Something

Read a poorly written article on the Beatles breakup this morning--full of rather trite assumptions about the band's collective and individual states of mind around the time Paul's "Get Back" project got started. Despite the article's lameness, though, it did motivate me to pull out the last DVD in my Beatles Anthology collection, which provides the band's reflections on the breakup with 25 or so years of hindsight.

Among the wonderful clips included in the Anthology is this promo video for George's "Something", featuring shots of all the boys and their respective partners at the time. I am always struck by the genuineness of the expressions of the people in this video, particularly Patti Harrison's smiles at George. Christ, they're all so young!

Another moving factor to the video now is the fact that so many of the faces here are gone: George, John, Linda. For some reason, I find the shots of Linda particularly moving. She has a very natural and open face here, and even though I was never a particular fan of hers, she is captured here in a very flattering light.

The seeming innocence of the video is also striking, particularly when one considers what must have been a great deal of personal animosity between the band members around the time this video was shot.

And, of course, the song itself is gorgeous and, to my mind, one of the ten best songs the Beatles ever produced.

Enjoy this little reminder of our collective mortality, then. It never fails to get me a bit teary.