Song — Innocent Memories of an Acoustic Guitar

Author: Li Liwei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Standardized with acoustic guitar accompaniment, vividly telling the moving stories of songs, bands, and individuals through illustrations and text. Eternal names remembered: John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Don McLean. The wondrous melodies of the human world: "Vincent," "Norwegian Wood," "Hotel California," "American Pie." MP3 disc included with the book, a dual enjoyment of words and music. Most Chinese people's understanding of Harrison began two or three years ago with the popularity of Haruki Murakami's novel "Norwegian Wood." Those who admire Murakami's style, due to their superficial understanding of English, mistook the Beatles' old song "Norwegian Wood" for a musical version of "Norwegian Wood" and eagerly searched for it. Many people learned about Harrison, who was not initially as renowned, because of this misunderstanding: Harrison ingeniously used a mystical Eastern instrument—the sitar—in "Norwegian Wood," casting a "Eastern mysticism" hue over Lennon's simple voice as perceived by Westerners. ——The reserved Harrison had long been fascinated by this "Eastern mysticism." He led all members of the Beatles on a journey to India to study yoga with a guru and engaged in days of meditation-like practices. This Indian trip deepened Harrison's fascination with Eastern mysticism—but those who had rationally reflected on religious matters viewed what Harrison was obsessed with less as religion and more as something closer to witchcraft. Later, it was said that the so-called "master" was actually a pervert—there is no evidence that this claim had any impact on Harrison, but it is said that an ancient Indian sect did indeed advocate indulgence as a necessary path to enlightenment. These anecdotes awkwardly highlighted Harrison's image, and in actual performances, he was almost always silently standing behind Lennon and McCartney. For the 1960s, which were dominated by the hippie culture, he seemed more like an observer than a participant. Throughout the decade, Lennon's radicalism and McCartney's sweetness were both witnessed against the backdrop of Harrison's guitar chords as the times progressed: five months after the single "Please Please Me" became the UK's top-selling single, two million people gathered in Washington to hear Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech—"I Have a Dream"; 14 days later, the Beatles' another single "She Loves You" earned the same honor as "Please Please Me"; two months later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Simple love, reckless drugs, complex politics, and pure slogans all intertwined, making the radical Lennon arrogant, the sweet McCartney fatalistic, the silent Harrison reclusive, and the entire society bewildered. Like the other members of the Beatles, George Harrison's "true" death should be presumed to be December 31, 1970. As a helpless "Let It Be" topped the charts in both the UK and the US, the legal proceedings for the Beatles' dissolution began. Leonard Bernstein's account of late 1970 is: "It was the last week, the Beatles no longer existed. In this week, my heart was agitated, I cried, I recalled a wonderful era, a golden era, a wise era." Although memories are inherently "gilded," Bernstein's words resonated with many. It was also seen that two to three months before the Beatles' official disbandment, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin died of drug overdoses. Disasters followed one after another, and truly, an era had come to an end. Andy Warhol wrote in "Popism": "In 1964, everything became young." This statement, increasingly, no one understands anymore.