I’ve always loved the Beatles, mostly for their music, but also for their attitudes. They knew they were derived from all the pop and rock musicians who had gone before them and they found little ways to acknowledge that. Buddy Holly’s band was called The Crickets. So, the Fab Four decided on another bug – the beetle – for their name, but not before they inserted the clever “beat” to take advantage of the best of both worlds. No Crickets, no Beatles. They would have been called the Heartbreakers or something like that. One of the things that got them noticed was their catchy name (and uniform dress and hair) so it was important to their success. They had their idol Buddy to thank for that. I wonder where he got the name The Crickets. And during the recording of one of their songs, Paul McCartney hands off the guitar part to John Lennon and says, “Take it Phil.” He was acknowledging in a small way the Everly Brothers who the Beatles also found inspiring, especially their harmonies, and as their names were Phil and Don, the “Take it Phil” was obvious.
©2013 Jim Hagarty
