A Great Memory of The Beatles.. and not having a care in the world.

I’ve been in the same band for 48 years; that’s correct… no typo. I’ve been in that band because of Beatlemania, which I don’t need to describe. Over the years we’ve played Beatles tunes probably a thousand times… Obla-Di-Obla-Da, In My Life, Hey Jude, Ticket to Ride, I Saw Her Standing There, etc. To those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about look it up on your PDA, or answer this question; “What’s it like living on another planet?”

No matter how many years go by, or how many times I fire up the CD player with Beatles’ material, I’m always amazed at how good EVERY song is. But, I digress. Let me get back to my story.

For Christmas in 1965 Santa brought me Rubber Soul by The Beatles. I remember it replaced The Sound of Musicsoundtrack at the top of the charts… tough competition at the time. I also remember hearing that it was very unusual at the time that the name of the band did not appear on the cover. Trivia….

Well, my story takes place sometime a few weeks after Christmas in January of 1966. I was in the eighth grade at St. Mary’s School. It was a very cold night… probably a Friday night and there was a ton of snow on the ground and it was still snowing..hard!.

Enter Nancy Brovarone and Coreen DeFalco. Coreen lived on Quackenbush Avenue about a mile from where I lived. We were all friends because of my band and they were cheerleaders for our school basketball team which I played on. Nancy and Coreen were a year younger than me and they were, as we used to say, “cuter than anything!” Nancy was sleeping over at Coreen's. They called to see what I was doing, which was nothing, and after their invitation I wound up trudging through the snow to Coreen's house with my copy of Rubber Soul in hand. I remember how cold it was and the snow was blowing hard enough that at times it was difficult to see more than 20 feet in front of me. I was like a pioneer making his way across the prairie, but it was Dumont, NJ, 10 miles outside of New York City and thousands of miles away from anything that could be considered a prairie.

When I got there I was almost numb, and I remember Coreen's Mom making me a cup of hot chocolate, and then another. When I finally got feeling back in my face, it was time to sit down and listen to the “album.” I remember them carrying on about how cute the lads were. I don’t specifically remember, but I think they kissed the cover a few times that night. Lucky cover!
Talk about being in the right place at the right time, there I was sitting between two of the most popular girls in school as we listened to the album. The fact that we were kind of scrunched together on the sofa was a great bonus. I was holding the cover reading the song titles and every so often one of them would lean in to get a look at it themselves. Lucky me!

I had listened to the record multiple times, but I remember they were hearing it for the first time, except for maybe the song “Michelle” which was getting some radio play. So, as we listened to each track we’d stop the record player and talk about each song. Did we like it? Who sang it? Who was your favorite Beatle? Mine was John. What a song lineup: Norwegian Wood, You Won’t See Me, Michelle, I’m Looking Through You, Michelle, Think For Yourself (with really cool fuzz bass)…. Wow! Even Mrs. DeFalco would chime in with her thoughts. She was a very cool Mom.

So, for what was probably three hours, during a fierce snowstorm in January of 1966 (a little more than 48 years ago now) three kids, without a care in the world, sat talking, laughing, and listening to Rubber Soul. And it was special enough to me to remember it and share it with you kind people all these years later.
If you have any memories which are still so vivid that each time you think about them you still get a really nice feeling, then you know exactly what I’m talking about here.

I still see Nancy when I go back to Dumont, and she is well aware of my memories of that evening. And, she’s still “cute as anything.” I have not seen Coreen since High School, but I know she’s doing well. Everyone who comes into your life has an impact on your memories. That impact can be imperceptible, or it can be forever.

I cannot end this post without this from Rubber Soul (In My Life) for Nancy and Coreen:
“Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before,
I know I'll often stop and think about them,
In my life, I love you more…”


Whitey out!