Can You Feel Him?

abbey_road_01,
originally uploaded by mcmrbt.

I wasn't present when this happened, but my mother once went all mystical on my dad as they were driving down to the South West of the UK, and happened to pass through Glastonbury. They parked next to the Tor to take a look, take a photo or two, and she sat in the car and started:

"Can you feel him? I can feel him? Can you feel him? You can tell he's here..."

Etc. She wasn't talking about sweet bubby Jaysus, she was talking about King Arthur. This is why a certain kind of person should steer clear of Glastonbury, lest they make total idiots of themselves.

I'm not given to this kind of thing, don't feel the aura of a place. After all, every cell in your body is replaced every 7 years, and places get painted, refurbished, dne up, torn down.

I was reading about some new sound system being installed in the Cavern club in Liverpool, and the story went on about how it was the place the Beatles had played. Except it wasn't was it? Because the original Cavern was demolished, and the replacement one is a facsimile.

Doubtless the white lines on the Abbey Road zebra crossing have been painted over hundreds of times since 1969. And new innovations like zig-zag lines have been added to the road. Buildings have been torn down, built, trees have grown (considerably).

But we were there, and embarrassing as it might have been, we joined in with the photo opportunity. The Most Photographed Barn in America, as Don DeLillo put it, or the Most Photographed Zebra Crossing in England.

The connoisseur's photo, we both agreed, was the one on the steps of the Abbey Road studios. Like this one:

Or the one of them waiting at the crossing, which is funny to see.

We went into Studio 2, as well, or at least the live room of Studio 2, which actually looks pretty much the same as it always has: it's the control room equipment which will have been renewed over and over again. Disappointed to see crappy memorabilia on sale in there, it was a place without any real atmosphere, but it started me wondering about the bands who record in there.

Any band that has recorded an album in Studio 2 since the 60s must have been aware that it was the recording base of the Beatles, and some kind of reaction to that would have been impossible to avoid. Do you feel like a lukcy sumbitch, priveliged to work in the same room? Or do you toss your hair and profess not to be impressed? In which case, turn sideways as you leave the room, lest your head get stuck in the door. Or do you sink into depressive despair, aware that nothing you could do would match the magic and fabness of the glory years?