We buried Sean a year ago today, and sang ‘Redemption Song’ with Bob Marley as the coffin was going into the ground, and some of us were throwing red roses on it. In the days before that – the time of Sean’s wake – we played the same CDs over and over in the room where his body lay, as hundreds of visitors came to pay their respects.
One of these was a CD that Clio had hurriedly compiled, of songs that meant a lot to Sean and to her. I don’t know where it went – perhaps it’s around the house somewhere, or Clio has it. There was a lot of Marley on it, but some other stuff as well, including two Beatles tracks – ‘Something’ and ‘Come Together’. I can well imagine Sean belting out ‘Come Together’ at the top of his voice while having a drink with his friends. It’s a track that suited his exuberance.
I mention the Beatles in my song ‘Come Back and See Me’. We have three Beatles CDs in the house – Help, A Hard Day’s Night, and Let It Be. I remember listening to Let It Be while playing chess with Sean.
I also remember that when the children were around 8 or 10 we had cassettes of the Blue Album that we used to play in the car a lot – Sean and Susanna both really liked it, and we used to sing along with it. That must be where Sean first heard the two tracks that Clio put on the CD – they appear consecutively on the Blue Album.
He also had ‘Yesterday’ saved on his computer. He found an obscure version of ‘And I Love Her’ by Bob Marley, and used to play it for me, insisting that it was better than the Beatles’ original. I must say I agree with him on that – in any case, it was easier to agree with Sean, as he’d try to persuade you for ever if you disagreed. Sean was passionate all his life. Sean cared.
Love you and miss you, Sean. Nothing will ever change that.
The road to God knows where ... Brendan O'Brien 
The Beatles’ own versions are always my favourite. I respect Sean’s choices, of course.
Like many clever Welsh people of the time, my father had to go to England to have a career. England has always stolen young Welsh brains, along with the water and everything else. Liverpool was where he started his career and that was in the 1963. I was the Welsh and Welsh-born baby taken along in the blue carry cot. Actually, Liverpool is not really England. It is far more than that. I grew up with Beatles music, and saw them when I was a baby. My mother held me up to see them when they played on the balcony of the Town Hall. My aunt lived in Penny Lane. We had a flat on Anfield Road, just by the football pitch. And then the Beatles music followed me all around the world. I love it. It is part of me.
I have said all this before. People repeat their stories.
My younger daughter is a great Beatles fan.
That’s great, Cymbeline … I didn’t realize you had that Liverpool connection. The Beatles will always have new young fans, I think, as will Bob Dylan. They will always be discovered anew.
I have never been to Liverpool. I had heard before that it isn’t really England.
🙂
I see that it is you and Susanna and Sean in the photograph. It looks 1960-ish at first sight, which goes with the Beatles.
Selfishly, I went on my own 1960s track, instead of looking closer.
A father full of poetry and his children, with his children on a moving train of fun.
The black-and-white photograph has a very 1960s look. Perhaps you chose it for this reason. It goes with the Beatles.
You, Sean and Susanna on the magical mystery ride. Your face is full of poetry and love. You are enjoying the moment as well as enjoying it on another dimension. The father and the poet in one.
I thought that the first comment had been lost, so I wrote another.
I would like them both to stay.
Anna xxx
Thanks very much, Anna. We had a season ticket to Dublin Zoo when the children were young, and used to go there a lot.
A ticket to ride.
I took some kids to see an animated film called ‘Brendan and the Secret of Kells’ today. The cat Pangur Ban was in it. You once posted the poem. Wonderful film with beautiful hand-drawn pictures and colours. I think it took six years to make. A French, Belgian and Irish production.
Thanks for pointing out my typo! I have heard of the film, but only vaguely … I’m glad you enjoyed it. We live quite near Kells. I like Pangur Ban (white Pangur) … neighbours of ours (this man … http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsM/macintyre-tom.html ) have a cat called Pangur Bui (yellow Pangur). They and we live on a yellow shinbone-shaped hill (Lurgan Bui = Lurganboy) … not in a yellow submarine.