Bono explains why The Beatles are “untouchable”
As the lead vocalist of U2, Bono has enjoyed a hugely successful career, winning 22 Grammys and earning a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Irish rock band released their first album, Boy, in 1980, before finding their first UK number-one record with War three years later. After a few years of recording and touring, U2 were an internationally acclaimed act.
Throughout his career, Bono has frequently discussed one of his biggest musical influences, The Beatles, who he once described as his “earliest memory of music”. Taking to U2’s website, Bono wrote a fan letter to the beloved Liverpudlian band, stressing the significance of the first time he heard ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ when he was three years old. He wrote: “I associate the song with the smell of freshly cut grass as I was lying on my back on the damp green patch after my Da had cut the lawn.”
He added: “It was the spring of 1964… the song on the radio felt like life force… like I was for the first time conscious that I was alive and that being alive was a really, really great idea!” The musician also claimed, “In my head it felt like the universe was singing to me directly… and I still feel that now when listening to most of your songs.”
Appearing on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, Bono declared his adoration for the Liverpool lads, referring to them as “untouchable”. Referring to his U2 bandmates, he explained: “We still look to [The Beatles] as models of what can be achieved when four people get into a room and start experimenting.”
He continued: “It’s sad that two of them are gone now. […] It’s always worth reminding ourselves how lucky we are to be alive at a time when we grew up with the Beatles.”
“When you’re in a band, it’s like you against the world. If you come from a neighbourhood in Dublin or Liverpool and you come to America, and you discover the roots of soul music and blues and stuff, that may or may not have influenced you but certainly has opened your ears and eyes up – they were the first to do that.”
Bono’s love for The Beatles has never dulled over the years. In 2007, he appeared in the film Across the Universe, portraying Dr Robert in a rendition of ‘I Am The Walrus’ and ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’. He even claimed that watching the Fab Four making music in the documentary Get Back was like witnessing Jesus writing a sermon.
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