Do you think it's possible? Would we still have had BEATLES with John, Paul, Ringo and ?
Everyone attributes the BEATLES' enormous incomprehensible success to the songwriting partnership of Lennon/McCartney.
Does this mean that Ringo and George were irrelevant? That anyone could have replaced them provided they were reasonably qualified?
It seems many posters love to speculate over BEATLES puzzles like this one. I tend to believe that the BEATLES were a phenomenon in which every component needed to be just the way it was. It's hard to understand this but I think it's true.
In a sense, this means that even the lowest BEATLE was equal to the highest. The BEATLES were and are a rarity in terms of the fame, fortune and legacy they acquired. I think the BEATLES equation was absolute. Any alteration, no matter how slight, may have offset and possibly destroyed the balance.
I think that Paul would have continued on into the music world without the others. I've read about first-hand friends and observers of the early BEATLE days who felt Paul was most likely to succeed. If not, he'd probably have made a very good bus driver. Many felt John was lazy, unmotivated and driftless and would have gone NO where without Paul. George was afraid he'd have been an electrician and imagined that would have been the equivalent of an uninspired hardscrabble life. Ringo thought he'd have been a hairdresser. He'd probably have continued drumming until his late twenties or so - standard burnout stage for the PROfessional Music Dream for many.
Hey, how about if Eric Clapton had gotten in instead of George? Would he have been a lucky enough man to make the grade as a full fledged BEATLE?
Dream on, folks, and ye shall, for sure. There's no end to this BEATLES Madness, is there?
If there is a God and I ever meet Him/Her/It, I will ask this: Please, God, please please me and explain to me the mystery of the BEATLES. What caused BEATLEmania? Who was the most important of the 4-headed Monster? Why'd You wait so long to create BEATLES? What BEATLES wonders never occurred because of the "untimely deaths" of John and George? Would the BEATLES ever have reunited? Exactly, God, who was Billy Shears and who was really Paul - the Walrus or was John, in fact, proven to be the ultimate Walrus? And the Egghead, God, was that you? The Supreme Egghead who created the Supreme BEATLES? And lastly, God, aren't You the least bit jealous of them? Why, they were more popular than You were for a time. I wonder - are they still?
But thank You, BEATLES creating God!! I think the BEATLES were your greatest ACHEIVEMENT!!! Glory Hallelujah!!! BEATLES FOREVER!!!