The only descriptions on the back of this postcard are "The Beatles" and "Echte Foto" so we must guess at the time and place of this marvelous scene. When I found it for sale by a German vendor I jumped to buy it because I've never seen a photo of John Lennon smiling quite that happily, and I thought the setting was just beautiful.
This week commemorates 50 years since The Beatles recorded their first record. I know this historical fact not because I saw it on a television report, news or entertainment-related. Not because I read about it in a magazine, print or online, rock-related or not. Not because I wrote the date on my calendar a long time ago and brought it forward year-after-year the way I do many other personal and historical anniversaries. And not because I heard about it on the radio.
I learned that September 11, 2012 was the 50th anniversary of that auspicious recording occasion (do you know what song it was they recorded that day?) in the life of those lads from a most marvelous post at one of my favorite blogs. "The Rant" by Tom Degan: Fifty Years of the Beatles is a passionate account of that day and beyond, and it is so informative, so engaging, such a perfect read, that I am simply going to ask you to click on the link to enjoy it yourself.
In 1980, 18 years after that first recording by The Beatles, John Lennon wrote and recorded Beautiful Boy about his son, Sean. I thought about it when I saw how beautiful "the boys" were in this old postcard. I've always loved this poignant song, and the video below appealed to me because of the pictures.....among which is one of John's beaming smile similar to the shot above. You can see this other happy and contented smile at 3:00 in the video.
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