At the age of 16 I was more of a romantic than a cynic, and my favorite Beatle was Paul. In particular, I loved the melodic, lyrical stuff on which he sang lead; songs like “Eleanor Rigby”, and “For No One”. I also liked the Rarities album, which was a collection of songs you couldn’t find on other records. Knowing the words to “She Loves You” in German made me feel special, and, honestly, a little superior as well. I mean, I couldn’t throw a football forty yards, but the school quarterback didn’t know what “Sie Leitb Dich” meant, so in my eyes, that made us pretty much equal. To me, The Beatles were my band - I was connected to them, and it seemed to me that the songs they sang spoke to me directly.