Sir George Martin’s love for The Beatles never flagged

The opening might of “The Beatles Love” in June 2006 was so spirited that I walked fast on my way out of the theater so I could spin around and see the expressions on the faces of that first audience.

The waves rushed past, people smiling and chatting ebulliently and veering into the theater’s gift shop to buy The Beatles buttons, T-shirts and lunch boxes. In that crush of fans, a white-haired man walked toward the wall where the silver, reflective “Love” sign hangs.

He was an older gent, moving casually with the aid of a cane. A bemused grin stretched across his face as he observed the excitement caused by these four lads from Liverpool.

Nobody had taken notice of this individual, but I recognized him instantly. I moved close, introducing myself and saying, “I don’t want to make a big deal out of seeing you here, but what did you think of the show?”

“I’m very happy with where the show is right now,” Sir George Martin said. “… The show is going to get better. It will become a tighter production and more precise. It will come together. It’s important to remember … we have not made any new music here. We have taken existing music and used it for this show.

“I probably will be criticized by some people for that, but, at this point, I don’t give a damn.”

Moments later, a young woman approached with a camera. I felt that she was going to ask for a photo with Martin, thus touching off a stream of such fans who might finally realize Martin was in the lobby. But, no, she instead said, “Can you guys please move? Me and my friends are having a picture taken here.”

Martin smiled and said, “We’re being given the bum’s rush.”

Sir George Martin diedTuesday at age 90, just as “Love” is being refurbished for its 10th anniversary under the care of Martin’s producer son, Giles. “Love” represents the artistic platform that currently keeps The Beatles’ legacy alive as a live performance.

Giles Martin has been entrusted to work the magic digitally using the master tapes recorded by his father throughout The Beatles’ recording career. It is said that Giles Martin is as brilliant with digital recording as his father was with analog equipment, and when you hear the new, soaring sound of the upgraded “Love,” you’ll know why.

It is simply impossible to effectively calculate the impact that Sir George Martin had on contemporary music, or even culture in general. His background was as a jazz and classical pianist who recorded comedy records — expressly Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and The Goons — before he met The Beatles during an audition at Parlophone studios.

His sharp sense of humor, studio experience and musical imagination was an ideal fit for The Beatles throughout their career and continues to serve as the inspiration for the Cirque production at the Mirage.

In a statement today, Cirque said of Sir George:

“Cirque du Soleil will always be honored and grateful that Sir George Martin brought ‘The Beatles Love’ to life through his amazing musical talents. His music will live on forever through and with ‘Love.’ Eternal peace and gratitude. Our thoughts are with Giles Martin and the family and friends of Sir George Martin.”

Years after that initial meeting at the theater, I had the honor of talking to both Martins at the studio in the Love Theater as the show celebrated its fifth anniversary. I was struck by Sir George’s still-evident excitement about The Beatles and his role in their swift artistic evolution.

“The great thing about them, they were very much unified. After their initial success, which was a hell of a shock to these kids who were pretty much from nowhere, within a year they were the talk on everyone’s lips from Britain to America and eventually the world. That’s a pretty heady wine to drink,” Martin said at the time, with Giles at his side.

“Because of that, they were like a fort, really, each corner made up four pieces. They were four guys, bonded, and I think that made them such a tight band.”

He recalled that The Beatles were still very raw, especially in the studio, when he met them in 1962.

“They were a great band, a great band,” he said. “I mean, they started off very poorly, really, because when I first met them, they didn’t really excite me very much musically. Their songs, I thought, were pretty crappy. But they learned so quickly, they shot up like hothouse plants.”

Though integral to the creative process, Martin was something of an external observer to the music being crafted in his presence. He always maintained that John Lennon and Paul McCartney were so similarly advanced as songwriters that “you couldn’t get a piece of tissue paper between them.”

The four members assumed roles that created a symbiotic artistic team.

“They became, each one of them, a master at his own job. Paul and John, of course, wrote the bulk of their hits. George (Harrison) was left to struggle by himself, but he came through, too, from, ‘Here Comes the Sun’ onward, and started really writing great songs. …” Martin said.

“Ringo (Starr) has established himself with a sound that was quite unique and is the best rock drummer in the world. He would spend ages getting his drums the right sound. He would tune them like mad. He was dedicated to it.”

With a chuckle, Martin recalled being in the crowd for the band’s first U.S. concert, an exercise in bedlam at the 8,000-seat Coliseum in Washington, D.C.

“They were in the round, and they had to play a set of songs to each quadrant of the arena,” Martin said. “They had to move their equipment themselves, and Ringo’s drums got stuck in the process. The audience was almost entirely kids, and a young boy, about 12 or 13 years old, was sitting near me. He came over and said, ‘Mister, are you a Beatles fan?’

“I said, ‘You might say that, yes.” And he said, ‘Wow!’ He was quite impressed that this old guy was such a Beatles fan.”

In that conversation, Martin talked of The Beatles’ longevity while hinting at his own mortality.

“I think they’re so damn good, they’ll be with us for generations, into the middle of the next century. They’re just great musicians and great writers, like Gershwin or Rodgers and Hammerstein,” said the fabled music producer. “They are there in history, and The Beatles are there in history, too.

“They’ll be there in 100 years, too. But I won’t be.”

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