I remember the very first time I ever heard about The Beatles. It was in the first semester of 1964. I lived on Rua Simpatia, 103 in Vila Madalena, a suburb of São Paulo that would go upmarket in the 1990s but it was pretty much a working class neighbourhood then.
Three houses up from ours was a grocery store owned by Massao Tsutsui minded by his oldest son Walter Teruo Tsutsui who was 16 years old and much interested in music and movies. Walter showed me a newspaper in which there was a big picture of The Beatles with an article about their having taken the U.S.A. by storm. I did not actually heard them sing then but only saw some pictures of their 'mop-top' hair.
I had been more interested in Italian rocking teen-ager Rita Pavone and didn't think much about the Fab-4. Next thing I heard 'I want to hold your hand' which I thought good but nothing really out of the ordinary. I was more into Italian rock than British rock.
The first time I really thought The Beatles were something out-of-the-ordinary was when I saw 'A hard day's night' (Os reis do ié ié ié) and fell in love with the song 'If I fell'. I couldn't have enough of John and Paul's wonderful harmony. I went out and bought the album... this must have been around March 1965 for the movie premiered on 28 February 1965 at Cine Metropole in Sao Paulo.
In 1966 I was in for another shock when I heard the album 'Rubber Soul' and fell in love with John Lennon's 'Girl'. Something moved me deep inside and I knew that that was pure genius. Later in 1966, after listening to 'Eleanor Rigby' with its string-quartet I knew I could not dismiss The Beatles as just 'another act'.
In early 1967, I met Paulo Naoto Tyba at Vila Madalena's High School... Paulo was a serious Beatle-fan... During our July winter-school-holidays Paulo came home with a copy of 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonley Hearts Club Band'... At first I couldn't make head or tails of such a monstruos ouvre. But when the needle approached the last track of side one... 'A day in the life'... well, what could I say?
Paulo was instrumental in introducing all those earlier Beatles songs I had never heard because when those albums were out I was deep into Italian pop music so I missed all that. Paulo who used to be in and out of rock bands gave myself and my younger brother a 'fast course' on Beatles repertoire. Songs like 'Ask me why', 'Baby, it's you', 'P.S.: I love you', 'There's a place', 'Till there was you', 'I don't want to spoil the party' and even songs like 'Baby's in black' and 'She's a woman' that had not been released in Brazil until that time.
Three houses up from ours was a grocery store owned by Massao Tsutsui minded by his oldest son Walter Teruo Tsutsui who was 16 years old and much interested in music and movies. Walter showed me a newspaper in which there was a big picture of The Beatles with an article about their having taken the U.S.A. by storm. I did not actually heard them sing then but only saw some pictures of their 'mop-top' hair.
I had been more interested in Italian rocking teen-ager Rita Pavone and didn't think much about the Fab-4. Next thing I heard 'I want to hold your hand' which I thought good but nothing really out of the ordinary. I was more into Italian rock than British rock.
The first time I really thought The Beatles were something out-of-the-ordinary was when I saw 'A hard day's night' (Os reis do ié ié ié) and fell in love with the song 'If I fell'. I couldn't have enough of John and Paul's wonderful harmony. I went out and bought the album... this must have been around March 1965 for the movie premiered on 28 February 1965 at Cine Metropole in Sao Paulo.
In 1966 I was in for another shock when I heard the album 'Rubber Soul' and fell in love with John Lennon's 'Girl'. Something moved me deep inside and I knew that that was pure genius. Later in 1966, after listening to 'Eleanor Rigby' with its string-quartet I knew I could not dismiss The Beatles as just 'another act'.
In early 1967, I met Paulo Naoto Tyba at Vila Madalena's High School... Paulo was a serious Beatle-fan... During our July winter-school-holidays Paulo came home with a copy of 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonley Hearts Club Band'... At first I couldn't make head or tails of such a monstruos ouvre. But when the needle approached the last track of side one... 'A day in the life'... well, what could I say?
Paulo was instrumental in introducing all those earlier Beatles songs I had never heard because when those albums were out I was deep into Italian pop music so I missed all that. Paulo who used to be in and out of rock bands gave myself and my younger brother a 'fast course' on Beatles repertoire. Songs like 'Ask me why', 'Baby, it's you', 'P.S.: I love you', 'There's a place', 'Till there was you', 'I don't want to spoil the party' and even songs like 'Baby's in black' and 'She's a woman' that had not been released in Brazil until that time.
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