"Everybody's born knowing all the Beatles lyrics instinctively. They're passed into the fetus subconsciously along with all the amniotic stuff. Fact: they should be called 'The Fetals'".
— James, Sliding Doors
"This, my friends, is Abbey Road. Somewhere in there, John, Paul, George and Ringo are making music. And you know what, I love American rock and roll, but I have enough brains in my head to know that we’re standing within 50 yards of four of the greatest geniuses of our time. And no matter how famous we get on Rock Radio, what we really are is fans. Fans with attitude, fans with large, attractive cocks, but fans nonetheless. And gentlemen, I'd consider it an honour if you’d join me on this historic night, in a salute to the fabulous four. The glories of our age, the bringers of joy. To our and future generations. For there will always be poverty and pain and war and injustice in this world, but there will, thank the Lord, also always be The Beatles."
— The Count, The Boat That Rocked
1. The album is ridiculously overrated.
2. If it were rated as it should be, not as it is, it would still be the greatest single music album of the rock era.
[T]hey kept on losing me. They would bring out a new album and for a few listenings it would leave me cold and confused. Then, gradually it would begin to unravel itself in my mind. I would realise that the reason I was confused was that I was listening to Something that was simply unlike anything that anybody had done before.
— Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt
The Beatles are not merely awful; I would consider it sacrilegious to say anything less than that they are so unbelievably horrible, so appallingly unmusical, so dogmatically insensitive to the magic of the art, that they qualify as crowned heads of antimusic, even as the imposter popes went down in history as "anti-popes".
— William F. Buckley Jr., in a 1964 Boston Globe column
If anyone ever needs a basic education in The Beatles, I'd just point them to 1967. The album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the number one single "All You Need Is Love", the double-sided single "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever", the EP Magical Mystery Tour, and the Christmas number one "Hello, Goodbye". For most artists, that would be a career. For the Beatles, it was one year.
— Paul Gambaccini, in the 2015 ITV special The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number One
Chris Farley: Right. I think we... I think we got time for one more question. Uh... remember when you were in The Beatles? And, um, you did that album Abbey Road, and at the very end of the song, it would... the song goes, "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make"? You... you remember that?
Paul McCartney: Yes.
Chris: Uh... is that true?
Paul: Yes, Chris. In my experience, it is. I find, the more you give, the more you get.
Chris: (mouths "AWESOME" to the crowd) Well, that's it for this week's show. Thank you, Paul McCartney, thank you, for being one of the greatest... of rock.. I mean, a living legend. And uh, a legend of rock and roll... and... just thanks for being on the show, and... (hits himself) GODDANGIT! That sounded stupid! I knew I'd screw up!
Paul: You did fine, you did fine, Chris...
— from a 1993 Saturday Night Live sketch
I've met them. Delightful lads. Absolutely no talent.
We were playing a little club in Richmond, and I was doing this song, and suddenly I saw— there they were, right in front of me: the "Fab Four", John, Paul, George, and Ringo, the four-headed monster. They never went anywhere alone at his point. And they had on these beautiful long, black leather trench coats. I could really die for one of those, and I— I thought Even if I have to learn to write songs, I'm going to— I'm going to get this.
Later on, they gave us our first big hit in England, which was a song they wrote called "I Wanna Be Your Man." And we were very grateful for that 'cause that really broke us in England. And— but the example of the way they wrote, and the original way that they crafted their songs, wasn't lost on us. And later on their success in America broke down a lot of doors that helped everyone else from England that followed. And I thank them very much for all those things. [...]
Well, we went through some pretty strange times. We had a sort of— a lot of rivalry in those early years, and a little bit of friction; but we always ended up friends. And I like to think we still are, 'cause they were some of the greatest times of our lives.
Later on, they gave us our first big hit in England, which was a song they wrote called "I Wanna Be Your Man." And we were very grateful for that 'cause that really broke us in England. And— but the example of the way they wrote, and the original way that they crafted their songs, wasn't lost on us. And later on their success in America broke down a lot of doors that helped everyone else from England that followed. And I thank them very much for all those things. [...]
Well, we went through some pretty strange times. We had a sort of— a lot of rivalry in those early years, and a little bit of friction; but we always ended up friends. And I like to think we still are, 'cause they were some of the greatest times of our lives.
— Mick Jagger, from his speech inducting the Beatles into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988
We were four guys... I met Paul, and said, "You want to join me band?" Then George joined and then Ringo joined. We were just a band that made it very, very, big, that's all.
