Sometime early in the summer of 1967 Leonard Yingst brought the new Beatles album over for me to listen to.

I had been following the Beatles ever since they made their American debut on Ed Sullivan’s television show back in 1964, but the only album of theirs that I had ever bought was their first American release, Meet the Beatles.

I simply didn’t pay much attention to pop/rock music back in those days. I might hear some of the latest songs when I was in a restaurant with a juke box or if a friend played something for me. I remember Randy Klopp playing the Rubber Soul album for me when it came out, and I was impressed by the song “Norwegian Wood”, but not enough to go out and buy it for myself. And of course, during the year of the Irregulars I got to hear a fair amount of the top songs because someone or other would bring them in and suggest we play them. That’s how I got to hear “Yesterday”, for example.

But my limited funds for record purchases in those days were reserved mostly for Original Broadway Cast albums and a few soundtracks here and there.

But I had been following the Beatles’ career during those years. It was next to impossible not to. They were the number one pop group of the era and their every move was written about. Not to the extent that it would be today with the 24 hour news cycle, social media, etc., but for the time their images were plastered over just about every newspaper and magazine.

When John Lennon made an unguarded remark that they had become more popular than Jesus, it became something of a scandal in the southern states (I guess they needed something new to hate) and folks started burning all their Beatles LPs and memorabilia. One of the many idiocies that I’ve observed in Christians over the years. Regardless of how Christianity is described or what its origins are, I see more hate in the way it’s actually practiced than anything else.

Anyway Leonard, a year younger than I was, had somehow become my portal to pop culture, a function he continued to perform for several years thereafter, both at Penn State, and later when we both moved back to the Richland area.

So it was not unusual for Leonard to bring a new album for me to listen to.

And I wish I could say that I found it a revelation, but the truth of the matter is, I really can’t recall my reaction to it at all.

I probably found it interesting. Certainly I would have found the packaging fascinating.

But whatever my reaction, it wasn’t enough for me to go out and buy a copy for myself.

I just didn’t buy pop/rock albums in those days.