Yesterday without The Beatles

Each time I came across something about the movie Yesterday, these past few days, the song that would start playing in my head was A World Without Love. “Please lock me away and don’t allow the day here inside where I hide in my loneliness, I don’t care what they say, I won’t stay in a world without love.” I did not pay any mind to it, except for a “nice tune by The Beatles” thought once in a while. 

Then today I suddenly remembered. A World Without Love, a No. 1 seller in 1964, was not by The Beatles at all. It was instead the first big hit by a British duo named Peter and Gordon. They also did True Love Ways. But then I was not entirely wrong because A World Without Love was composed by Paul McCartney who was then dating Peter’s model sister Jane Asher and probably wanted to give his once future brother-in-law a kick up the charts. So it was almost a Beatles song.

That thought brought me back to Yesterday. The film is directed by Danny Boyle, who was behind Slumdog Millionaire and 28 Days Later, was written by Richard Curtis who also did Love Actually and Notting Hill, and stars Himesh Patel, of Eastenders on British TV and Lily James who was in Cinderella and Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again. It also features Ed Sheeran, whose performance as a pop star is getting very good reviews. Despite The Beatle song in the title and a Beatles soundtrack, it is about a world where The Beatles never existed.

Jack Malik, played by Patel, is a struggling singer/songwriter in a small seaside town in England who is fast losing hope about making it big.  One day, he is in a freak bus accident during a mysterious global power blackout. He survives and later on realizes that the world he has woken up to has never heard of The Beatles. In fact, he is the only one who remembers the Fab Four and their songs at all.

Prompted by a desire to bring the music by the greatest band that ever lived back into the world, Jack becomes a one-man Lennon-McCartney, churning out one hit after another of The Beatles songs that mysteriously remain in his memory. Of course, because of singing those songs, which people believe he also wrote, Jack becomes a big star. His long-dreamed of fame happens and he also falls prey to the not-so-desirable effects of success. Like now wondering if the girl who has loved him and been there for him almost all his life is still the right one.

Yesterday is a pop fantasy with a touch of sci-fi, so it makes no sense asking why or how can universal amnesia about The Beatles or about anything happen. Still, the plot provides food for thought. What indeed will this world be like if The Beatles never happened? We cannot miss what we never had. And that brings me back to A World Without Love and Peter and Gordon. 

A World Without Love and Peter and Gordon happened because of The Beatles. They were part of the British Invasion, the pop phenomenon fueled by The Beatles that saw all things British in film, fashion and music impacting on other cultures. That would never have happened without The Beatles. We would never have heard of The Rolling Stones, the Dave Clark Five, The Hollies, The Zombies, Cream, Yardbirds, etc., etc. and others who at that time dominated music sales all over the world. Maybe we will not also have mini-skirts and a-go-go boots.  

Without The Beatles, music today would probably still be rock and roll and the Motown sound and romantic ballads and we will still be dancing the cha-cha and the twist. I am sure the modern folk tales of Bob Dylan and company would still be selling well but do you think we will have boy bands like the Monkees, the Bee Gees, Oasis, etc., etc. The idea is not really unpleasant but everything does seem so much better with some Beatles tunes around.

Incidentally, Yesterday has a nice soundtrack album of Beatles music performed by Patel, who is not an extraordinary singer but has this intimate, pleasant style that I find quite charming. Check out his versions of Yesterday, The Long And Winding Road, In My Life, Something, Here Comes The Sun, Let It Be and other Beatles tunes I am really glad came to be and remain unforgotten.