By 
How did we get here so quickly? Another week, another hack piece, straight from brain to paper. This one comes from the wild Atlantic way, or Westport to be more precise.
Here’s a little factoid from down that direction.
In 1968, while the Beatles were taking a break from recording the ‘White Album’, John Lennon and Yoko Ono flew to their recently purchased island, just off the coast of Westport, where they stayed for one night in a caravan.
The weather took its toll on them, so they flew by helicopter to the coastal village of Mulranny, and booked into the hotel there for the remainder of the weekend.
When guests got wind of a Beatle staying in the hotel, they tried to persuade Lennon to sing a song for them, which he declined, but he did have an early mix of the White Album with him, and played it for the guests on the record player before setting off and flying back to England.
So the first people to ever hear the White Album in the entire world were a handful of awestruck hotel guests in a little Irish village. The Lennons never returned to the island they had bought, and instead gave it to a hippy pal of theirs, who lived there along with his commune, until just a few years ago, when Yoko donated the island to a childrens charity. Strange but true.
Indeed, 1968 was a productive and eventful year for the Fab Four.
They were at their peak.
Not only did they create the White Album, a double LP crammed with oddities and magic, but they also started their own record company, Apple Records, and individually wrote songs for and produced a squad of artists, including Jackie Lomax, Billy Preston, Mary Hopkins, James Taylor, Cilla Black, Badfinger and the Hare Krishna Temple, among others.
They retreated to India to study mediation under the guidance of The Maharishi.
They produced another batch of number one singles, including ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Lady Madonna’. They started branching out and ‘going solo’, with George doing a soundtrack to the film, ‘Wonderwall’, while John and Yoko produced ‘Two Virgins’, an experimental avant-garde sound collage that has little musical input.
Ringo starred in a movie.
John and Yoko also got arrested for marijuana possession.
They made a cartoon, ‘Yellow Submarine’, while also providing extra songs for the accompanying soundtrack.
This was all sandwiched right after the success of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and immediately before the gruelling sessions for the ‘Get Back’/‘Let It Be’ movie/album.
They had already conquered the universe.
And none of them had yet turned 30.
