Nowhere Boy

Last year Feraz and I went to Liverpool where we had the chance to go on the Magical Mystery Bus Tour which took us to the houses where the Beatles grew up in and to the places which inspired some of their most well known songs.

The bus tour stopped for many awesome photo opportunities, such as this one.

Some things I wish I hadn't seen, like Strawberry Field which took some of the charm of the song away.

The tour gave us some insight into the childhoods and lives of the Beatles but it didn't begin to compare to the movie we just saw. Last night we went to see Nowere Boy - a great film that gives fans a look into the young life of John Lennon. Whether you are a Beatles fan or not, this is a great film to check out.

From the perspective of a fan it was interesting to see what may have made Lennon the way he was. From the perspective of a normal person navigating life, it was amazing to see the challenges and hardships Lennon had as a young kid. From the death of his favorite uncle, who was like his father, on his birthday to finding out his mom who had abandoned him had lived just down the street his whole life, we witness the personal turmoil that Lennon was enduring at the same time that he first fell in love with music.

A young McCartney and Harrison also appear in the film and one of the most moving scenes in the film takes place at Lennon's mom's wake ceremony. Lennon is struggling to deal with the unexpected death of his mother who he was just getting to know and he has a violent outburst and storms out of the wake. Paul runs after him outside and John punches him, knocking him down. Immediately recognizing his wrongdoing he helps Paul up and they break down crying- Paul having also recently lost his mother to cancer. The camera zooms out showing them standing in the middle of the street holding each other and crying. 

During that scene I am struck by the magnitude of their relationship. It was born when they were both so young and through that tragedy and so many others they were in each others lives. They rose to the top together, they were amazing collaborators  and then their relationship crumbled. At one point Paul wrote Too Many People in which he says "Too many waiting for that lucky break, That was your first mistake, You took your lucky break and broke it in two." John retaliated with How Do You Sleep in which he sings "The only thing you've done was Yesterday, and since you've gone you're just another day."

It's quite heartbreaking to think that they never had a chance to reconcile after watching the birth of their relationship in Nowhere Boy. I hope you'll go check it out and in the meantime, enjoy this video montage.