The First Time You Looked Up and Everything Was Different: A Guest Post From She Loves You (Yeah Yeah Yeah) Author Ann Hood
Imagine a time when there were only three TV stations. No cell phones. No Minecraft or Fortnight. No iTunes. All of the music that came from your AM radio was from the United States: The Beach Boys were from California and sang about surfing and high school; the Four Seasons harmonized about love; Elvis Presley shook his hips and sang rock and roll. Until February 9, 1964. That’s the day everything changed.
She Loves You (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)
Hardcover $16.99
She Loves You (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)
By Ann Hood
Hardcover $16.99
Like my main character, Trudy Mixer, I had tonsillitis and was tucked into my bed when my older, cooler cousin Debbie marched into the bedroom, turned on my little television (it only showed things in black and white and was about the size of a microwave), and told me to watch. Ed Sullivan, the host of a Sunday night TV show, announced The Beatles, and the screen filled with four guys who looked like no one I’d ever seen. For one thing, they had long shaggy hair. Boys back then all had what we called buzz cuts, which were very very short and flat on top. Also, The Beatles were wearing odd suits, with no collars and no ties. Singers back then used to dress up in ties—or even bow ties and tuxedos or sequined suits!
Like my main character, Trudy Mixer, I had tonsillitis and was tucked into my bed when my older, cooler cousin Debbie marched into the bedroom, turned on my little television (it only showed things in black and white and was about the size of a microwave), and told me to watch. Ed Sullivan, the host of a Sunday night TV show, announced The Beatles, and the screen filled with four guys who looked like no one I’d ever seen. For one thing, they had long shaggy hair. Boys back then all had what we called buzz cuts, which were very very short and flat on top. Also, The Beatles were wearing odd suits, with no collars and no ties. Singers back then used to dress up in ties—or even bow ties and tuxedos or sequined suits!
But even more important was what they were singing and how they were singing it. They sang about wanting to hold your hand, for you to love them, and my favorite: She loves you yeah yeah yeah. During each song, there came a point when they shook their hair in unison and the audience screamed like crazy. That Beatles love was called Beatlemania, and their arrival in the United States began what was called The British Invasion.
The Beatles were from Liverpool, what I thought was a very exotic city in England. When they spoke, they didn’t have the crisp proper accent like Queen Elizabeth had. Their accent was stronger, cuter, and added to their appeal. There were four Beatles—John, Paul, George, and Ringo—and almost immediately girls chose their favorite one. George was strong and silent, John, sarcastic and poetic, Ringo, boyish and funny, and Paul—my favorite—with his big brown eyes and a darling grin, was called the cute Beatle.
In no time, everybody started to collect Beatles trading cards, which came in packets of bubblegum. Teen magazines were entirely devoted to The Beatles. Stores sold Beatles dolls and radio stations played three or four or five Beatles songs in a row. We would go to record stores where—for 35 cents—we could buy a small vinyl record that had only two songs on it, or for three dollars buy an entire album with about twelve songs on it. I saved my allowance every week to buy Beatles songs, and then I would come home and play them over and over on my little red record player until my father would beg me to stop.
The Beatles and I grew up together. Well into my teenaged years, they sang to me when I was lonely, or confused, or happy enough to dance around my bedroom (when no one could see me). Even though since that long ago February night when I first saw them the world has kept changing, I don’t think you ever forget the first time you looked up and everything was different. I know I never will. And that’s why I wrote about Trudy Mixer in She Loves You (Yeah Yeah Yeah). Her story is mine—and I believe our story is so much like yours today.
She Loves You (Yeah Yeah Yeah) is one of the four books featured in B&N’s first Kids’ Book Hangout, taking place from 2-4pm on Saturday, July 28th. Kids can mix and mingle with other young bookworms, talk books, and participate in activities! For more details, check out our event post here. For an online signup sheet, click here.