Warning: The following is currently unedited. You have been warned.
In the land of Equestria, the music of The Beatles has become beloved. For Ocellus, thanks to Sandbar, she has been introduced to their music and has picked up music lessons to play one of their songs. But what would happen if one day, she wakes up and finds that no one, not her friends, her scholarly Headmare, or even all of Equestria has forgotten about the Fab Four?
An idea that's based on the film "Yesterday," and is taking in a deeper dive into this brilliant concept.
A special thank you to Geek Crossing for this wonderful cover for this story.
Chapters (24)
Tracking this because of the brilliance of the concept.
...So I take it Coca Cola, cigarettes,
the guys who made WonderwallOasis, and Harry Trotter don't exist either?Jokes aside, as a fellow Beatlemaniac, I'm look forward to seeing where this goes.
:)
Can’t be done worse then the actual movie! I’m gonna have to read this!
9891761
Personally, I thought it had an interesting idea, but it didn't really go all the way through. It had a million possibilities one could do with it and they went for safe route. I just want to see how I would tackle this thought experiment.
First thought that came to mind when I read the chapter was this.
Anyway, I have never heard of the movie, but the premise of the first chapter peaks my interest. Lookin forward to where you take this story.
9891789
I agree
Amazing! I’m invested in what our little buggo will do next!
Love it!
Can’t wait for chapter 3!
For the record, I liked Yesterday. I was excited to read this because I liked the movie.
This is pretty good, you’re also going to get me to play a Beatles’ song on my drums every chapter, though, not that I’m complaining.
But I have one qualm:
Fun fact: The Rolling Stones got popular because they marketed themselves as a heavier, grittier Beatles. Without an opponent, they aren’t going to grow nearly as popular.
9897908
Any suggestions for an alternative?
I’ll be following this one.
9897917
How about The Who?
They weren’t influenced by The Beatles, nor did they ever have competition driving them being a huge band. In fact, Helter Skelter was influenced by The Who.
They’re influential, and Keith Moon is a pretty famous drummer.
They’re also still together, if you want to use that as another reason. (It doesn’t matter though, as The Rolling Stones are also still together...)
I also just found out that Ringo Starr’s son plays drums for The Who, so that’s a possible plot point...
Before I read this, I must know: How does a human band exist in Equestria?
9900111
Short answer, the show technically did it.
Long answer, while the show itself gives a strong suggestion that there's a version of the Beatles, where it was a joke reference in which Pinkie took up the role of Ringo. However, in this universe, The Beatles is set about 50 years ago from the modern-day, and there is a version of Ringo Starr.
So in short, it's best to think of this as an alternative universe.
Yeeeeeeeessssssss!!!!!!!! I *loved* the concept of yesterday, that I got fro m the trailers anyway, and got pissed when they turned it into a fucking romance. What a waste. Give me someone who deeply respects and loves the Beatles, and has the moral dilemma of playing song for the world to enjoy (and copywriting them so some asshole doesn't) and stealing credit for someone else work, while drugs and parties are always there tempting him. Or something. Long as they tried doing something with the concept.
9913642
For me, I thought the movie was... Okay. But not great. Which is a tragedy given how fascinating this concept is. So with this, I'm putting my writing skills to the test for this thought experiment and asking myself what would I do with an idea like this?
Hmmm... not a bad start. With a touch of MLP's logic and reason, this might turn up a bit more reasonable than the movie. At least Ocellus won't be accused for plagiarize the songs.
I see you got Zak Starrkey in there. Nice.
Anyways, it’s definitely interesting to realize that Paul stopped doing music. He’s gone on record saying that he’ll never retire because he loves making music so much, but I’m sure how big he is definitely plays a part in that. Now, if he wasn’t as big, he doesn’t have a reason to keep doing music, because no one wants to listen to it anyways. It’s also telling that John and Paul never half-patched up their relationship in this universe, because they had no reason to.
And the same goes for John. He had a respectable solo career, but he was also a huge peace activist. But still, if no one listens, what point is there?
Now this is definitely an interesting story even from the logical side of things.
Far better than the film!
Back in Yakyakistan
(Back in the U.S.S.R.)
9923582
...
(Note to self...)
I seem to recall Paul (in his later years) admitted that he and his bandmates didn't know how to read/write music note. Though seemed their pony counterparts did know how.
And how this Pull said he wrote 'Twist and Shout'? Because the Beatles (human ones) just covered it.
9924046
It is a little OOC for (modern) Paul to say he wrote Twist and Shout, but nobody remembers the original anyways. I don’t fault this one for it, for all we know, he forgot about the original, too.
9924119
Because this song was written years before the Beatles and was covered by several artists before the Beatles time. It didn't matter whether the Beatles themselves could not remember. But other artists, including the original artists, should not include in this scenario too. It didn't make sense to me.
