Val Haller, a music-obsessed baby boomer and the founder of the website Valslist.com, matches tracks from her generation to those of her 20-something sons’ generation.

It was exactly 50 years ago today, Dec. 17, 1963, that the Beatles’ single “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was first played on American radio, on WWDC, DC101. If you need yet another example of how much the world has changed, try this: The song was already popular in England, but had not been released in the United States, and so an enterprising D.J. from the American station had a copy of the record flown here and delivered to his studio by a flight attendant, (which was the 1960s version of the Pony Express.)

The song was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney as they describe “one on one, eyeball to eyeball,” and had been intended for release on “The Ed Sullivan Show” a few months later. It was the Beatles’ best-selling single worldwide.

Of all the covers that have been made since, Al Green’s 1969 version is my favorite. In a 2010 article listing the 50 best all-time Beatles’ covers, Paste magazine named Mr. Green’s version No. 1. It was his big breakthrough. He then went on to create his own hits, including “Let’s Stay Together” and “Tired of Being Alone.”