Transcription for Age of The Beatles

Even though I question how many people will be interested in the last post to begin with, I wanted to provide a transcription for “Age of The Beatles” in a format independent of the scanlated images. Considering some of the circles I frequent, I have heard regular mention of how visually-impaired people struggle with accessing content online due to how many text readers cannot parse text found within images.

I will eventually be sharing one more post about “Age of The Beatles.” I’ve decided that I won’t post it next week. I’m not sure if I’ll post it the Thursday after next or three Thursdays from now. I want to diversify the content here a bit more earlier on. (I have other reasons for considering a prolonged delay that I will not share for now, too.)

Page 1

Image Description

Page one is of a black ink drawing on a red gradient background. At the top of the page are several human legs depicted from calf downwards. Some of the legs are wearing pants and Beatle boots. Others are wearing high-heeled shoes.

At the bottom of the image are drawings of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison from the shoulders upwards. You can see a bit of the neck of a bass guitar that Paul is holding and the pegboard of a guitar George is holding. George has a huge grin. Judging by their age of appearance, the scene looks to take place in either 1963 or 1964.

There is a full-body drawing of a male drummer wearing a suit and holding his drumsticks high up in the air. He is located on the left side of the image, just above Paul’s head. You would presume by process of elimination that the drummer is Ringo Starr, but he looks more like John Bonham of Led Zeppelin.

Page Text

ILLUSTRATED
ESSAY
THE
AGE OF
THE
BEATLES

I was tone deaf.
A friend of mine, who had a perm despite it
being banned at school, lent me the
“Please Mr. Postman” EP.
I tried to learn how to play the song, but the
harmonies on top of harmonies and phrases on top of phrases tightened my chest
just from listening to them.
My father, who loved classical music, told me
“When you grow um you’ll be surprised at
how much you loved these stupid groups
when you were a kid.”
When the Beatles came to Japan,
the news covered them,
but it felt like some kind of
revolution happening in a far-off place.
No one at my house cared
about them at all.

Page 2

Image Description

Page two is of a black ink drawing on a red gradient background containing screen tone of spots and irregular shapes. A younger John Lennon is wearing headphones and is playing an acoustic guitar. He has a cigarette in his mouth. Heart-shaped wisps are coming out from the cigarette.

Page Text

When I was in high school, I met a group who had an electric guitar,
which was a rarity at the time. I was singing Beatles songs in an
amateur club, and they would talk deeply about the songs, saying
things like: “The way this violin flows in the background is what’s
so amazing.”
I was amazed at how sensitive their ears were. They also taught a friend and I
about the soft castanet sound in the background of
“Here, There, and Everywhere.”
We went our separate ways after graduation, but the things they
taught me about the Beatles remained in my mind.

I wasn’t really a good kid, nor was I a particularly good student,
and I silently rebelled against my school and my parents, escaping
into my friends, books, manga, and the Beatles.

Page 3

Image Description

Page three is a continuation of page two. You can see the neck of the guitar from the previous page. You can also see John’s left arm and hand.

There are more heart-shaped wisps. One wisp contains a not-quite three-quarter profile of George, and he is looking at the reader. Another wisp contains a profile of Paul. And a third wisp contains a profile of Ringo. (Both Paul and Ringo are not looking at the reader like George is.) These profiles and semi-three-quarter profile look more to be of the members from around the end of The Beatles.

A fourth wisp contains “BEATLES” in a stylized font. There is also a small shooting star and a small ordinary star. (That is, a star lacking the tail a shooting star has.)

Page Text

By the time I learned how to play “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,”
from the Abbey Road LP, the Beatles had broken up.
I had believed they were a group that would continue on forever,
so I was dumbstruck.
I thought it was some kind of mistake, and believed that they
would eventually get back together.

After that, I watched many other groups come together and
split apart, and eventually came to feel surprised at how a
group of such powerful individuals were able to stay together
for so long. I think the Beatles were one of the 60s’ miracles,
and that it was also a miracle that I had had the chance to
grow up during their time.

Page 4

Image Description

Page four is of a black ink drawing on a red gradient background containing screen tone of a lace-like pattern. Depicted is an overhead view of a drum set on a platform, some microphone stands, some amps, a keyboard, some other musical equipment, and some scaffolding. There is nobody in this image.

Page Text

On December 8, 1980,
John Lennon was shot and killed in New York. I thought it was
some kind of hoax, but all the channels and radio stations were
saying the same thing. All the Beatles music I heard all around
town suddenly felt very sad.

I remembered how Takuro sang about how The Beatles
taught him things, and I thought…
“Yeah, they taught me a lot as well.”

I read their biographies, went to see “A Hard Day’s Night” and
“Help” without telling my parents, and listened to Revolver over
and over again at night, with the record player’s volume turned
down low, wrapped up in my blankets.
That music was something real, and it intoxicated me.
Listening to it helped me to believe that there was
hope for myself as well.

<end>
Published in the
March 1981
issue of
For Lady