Personally, I perfer 'I Saw Her Standing There' or 'All My Loving' as a great early Beatles song rather than 'Twist and Shout'.
9924152
I hate to diss Cracked Inkwell like this, as this story is amazing, but they’re no Beatles’ historian.
But, I have a counterpoint, Paul didn’t write Twist and Shout, but he and John had to have changed up the arrangement. Wikipedia states that George Martin produced it (mixed and arranged), so it had to have been a new arrangement.
I am a little surprised that I Saw Her Standing There and I Want To Hold You Hand didn’t show up, though.
9924885
On that part, you're correct. As much as I've grown to love and appreciate what The Beatles have done, there are still several things that I keep learning about. For example, up until today, I didn't know that "Twist and Shout" was a cover and not something that Paul or John had written.
Keep in mind, I didn't write this out of disrespect. Quite the opposite. At the same time, you do have to realize that there's a reason why the "Alternative Universe" tag is on there, to begin with. Since my focus is on Ocellus trying to bring what the Beatles have done back and not over the historical inaccuracy over one song. If that were the case, this would be a completely different story.
After all, I humbly ask to be reminded that at the end of the day, as horrific and shocking as this might come - I'm still human. Even someone who loves the humanities is prone to making stupid mistakes. So don't tell me that I'm stupid, that's what I think about myself already. All I want is simply to celebrate The Beatles in my own way.
9924922
I kinda understand since this happens in the alternate universe and this isn't a Beatles' story. Plus, if you are a US fan, you probably thought 'Twist and Shout' were their song since it was one of their early singles to reach Top10 position on Billboard chart (this song was not charted in UK) - and their only charted covered song.
9925056
9924885
Abracadabra! Alakazam! The offending song is gone!
9943873
You didn’t need to do that, but it’s fine.
Also, if you care to do research (not necessary), I found a website that covers every American Beatles release (sans Let It Be) and their history, songwriting, recording, and song structure.
*Mentions The Beatles in any way, shape, or form.*
Me: "YOU HAVE MY COMPLETE AND UNDIVIDED ATTENTION!"
(I mean, just look at my profile pic :)
9944148
Good man!
Fun fact: McCartney did admit in his latter years that none of the Beatles could actually read/write music note. They just played it out to each other. The scores were later written down by someone else most of the time.
Come Together... Right now... Over me!
9944203
Well... That's serendipitous.
9944203
Which is why I had this line written in:
9944220
I guessed Pull actually surprised that Forge could write music. Because he didn't remember any one of them could back then.
9944224
Perhaps, but Forge stayed on as a musician in this "timeline" after the band broke up much earlier than expected. You could make the argument that he picked up on how to write music as well as improving on playing the guitar.
You can still link and use titles of songs, those aren’t against the rules.
The rule just says,”Lyrics from copyrighted songs [are not allowed],” not necessarily titles and links.
Also, was that address a reference to Apple Corp?
9944844
First off, you're right, the videos, references, and titles can be mentioned. Just not the titles themselves.
Also, yes. Both the year Lennon was born and the company.
I just came back for a re-read and noticed the titles have changed and the lyric has been removed from this chapter.
9957683
Read this, it should explain a few things.
9957869
Okay, I didn't know it would come to this. Hmmm... how about if you just insert the lyric video for the part where the character sing? You can also just pretend the character sang just part of it despite the video has full song. Nobody is gonna call out on you since it is just to get the mood.
9957895
I can still work around with this. And don't worry, I'll still continue to write this.
Great chapter, especially the ending.
...
I don’t think Paul has ever worn glasses in his life, however.
9985847
That was a mistake on my part, thanks for catching that. It's been fixed.
Did Ocellus just imply Imagine is Dawn's last song before he died (in that reality)?
Okay, it is nothing strange that a Beatles' fan would listen to their solo works. But I don't think "Imagine" is qualified as a Beatles song. While it is one of the historical song, I believe this story might be better if you only focus on the Beatles' songs. Otherwise, you would have to drag Harrison's "My Sweet Lord", Ringo's "Photograph", and Paul's "Band on the Run" in this story too.
9985892
I think it’s to get John inspired to write music again.
9986029
True. It is one of the most inspiring songs of the generation.
Then, again, this is a fanfic not an actual historical bits. The writer does not need to strictly follow the actual events. Maybe in Ocellus' prior timeline, Dawn did die around the end of the Beatles era and "Imagine" never got a chance to release under the Beatles.
Hmmm... wonder how Ocellus gonna work on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? That one gonna need some real big of a project.
That ending break went exactly as I expected it to.
Hmmm... a records deal? Now, this is tricky. How are they going to release the first four albums without Yesterday?