The recent passing of Billy Preston is sad. What a talent! and he would have fit in as a fifth onstage musical Beatle quite well, you know. In a way, that would have ruled. Yet the headlines, in bringing up that "Fifth Beatle" moniker once again, got me thinking about Vivek Tiwary's planned motion picture The Fifth Beatle
~ and how nobody else but the Boys themselves have ANY GODDAMNED RIGHT to place that title on a "fifth member."
I shouldn't let it bother me. It's stupid. I should think of it only as a matter of semantics.
Because it was the most heartfelt wish of Brian's to be their fifth member ~ not musically, of course (although that would have been his impossible dream), but closer than just friends. They were, you know. If the boys were like brothers, then Brian was truly like a dual-purpose parent ~ both a guiding, counseling father and a loving, nurturing mother.
So, yes, like an idiot, I do let these news blurbs bother me ~ because so many people see them and believe them. So many people who aren't aware of the opinion of Brian's own Boys themselves. The only opinion that actually counts!
In Vivek's own words:
"...at a press conference in 1997, when specifically asked who was "The Fifth Beatle," Paul McCartney replied without hesitation:You tell 'em, Mr Tiwary!
"If anyone was the Fifth Beatle, it was Brian."
That's the first time a Beatle has addressed the issue. And the only other time is when McCartney repeated his words on national television during the BBC's Arena documentary on Epstein.
And it's where my money lies. Brian was an integral part of the band's life-- both personally and professionally-- as my film will dramatize.
But I also think Sir Paul picked his words carefully when he said, "if anyone."
The truth is, the Beatles were a four-piece band. End of story.
I think there's a certain sadness that Brian could never really be "one of the boys" no matter what he did for them, no matter how close he was to them.
But -- if ANYONE -- then Brian!"
Pictures of Brian hanging out with his friends the other Beatles
Click photos for many more photos and other stuff you may have seen before... but may not have!
