I met him only once, with a 20-minute one-on-one interview eight years after Chappaquiddick, three years before he lost the Democratic nomination to Jimmy Carter. No matter what you may have thought of him as a man, I have to stay that Ted Kennedy was very impressive in person. As a senator he knew his stuff.
P.S. Ted didn’t lose the nomination, of course, in 1980. He dropped out of the running.
See comments for why I added this post to the Beatles category.
I should clarify that I was referring to the entire first LP that was released in England, and not just the single of the same name. The closest thing I have online is the mono version of “Love Me Do”.
http://www.dograt.com/2009/05/03/eq-me-do/
Being of short short-term memory, did you already post that particular recording of “Please Please Me?” If not, please do so, or link me back up! I could use a bit of cheering up today.
Tony — You mention Norman, so I’ll go off-topic. Behind the scenes I’ve been involved with something this week concerning Norman Smith. I won’t go into the background, but I would like to say a few things about the late, great Hurricane:
1. Norman’s work with the Beatles was outstanding from the start. The first time I heard a stereo Parlophone (Garrod & Lofthouse) pressing of “Please Please Me” I was astounded by the sound. (George Martin calls it a multi-track recording, and not a true stereo mix.) The feeling of being in Studio 2 was uncanny. The sense of space around the Beatles, the ambience, was unlike anything I had ever heard before.
2. I think Norman’s story is one of the most interesting that I know. To me, he was not only a self-made man, he was a truly self-actualized person, and he deserves admiration.
3. From everything I know, EMI had a rigid organizational hierarchy, and if you weren’t interested in finding your way into Studio 1 to record symphonic music, you were considered to be down the ladder a bit. Neither Norman nor Geoff Emerick were destined to wince when an oboe player coughed in the middle of Dvorak’s New World Symphony. It was precisely because of where they were in the EMI pecking order that they were able to do what they did. And what they did was remarkable, especially considering we’re talking about engineers who started as a mid-life career-changer and a 15-year-old tape boy.
4. Besides feeling that “Oh Babe, What Would You Say?” is an excellent piece of songwriting and production, I have a very strong sentimental attachment to it.
Sad that Ted’s dead, but dont make him into too much of a saint. He was, like his brothers and all men, flawed. His flaw just went a little deeper after Chappquidick.
To be honest, the death of Norman (Hurricane) Smith was a sadder event.
The word now is that Joseph P. Kennedy may get his uncle’s seat. Just a rumor. Don’t know what they’ll do about Teddy’s letter from last week, asking to speed up the process of filling his vacant seat.
I’m getting a feeling of deja vu from 41 years ago, watching the motorcade take Ted’s body to the JFK Library. People are actually lining the route! Hope this won’t affect your drive home tonight, Dougie! Forty-one years ago, of course, right before we got out of seventh grade, we watched the RFK Death Train wend its way across America.
Now that the “Lion” of the senate is gone, we are stuck with John Kerry…the “Jackass” of the senate!
For the first time (that I can remember), I had an actual “bad news on the doorstep” moment. In this modern age, you usually get the 1st news of an important death from the internet, an email, the radio/TV or even word-of-mouth. But, this morning, I opened the door to let the dog out and to retrieve the Boston Globe from my doorstep. The paper was folded inside the little plastic bag and all I could see was part of the headline – “dead at 77”. Before picking the paper up, I quickly tried to think of who would merit such a giant front page headline. “Oh, no, Ted Kennedy?” Then I saw the smaller headline, “Liberal lion of the Senate”, and I knew it was true.
The best article I have read so far is in The New York Times. No spin, seven internet pages long, it presents the man’s lengthy life and career, with all its highs and lows, warts and all. The only nasty line is describing the party on the night of Chappaquiddick as a “liquor-soaked barbecue.”
The man was amazing as a senator, and an eloquent speaker. I’m glad you got to meet him, Dougie. I forgot how he was involved in the North Ireland peace talks, and Queen Elizabeth made him an honorary knight last year (say, I didn’t know they could do that with non-Brits!)
The only surviving Kennedy of the original clan? Big sister JEAN Kennedy Smith!