Dear LPG

Did you know that 55 years ago this week the Beatles achieved a first; they were responsible for all of the top 5 placed singles in the US pop charts?  I know that our younger family members don’t think that we were ever young, or that we vaguely remember what being young was like, but I bet that anyone over the age of 70 will remember those songs.  For us their records, along with those of the Rolling Stones, the Who, and other pop bands of the day, were the songs that all young people heard in the discos and clubs back then, but now many of them appear on the syllabus of our grand, and greatgrandchildren’s music GCE exam papers.

My grandson mentioned that his music studies include such compositions and asked me what I thought of those songs when I first heard them.   I studied Music GCE when I was young and the order of the day then was the music of composers who lived centuries ago.  I remember having to learn the details of music which was written by Bach, Mozart and Purcell and, please don’t misunderstand me, I still enjoy those classics as they are called, but it is interesting to think that the children studying today, are analysing the music from an era that we lived through. 

It is ironic that I can remember how radical my parents, and those of my friends, thought a lot of this music to be and how they tried to do their best to keep us away from such corruptive influences so that we would maximize our education and do well in our exams back then, while our world today has legitimised it all in some way.  Now I look back I realise that Bach, Mozart and Purcell must have been the radicals of their time too.

So, for all readers who are over 70, it appears that, if the music that we enjoyed five decades ago has become classic, logic dictates that we too have earned the right to call ourselves classic and not old!

RY, Peckham

LPG has found those five classic songs from 55 years ago for you…

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