My Top 5 Favorite Beatles Songs and Why

(en.wikipedia.org)

        Hello! So today I am sad to say that this will be my last blog post :(. I originally made this blog as a part of my Journalism/Creative Writing class and I have big thing for the 20th century, that's how this blog was made. So in honor of my last post I decided I would write about my favorite thing about the 20th century. The Beatles.
       Let's start of with my first favorite! Links will also be included:

5. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

Youtube Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

       I love this song so much because it is one of those songs that is not one of the deeper songs by the Beatles, but it's a fun tune to have in your head. It's catchy and brings up your mood. One thing that I admire about the Beatles is that even at my lowest points they were able to give me some sort of message that it will be alright in the end. Even when it doesn't seem possible, it will in its way.             This song is just a catchy song about Desmond and Molly meeting and marrying and having a family of their own,  but it gives a message that "Life goes on". I like to sometimes listen to this song when I feel like life is just going in the right way. 

4. Blackbird

Youtube Blackbird

       This is a particular favorite of mine because of the acoustic (I'm a sucker for acoustic). Also Paul McCartney's voice is just one of those classic voices that can make an ad for noodles a hit song. But this song also stuck with me since I saw him in concert when I was 10 with my dad. Honestly, I'm not that type to remember what exact songs were performed. I more just remember certain moments I feel, or what the crowd was like, or just words the performer says to the crowd. But I remember what Paul said before performing this song. He said it was dedicated to an young African girl and I just thought that was so beautiful. 

       This song is also one of those songs that pick you up when you're down. Except this one is a little more for when you need hope or strength. My favorite line is, "Take these broken wings and learn to fly. All your life... you were only waiting for this moment to arise."

3. Eleanor Rigby

Youtube Eleanor Rigby

         I think we all know that this is an all time Beatles classic. This song is my third favorite because of the message. It's funny because I know so many people who only partially understood what this song was talking about until it was explained to them, but I always knew since I was just a little girl. I'm not saying that they're stupid or anything, I just find it odd how I understood it at such a younger age. Of course what The Beatles were talking about here is that there are so many lonely people and soon those people fade into the past and are forgotten. No one will ever know about them. And Eleanor Rigby is an example of what this song is trying to show.
         But when I was just a little girl, I remember going to the grocery store with my mom and staring at one lady. (I tended to stare at people when I was little a lot). She was probably a mom too but I noticed she didn't have anyone with her.  No friend, no child, no partner. She had a gloomy face and seemed tired. I remember that I connected this song with her, of course this was a  very childish way of seeing lonely people. But I realized that people eventually are somehow alone in life and that it doesn't always look like it but we only have ourselves in this world.

2. Golden Slumbers

Youtube Golden Slumbers

       This song is just great. It's a part of a sequence of songs on Abbey Road so it blends in with other sequences, but it doesn't blend in with any other songs I know. This song is so hopeful and it talks about home. It talks about how we get lost but there is a way to get back homeward. It's written to make you think of a lullaby kind of, I guess lullabies connect to home with a lot of people. It's so beautiful and beautifully sung by Paul McCartney. It's one of those hopeful songs that I have never forgotten about.
P.S. I love this song so much I wrote the lyrics on my shoes

1. A Day In a Life

Youtube A Day In A Life

        Ok, now I know I said I loved all the other songs above but THIS IS A CLASSIC, THE MEANING BEHIND THIS SONG IS WHAT MAKES THE BEATLES BRILLIANT AND GREAT.
       The song starts off with John Lennon singing about what he read in the news. Of course, he's talking about the newspaper and how he read an article about a car crash. The song slowly fades into a blurry sound of an orchestra and chaos. Until the song comes to the sound of ringing, like an alarm clock. Paul comes in and starts singing about rushing in the morning to catch the bus. The song here is fast and resembles to the feeling of stress. Eventually John Lennon comes back in singing about the news he read about but he soon fades out and the orchestra comes in. Let me remind you that the orchestra is making no masterpiece, it's making chaotic noises all at once.  This sound soon builds up until one single piano note. And for the rest of the song you just listen to the note echo until the echo stops.
         Now probably what I just explained to you makes no sense and you are probably confused. But there is a meaning. Think of the title, "A Day In a Life". How many times have you read or heard about terrible things in the news like John sings about? Probably too many times to count, right? But you still go on in your day and you never fully feel closure of that news.
         Now how many times have you've been running late or stressed just like Paul sings? Probably too many times to count again, right? What the Beatles are trying to get at is that this is life.
        Life is just a series of insane events. Events that we sometimes can find closure to, but not for most things. We get so lost in our head and can't acknowledge anything until we hit bottom. Our head just feels like a whirlwind and you just want time to stop. This is what the chaotic orchestra is resembling; the human mind. We hear, smell, taste, feel and see life but we somehow never fully recognize it is there. We are just another human on this earth who is lost with ideas and thoughts and we don't have any way of letting those troubling thoughts disintegrate.
      Just listen to the song, that's all I have to say. Connect it and open your eyes.

I hope you enjoyed this post! And I hope you have enjoyed my blog and have gone back in time with me to the 20th century!
-Olivia:)

Xanadu Musical Review

(fromthelandofoz.com)

     Hello! Recently, I saw Xanadu the Musical at a local theater and I loved it! Unfortunately, I have not seen the 80s movie with Olivia Newton-John , but it's definitely on my list of old movies to watch. I didn't know what to expect when I first sat down in the theater, but slowly I was no longer in 2015, I was back in the 1980's.
    Just for a little background information; if you don't know what Xanadu is, Xanadu was first heard of from Marco Polo. He wrote that he found a place of magical and mystical animals and life called Xanadu, however; no one has discovered this place. Many believe this place was made up but Xanadu has become a figurative way of a perfect world for many, where there are no problems or struggles.
    Now that we got that out of the way, here is what I thought of the play! The play has a funny and kind of cheesy plot but it's so much fun to watch. Basically it's a twist of Greek mythology and Roller Disco. It starts off with a muse named Kira who saves a young man from his death and inspires him to own his own Roller Disco. But to make it a little more interesting there has to be some romance, which only causes more problems since it's against the rules for a muse to fall in love with a mortal. The play captures the 80s from the legwarmers to the neon strobe lights and skates.
   You can dance and sing along to this play because everyone else is basically! This musical is not like other musicals you see because usually you don't get to have the opportunity to dance and sing without being judged. Believe me, the type of audience that sees this play is a fun one! I enjoyed the strong vocals and the humorous jokes that fit that time but also bring it back a little to this century so the young folk can understand it. I would rate this musical an 8/10! I loved it so much that I wanted to roller skate out of the theater!