I am an unashamed Beatle fan. I’m talking a huge Beatle aficionado!  I’m sure you’ve met someone like me before.  We go by names such as Beatle Geek, Beatle Dork, Fan boy, etc.  We know everything to know about them.  Birthdays, major events, lifestyles, the story of their conquest of America, are facts that we can easily bring out into any conversation.  Obviously, we know their music best.  Any hint of their tunes to my ears, and I’m all over it.  The first music my kids ever heard, shortly after birth, was the Beatles.  To the Beatle fan, the band was a gift from God.

I discovered the lads when I was a senior in high school.  At first I shrugged them off.  I love you, yeah, yeah, yeah, but I liked the Doors better.  It didn’t take long however, for my view to change.  As I shrugged off my brief affair with the Doors, and accepted what was true, I steadily realized that the band was musical perfection.  I can only guess that it was a similar emotion people, way before me, must have felt when they started listening to Mozart.  There’s this moment, where you are hearing the music and you realize that you are not finding the imperfections.  How can it be that clean?  Man, I love this!  Who are these masters?  I then knew I had a quest, and boy did I study.

What made the Beatles so special can only be described in a two part answer.  First, is that when separated, John, Paul, George, and Ringo, were not able to recreate the magic, or the music, as when they were together.  There were good songs throughout their solo careers, but nothing like the catalog of songs, and albums, that they revealed to the world unified.  ‘All you need is Love’ versus ‘Give Peace a Chance’ (John Lennon)?  Love wins in a knockout.  ‘Get Back’ versus ‘Band on the Run’ (Paul McCartney)?  Come on, be serious…  ‘While my Guitar Gently Weeps’ vs. ‘I’ve got my Mind Set on You’ (George Harrison)?  It’s a laugher!  ‘Octopus’s Garden’ vs. ‘It Don’t Come Easy’ (Ringo Starr)?  Umm, ok, maybe Ringo did get better as time went on, but its close!

Secondly, their music stands the test of time.  If someone came out with any of the songs they created, assuming that song wasn’t created in the first place, it would be an instant hit today, as it was in the early 1960s.    Having so many songs that are truly timeless, is another testament of the band’s position at the head of the Rock Roll line.  I’m sorry to tell you Rolling Stones (Their first hit song was written by a Beatle), Elvis Presley (Who was so threatened by the fab four, that he asked to have them deported, even though he had them over for a jam session), The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Queen, AC/DC, Metallica, U2, Spice Girls, etc.  No one has the massive catalog or cultural significance cache that can unseat them.

Now, with true dedication on my mind, I want to compare my heroes to my feet.  The feet?  Yeah, you know, the feet!  You stand on them.  I know, I know, why would you?  I hear you, but it serves a bigger point, and I think I can do it well.  The feet, like the Beatles, are perfection, for starters.  There is nothing on the human body that is more perfect then the foot.  The shape and design of your foot (everyone’s foot) is a work of art.  The arch, the toes, the heel, and all of the muscles and tendons that tie it all together, combine to allow us to stand, run, and jump upright.  If one compares the size of our bodies to our feet, it is amazing that we stand upright at all, let alone run, jump and maneuver the way we do.  Do we become the dominant species on the planet without our ability to think and maneuver?  Again, in my view, the feet are another gift from God.

So, with this premise in mind, I started contemplating that when you have something that is arguably perfect, why hide it?  Why screw around with something that already works to maximum efficiency?  You wouldn’t give the Beatles instruments that do not play, or worse yet, were too heavy for them to work with, just like you wouldn’t wear shoes that constrict and damage your feet.  Imagine Paul McCartney having to lug around a cinder block for each performance…

Let’s say Brian Epstein, the manager for the Beatles, has the big idea that McCartney will play the cinder block, kind of like a drum, I guess, on their first American tour.  McCartney does a couple of shows, makes it work slightly, and then throws out his back.  Now, Paul is done for the rest of the tour, really before it gets going.  Fab Three does not work like the Fab Four.  There is no Ed Sullivan show moment.  There are no ridiculously screaming fans where ever they go.  Sadly, even ‘A Hard Days Night’ film is scrubbed.  Their history is completely different now.

Really, do you give Paul a cinder block to play?  Hell no!  You have him play the coolest looking base guitar possibly ever built!  Preferably with George Ls cables. In the early 1960s, every Beatle is armed with an outstanding instrument so that their genius and talent are allowed to shine through.  That, my friends, is exactly what the Vibram Five Fingers are.  They are the tools, instruments if you will, that allow the perfection, talent, and genius of your feet, and you, to shine through!  Strap them on, go run, and allow your perfection to make beautiful music!

“We’re out!”  Can’t buy me Love, Love.  Can’t buy me Love