Can’t Buy Me Love

April 4, 2023*

Tune in to any radio station playing oldies and you are certain to hear a song from this one group. Who is it? By now you should all be shouting: The Beatles.

It was on April 4, 1964 that the Beatles accomplished something which no musical group or person either before or after has ever matched.

Imagine Casey Kasem’s voice as you countdown to number one:

• Falling out of the number two spot to number five this week is “Please, Please Me” by the Beatles!

• Our next song spent five weeks at number one and is probably this group’s most popular song ever. At number four it’s the Beatles with “I Want To Hold Your Hand.”

• Relinquishing its spot at number one, this song drops two spots to number three. It’s the Beatles with “She Loves You.”

• The lead vocalist of our next song was suffering from a cold the day this Isley Brother’s cover was recorded. The song was laid down in just one take and the effects of the cold contribute to the rock and roll sound. Coming in at number two is “Twist and Shout” by the Beatles.

• Catapulting to the number one position this week from number 27 is none other than The Beatles with “Can’t Buy Me Love.”

It was an unprecedented event. The top five songs on the Billboard Hot 100 were all by The Beatles. Yes, 1964 was the year of the Beatles as explained in this article from the always Infallible Wikipedia:

“The song (Can’t Buy Me Love) was the third of seven songs by the Beatles to hit #1 in a one-year period; an all-time record. In order, these were ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘Love Me Do’, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, ‘I Feel Fine’, and ‘Eight Days a Week’. It was also the third of seven songs written by Lennon-McCartney to hit #1 in 1964; that’s an all-time record for writing the most songs to hit #1 in the same calendar year. (see List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones)

Rolling Stone ranked ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ at No. 295 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song spent five consecutive weeks at No. 1. The only Beatles songs to exceed that mark were ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ at seven weeks and ‘Hey Jude’ at nine weeks.”

Whether you think their music was genius or formulaic, one thing is certain, they dominated the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the mid-1960’s.

Now I’m positive all of you think I’m going to link to a Beatle’s Song but you’re wrong! The Beatles were such a pop culture sensation that the whole world was abuzz over these four young phenoms from the British Isles. You’ve likely all heard their songs thousands of times but I leave you instead with THIS musical masterpiece which summed up the inter-generational shock-waves they produced.

*UPDATE – This article first ran in 2017. It’s been updated to include the following additional information.

 I admit it. I’m not a big Beatles fan. But thanks to my fellow author, Roger, I have developed an appreciation for just how groundbreaking their music was. If one were to hear it for the first time today you might think it sounds like every song ever produced in the 1960’s. But that wouldn’t be true. What is true is that all THOSE songs came AFTER the Beatles and were the imitations.

Now for a Seattle connection and my ‘six’ degrees of separation to the Beatles. On August 21, 1964 the Beatles stayed at the Edgewater Hotel in Seattle. At the time, almost no one in Seattle wanted anything to do with the headaches that would come with the world’s most famous group and the crowds of teenage girls who swarmed around them… no one except one Don Wright, the man who was the Edgewater’s General Manager.

Many credit is pushing to have the Beatle’s stay at the hotel as the reason why it was not torn down and has, instead, become a Seattle landmark.

Here’s an article from the Seattle Post Intelligencer all about their stay and Mr. Wright’s role:

https://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Beatles-stay-at-Edgewater-helped-mark-its-place-1305857.php

As far as my connection, in addition to working at the Edgewater, Mr. Wright was also associated with the Order of DeMolay, a youth group for young men. In the 1970’s he was the Executive Director for the group. It was in 1974 when I participated in their ‘Sweetheart’ program and met Don Wright. At the time I had no idea of his connection to the Beatles. So my Bacon Number (https://barbaradevore.com/2018/09/04/the-oracle-of-bacon/) to the Beatles is an impressive ‘two.’

As my faithful readers already know, I save historical documents. These are two of the pages from my 1974 DeMolay Conclave program.

My deepest regards to Don’s youngest daughter who posted about this famous event on her Facebook page a couple years ago. What a treasure these memories are for her and her family! This one’s dedicated to you KWP.