Beatles Impact Poem
When the working classes stayed
Downcast, drab and poorly paid,
When Brylcream soaked every comb
In the post-war monochrome,
When bores on the BBC
Smacked of aristocracy,
One alliance came along
With an unexpected song,
Ripping up the old rule book
Through a new outrageous look,
Long hair turning hirsute tides
Back from clipped short back and sides,
Accents, northern and unspoiled
Drawling until snobs recoiled,
Four young men, unique and strange
Due to make the zeitgeist change.
It's hard now to feel the shock
That made Britain's cobwebs rock,
Dated preconceptions fell,
Crude assumptions went to hell
As the screams of frantic teens
Smashed the hush to smithereens,
Something in the chemistry
Of the quartet set us free:
John's wit, bold as brass and strong,
Paul’s romantic tone in song,
George the quiet thoughtful one,
Ringo, every mother's son,
Things would never be the same
And their final farewell came
Crossing over Abbey Road
Where the Sixties traffic slowed.
©