I Always Give Them My Money

On Black Friday, for an early Christmas present, my wife bought three Beatles CDs for me: Past Masters I & II, Abbey Road, and the "White Album." I'm a huge Beatles fan, plus post-Beatles Paul McCartney (you know the old joke: "Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?").

When some friends and I trekked to Ames, Iowa in 1990 for a McCartney show, one of them wondered aloud how much Macca must make on royalties. "Todd just mails him a $50 check every week," joked one of the guys. He was exaggerating only a little.

In the '70s, my sister turned me on to the Beatles. Then in 1980, a high school friend in band class came from typing every day, where he would type some John Lennon lyrics for me to read ("poems," as my friend called them). The morning of December 9, 1980, however, he had nothing.

"Who could type a poem on a day like today?," he solemnly asked. Indeed.

By then I was hooked. My friend had taped some of his Beatles albums for me, but I had to buy my own. Later that sophomore year, I recall my dad once saying, after seeing I had purchased the Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour cassettes, "They're still making money!" That was only a little over ten years after they had broken up. He may have popped a vein had he known how much more they would continue to make.

So let's get back to my weekly check to McCartney, no pun intended. ("Get Back" if you missed it, but now that I've pointed it out, you're less likely to believe it was unintended. Oh well...) That Sgt. Pepper cassette did fine for me for a few years, but every self-respecting Beatles fan has to own the LP, even today, so eventually I bought that, too.

In 1984, picture discs were appearing here and there, and although they never quite caught on, I had to buy the Sgt. Pepper version. Then in the late '80s, when the Beatles finally worked out an agreement to release their albums on CD, I of course had to buy it again in that format.

That brings us to the present, and the re-released and re-mastered collection of the Fab Four's albums, which are claimed to be superior to the '80s releases. Even though I likely will not be able to notice one iota of difference, no doubt I will soon own my fifth Sgt. Pepper album.

(Yes, you can still call them "albums." The word "album" does not necessarily mean the long-playing record format. Those are called "LPs." It is a huge pet peeve of mine when people think they have to correct even themselves when they say "album" when referring to a "CD.")

There are many albums I've purchased more than once, with most of them being to upgrade from tape or LP to CD format. Michael Jackson's Thriller comes in second with three. But Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band leads with four, soon to be five.

And Paul, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison, and Yoko Ono will still be making money.