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‘Yesterday’ Movie — Which Just Premiered in Theaters — Begs a Tantalizing Question:
If the Beatles hadn’t existed, would someone else have written their songs?
Rock music is roughly seventy years old, if one counts the late 1940s as the time when the first rock and roll songs — such as rhythm and blues artist Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup’s “That’s All Right (Mama)” (1946), Wynonie Harris’ “Good Rockin’ Tonight” (1948), and Jimmie Preston’s “Rock the Joint” (1949) — were released. So is it possible that all the great rock songs have been sung, and there’s little chance for a modern performer to create anything fresh?
If you’ve tried to write even one song that’s both melodious and original, you’ve probably realized how hard it is. Most of us find that our attempt either sounds like a song already in existence, or just isn’t very good (hence the lackluster “fake songs” used for fictitious rock bands in TV and movies). The Beatles, when they recorded “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in 1963, had the benefit of largely unchartered territory, but obviously that’s not what accounts for their success; Paul McCartney and John Lennon possessed a special kind
