Audiobook DJ

When I'm 64 - The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics, 1969The Echo of One Hand Clapping: Notes on Audio Publishing and Production, by Brian Price

The Beatles are back.  That’s not surprising.  Although I don’t know that they ever left.  They’re on my computer screen right now.  They’re on iTunes.  They’re digital.  You can hear them on the radio and in the malls, as a group and individually.  John and Yoko singing Happy Xmas, War Is Over and meaning it still, and it still having meaning, after all these years.  Never sounding stale.  Sounding like they are right next to you. 

The Beatles were always a conversation.  That’s how they sang and how they engaged the world.  The songs were often in second person—you.  She Love You, You’re Gonna Lose That Girl, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away. They talked directly to us, or at least you thought they were (well, actually, I thought they were just talking to me—we all did). 

They were talking among themselves.  They were talking about what was important or interesting or silly to themselves.  They were working things out.  We were part of the conversation.

And the greatest conversationalist of all was John.  John Lennon told you about his loves, his family, his fantasies, his fears.  He communicated with us in his songs and interviews with such knowing ease and such a familiar personal voice that I just figured he wanted to hear about my life, that some day he was going to stop by and have breakfast with me. 

John would’ve turned 70 years old on October 9^th.  He died almost 30 years ago to the day.  What he sang, what he said, and how he said it remains a dialogue with us all. 

So, what does this have to do with books-on-tape?  What is reading a book except a dialogue?  You, the audience, may be silent most of the time, but you’re always at the other end of the conversation. 

The Beatles were audio artists.  They lived in and presented a world of distinct song, of distinct voice and distinct sound.  Besides the theater of live performances John, Paul, George and Ringo used two of the most intimate ways to reach an audience—radio and recordings.  Both mediums are so close and immediate. 

You are often by yourself when you’re listening to a CD.  You may often have buds in your ears.  You’re alone.  You’re thinking your thoughts.  And that’s when the Beatles always had their best conversations with you.  When it was just you and them.

I won’t go into details here.  Why the Liverpool accents of the Beatles sounded so exotic and familiar at the same time.  How they became some of the most recognizable voices on the planet.  Or wondering what kind of strange burden it must be to have 100,000,000 closest friends.

All I can say is thanks for all the conversations.

Brian Price
920 Creekside Lane
Plainfield, IN  46168
317/203-5044
check out:  http://www.greatnorthernaudio.com