it is. Remarkable.

At this point, another colleague – who comes from Liverpool – had her head in her hands in despair.

Seeing this, I pressed on.

“Do you know where the Beatles are from?”
“Yes. I think so…. They’re from Manchester, aren’t they?”

I don’t think my scouse colleague is ever going to talk to her again.

She may not be a fan of the Beatles, but this girl does, for the record, really love Katy Perry. I think she’d want you to know that.

I love my team.  I really do.