Felice asked me why "Every Little Thing" was my favorite Beatle song.

I told her it had to do with "Beatles VI".  How I didn’t buy it.

It started with "Something New", that’s when I broke my streak.  I felt it was a rip-off.  I already had all the songs on the second side on my "Hard Day’s Night" soundtrack album.  Not that I didn’t want the originals on the first side.  But a German version of "I Want To Hold Your Hand"?  I loved "Things We Said Today" and "When I Get Home", but I only heard them at the Sheketoffs’ house, they’d passed on the "Hard Day’s Night" soundtrack, they weren’t hard core fans.

But "Beatles VI" was all originals you say.  What’s my rationale in passing on that one?

The photo.  That was an old photo on the cover.  With such an old image, wouldn’t this be a slapdash affair?  And I already owned the "Eight Days A Week" single, who could resist?  And I hated "Yes It Is", I didn’t see its magic until I downloaded Don Henley’s cover on Napster.  There just weren’t enough good tracks.  I’d rather spend my money on something else.  Yes, it wasn’t like I was going to take that money and go to the movies, or get a malt, rather that cash was freed up for another album purchase.  And, as a result, I never heard the final track on "Beatles VI", "Every Little Thing".

Now I noticed the track in the "Golden Beatles", the songbook covering all the early hits, but I could never figure out the tempo, the groove, on my guitar.  Oh, I nailed "What You’re Doing", which also appeared on "Beatles VI", which I’d also never heard previously (imagine discovering a new Beatle song!), but "Every Little Thing" escaped my grasp.  But then I heard it on the debut Yes album.

Not that I knew it was a Beatle song.  That was only after I purchased the LP and read the credits.  My dentist took me to Mad River Glen, to ski the tough stuff.  But we never made it there, the cover was too thin.  But on the long way back to Connecticut, in his Dodge Coronet station wagon that shook like a mixer when we hit seventy, the tires badly in need of balancing, he played me a home made 8-track tape of the English group’s debut.

He asked me if I’d heard of Yes.  I had to admit not, however much it pained me.  And figuring that no band with such a stupid name could be any good, I girded myself for crap, but I was enthralled.  And went to Korvette’s the very next day to buy it.  I had to hear "Every Little Thing" more.  This great prog rock number with the magnetic chorus.  That turned out to be a Beatle song!  But what album?

There was no Internet.  I asked everybody I knew.  All the musos in Andrew Warde High School.  And discovered the track was on "Beatles VI".  But who owned "Beatles VI"?

It was weeks before I stumbled on the album, after searching the records at every house I entered thereafter.  And I was instantly enraptured.

There’s the jangly intro.

And then John Lennon’s voice.  You can see him!  On "Ed Sullivan"!  You know, with his feet spread, his guitar high on his chest, bouncing up and down.

And then, what are those, piano notes?  That sound like a drum?  That accent and emphasize?

And there’s that one part…

There is one thing I’m sure of
I will love her forever

The way John goes down at the end of the line, it’s so intimate!  The song immediately sets your mind free, you think of your best self, it makes life worth living, you feel your magic moment is out there, and if not, the pure joy in hearing this track is enough.

And then I told Felice "Every Little Thing" was on my favorite Beatle album, "Beatles For Sale".

Oh, it didn’t used to be my favorite.  That used to be "Sgt. Pepper".  But that album seems dated, a curio.  Whereas "Beatles For Sale" is like a time capsule.  Listening takes you back.  You’re immediately in Christmas ’64.  You can smell it!

And "Beatles For Sale" starts just like "Beatles ’65", with "No Reply".  You remember "No Reply", don’t you?

Actually, Felice didn’t.  I’m waxing rhapsodic about "Beatles ’65", but it’s not registering.  Then I start to sing the opening cut.

This happened once before
When I came to your door
No reply

OH YES!  THAT’S MY FAVORITE!

Suddenly, Felice was back in ’64 too.  She started singing "No Reply".

And now I was all excited.  Because the follow-up was just as entrancing.

It started off a cappella.

I’m a loooser!

Oh, it was jaunty, akin to a country song.  But so intimate.  It was like running away with the circus.

Then I’m singing "I’ll Follow The Sun".  And then replicating every note of the intro of "I Feel Fine".  It’s Beatlemania all over again!

We both know every lick, every word.  It’s been forty years, but there’s been no act like this since.  Oh, there have been good songs, but that’s all they were, songs.  The Beatle numbers were exquisite jewels, they weren’t throwaways, they had harmonies, changes, they were works of genius.

And now we’re running through contemporaneous albums.

I focus in on "Help".  With all its overlooked tracks.  Like "I Need You" and "The Night Before".  And, of course, "You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away".  Don’t you remember playing that one on the guitar?  Singing along at parties?  HEY!

And Felice wondered about the lyrics of "Run For Your Life".  What were they thinking?  Then again, there are men who do that every day, kill their spouses when they find them with somebody else.

I’m thinking of going to see "A Hard Day’s Night" during the afternoon, in Lititz, Pennsylvania, on vacation in Pennsylvania Dutch country.  And suddenly I realize, I’m still a believer.