The Beatles' Flying: A Pocketful of Insights by Tim Hatfield

"You deserve to have loving, supportive people in your life, friends." 

--Tim Hatfield

Phil Fitzpatrick at Dylan Fest
Art Show

I routinely start more blog posts than I publish. I mention this because when poet/Dylanologist Phil Fitzpatrick passed away last weekend I decided to assemble all my blog posts about him as a tribute. This is how I discovered Tim Hatfield's thoughtful reflections on the Beatles' song "Flying." It had been lying dormant, incomplete, on an idle page in my blog queue. Evidently it was in need of this special occasion to be brought to light.

I can't recall ever reading anything about the song "Flying" before, though I'm sure it must have been noted in one of the Beatles volumes I'd read. This past year Phil had shared with me what his Harvard buddy Tim Hatfield had written and I even went so far as to lay it out on this page. Phil also said I should interview Tim sometime since we are all Beatles fans. 

There's a great backstory behind the writing of this piece. In the midst of the pandemic, when things were most uncertain, Hatfield set about to write uplifting words of comfort and encouragement to his circle of friends to help them get through these difficult times. He'd committed himself to writing one email a day using Beatles songs as the seed for each daily missive.

It's only natural that a man who had made a career of counseling others and helping them get through hard times would in his retirement continue this habit of thinking of others. By the time he'd covered every Beatles song and added a few bonus tracks, he decided--perhaps was prodded--to package these thoughtful meditations into a book, aptly titled, The Beatles: All their songs with encouraging words for challenging times.

 

In the intro he tells how this little collection of reflections were initially sent to a circle of maybe 28 friends, but as the messages of love and hope continued the circle grew to near ten times that number. Now it's a Kindle eBook that you can read on any device by downloading the app.  

Sitting with Phil in the John Bushey Studio @ KUMD 

Reading these made me wonder if there will be a body of writing that gets tagged as Pandemic Literature. Part of the book's power is how it reflects the period it was written in. Hatfield wrote each missive as a means of lifting up the spirits of his friends.    

Having read the first thirty stories, here's the impression I get. The book strikes me as a series of daily love letters to Hatfield's readers. The words were written with tenderness and compassion. He's an able researcher who pulls together insights about the songs from several sources, not only for the benefit of Mr. Kite but for all of us. Simultaneously you can feel his love and admiration for the Beatles and their music. 

Even though the most trying times of the pandemic are behind us, the life lessons Hatfield conveys remain relevant.

Hatfield and our mutual friend Phil have been part of a circle of Harvard friends for near 60 years. Phil forwarded to me and (with permission) I'm sharing it here. Decades-long friendships are very special.

Tim Hatfield: Fitz, just as a reminder that you've been immortalized in the body of the Beatles book (as well as the "Acknowledgments" page), here you go. No tunneling today, sir. Keep pushin'. Love, Hats 

#182 “Flying” from Magical Mystery Tour

Full disclosure here – the hard work on this entry was done by my good friend, college buddy, and fellow Minnesotan and Beatles fan Phil Fitzpatrick. “Flying” is one of his favorite Beatles songs, and he not only wrote a very detailed and astute piece about it, but also sent it along to me with the understanding that I could use it in any way I wished. This is very luxurious, and a welcome breather from months of daily Beatles Uplifts. So, thanks very much to you, Fitz, and you’ll recognize your work here in abbreviated fashion, filtered through me.

Paul took the lead in composing “Flying” as incidental music for their made-for TV film “Magical Mystery Tour” in Britain. As an instrumental track, all four Beatles were credited as songwriters for “Flying,” which had the working title of “Aerial Tour Instrumental.” It is an intentionally simple twelve-bar piece, repeated three times as aerial shots of Icelandic landscape (originally outtakes from Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove) play on the screen in the film. Most notably, the dominant sound of the dreamy song is a mellotron, a kind of early synthesizer, which Lennon learned how to play from Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues. Lennon also played an organ, there were multiple tape tracks and sound effects (forward and backwards), and the only voice track was a series of chants by the group. 

The overall feeling from “Flying” is peaceful and relaxed, which I daresay we could use a little more of during these stressful, uncertain times of pandemic, social ferment, and binary politics. Be safe and be well, everyone. And for those of you who are fortunate enough ever to have ridden Soaring at Disney World, imagine yourself on that ride while you listen to this.

The above excerpt is from:

When We Find Ourselves in Times of Trouble: The Beatles

(All their songs with encouraging words for challenging times)

By Tim Hatfield

To purchase your copy, (strongly recommended to all Beatles fans) go to www.amazon.com, search “Tim Hatfield Beatles” 

or click THIS LINK

You can download a free app to read the ebook on your device.

Related Links
Hatfield, Tim. The Beatles: All their songs with encouraging words for challenging times. Kindle Edition. 

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