by Gary Barlettano » Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:05 am
It's amazing the impact little things can have. The Beatles' song "Let It Be" probably saved my life ... or at least allowed me not to have my nose broken.
It must have been in the spring of 1970. We were seniors in high school. The evening had been spent at McSorley's Old Ale House on East 7th in NYC. (Back then, it was still a "men only" establishment ... if you consider 17 year-old boys from a Jesuit prep school to be men.) After several hours of three beers for a dollar, we somehow found ourselves in the 14th St. tube station. We had to get back to Jersey City, Hoboken, and other cherished places in New Jersey. We were falling down drunk, something which a couple of youthful muggers decided to take advantage of. Just as they were about to toss us on the third rail, one of our group uttered, "Let it be." Then everyone started saying, "Yeah, man, let it be." Soon the muggers and we were all smiling, hugging, and chanting, "Let it be." We sat down, passed some lovely stuff around, told a few jokes, enjoyed the dank ambiance of the tube station, and went home pleased as punch with ourselves.
It's nice to know that in this non-transcendental world of today at least one substance brings peace to our planet.
And now what?