There are few things in my life that frustrate me as much as people suddenly realizing that the Beatles were “woke” because … just tell me you have no musical literacy and go. In fact, the band painted their political beliefs pretty clearly on the wall in many of their songs and interviews, so … if you’re suddenly realizing that Paul McCartney wrote a whole song bashing Donald Trump, then … that’s on you.
The QAnon crowd is also discovering that John Lennon was not so great (while still being very vocal in his political beliefs that differ from their own) so you know that is a shit show all just … simmering on the internet. The point is that this crowd is suddenly realizing that the four men from Liverpool who wrote bops like “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “Two of Us” as well as “Revolution” and beyond are a group of guys who would probably hate them and their belief system.
The image that particularly has them in a tizzy is the album cover for Yesterday and Today, and they’re all … missing the point of the cover. It is part of a larger story with the band, but at the time, the Beatles said it was their visual protest of the Vietnam War. And somehow these QAnon freaks have taken that to be linked to Satan!? (The reality is that they probably think it has something to do with abortion or killing kids and don’t realize what it actually means.)
The “anti-woke journo” (what does that even mean?!) who posted the album cover on Twitter went on to say that the Beatles were the first to popularize “wokeism” in the United States, and boy oh boy do I have some news for her about hippies. My dad would have had a time talking to her back in the ’70s.
Imagine there’s no QAnon. It’s easy if you try.
Every time I am forced to learn something about QAnon, I start to lose brain cells, because they just continue to be the most ignorant group of people with one shared brain that I have ever had the misfortune to have to learn about. As a child I knew that the Beatles were politically left. I knew that they stood for justice and wanted to make sure that their music and concerts could be ones that everyone could enjoy.
They were famously one of the first bands to make sure that their concerts were not segregated. Their music fought against the Vietnam War and for the rights of those that were being oppressed, and the band members themselves had their own very liberal opinions.
All this to say that the Beatles have never hid their “wokeness” and now these bufoons are out here discovering that songs like “Glass Onion” and “I Am the Walrus” are not just fun little ditties. So if you take nothing else from this piece, know this: The Beatles have always been woke and if you are just now suddenly realizing that, maybe it is time you start actually paying attention to the music you’re listening to and what it is trying to say to you.
(featured image: Disney)
