Beatles exhibit captures the magic behind the music

CBSNews
Updated ·2 min read
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It was a cultural lightning strike without precedent … a band from working-class Liverpool that conquered the world with its infectious melodies, intricate harmonies, and boundless creativity. In a recording career spanning less than a decade, notes "Sunday Morning" host Jane Pauley, The Beatles propelled the humble pop song into the realm of high art, to become the most inventive and influential musical act of their era.

Their most innovative songs were, as one biographer put it, "stone bowls in an era of cupped hands."

"The songs sound as important and as vibrant today as they did the day they were created," said Greg Harris, president and CEO of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, where a new exhibit explores the period leading up to the band's breakup.

An exhibit of Beatles artifacts at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.  / Credit: CBS News
An exhibit of Beatles artifacts at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. / Credit: CBS News

"The Beatles: Get Back," the recent docuseries by director Peter Jackson, is on display as well, showing the sessions – once considered gloomy and acrimonious – in an entirely new light.

Harris said, "There's these bursts of creativity. There's laughter. There's joy, there's connection. And as a result, it kind of rewrites the whole history of how we picture the end of The Beatles."

Handwritten lyrics and other one-of-a-kind artifacts are also on view. The museum's permanent collection even houses the upright piano used to compose some of pop's most indelible songs, including "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Eleanor Rigby." "When you see it, you get goose bumps to think these iconic songs came out of this instrument," Harris said.

This piano was in the basement of the home of Paul McCartney's then-girlfriend; there, he and John Lennon composed such songs as
This piano was in the basement of the home of Paul McCartney's then-girlfriend; there, he and John Lennon composed such songs as

The Beatles would break up in 1970, but not before one final triumph: a live, unannounced concert on the roof of the Apple Records building in London.

After so much time spent at the very pinnacle of their profession, The Beatles ended things – where else? – on top of the world.

   For more info:

"The Beatles: Get Back to Let It Be" at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland"The Beatles: Get Back" on Disney+; also available on Blu-raythebeatles.comThe Beatles' "Let It Be" Special Edition Album"The Beatles: Get Back" companion book© Apple Corps Limited

   Story produced by Robert Marston. Editor: David Bhagat.

   See also:

Half-century old footage of the Beatles at work tells different story of the band's darkest days ("60 Minutes")New documentary "The Beatles: Get Back" recasts old narratives ("60 Minutes")"The Beatles: Get Back" - The 10 best films of 2021 ("Sunday Morning")Gallery: The Beatles' original lyricsGallery: The Beatles backstage at "The Ed Sullivan Show" ("Sunday Morning")Gallery: Capturing the birth of Beatlemania by photographer Harry Benson ("CBS Evening News")

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