He told me that I ruined the Beatles for him. I’ve heard that more than once – from more than one man. I’m not proud of that, but at the same time I don’t know why they let that happen in the first place. I mean, I would never give anyone so much power that they could completely destroy my listening pleasure. Danny said that every time he hears “Let it Be” he thinks of me and can’t stop crying. When Carl hears “I wanna hold your hand” he remembers the time I sang it acapella while we walked hand in hand down the Venice boardwalk. I was barefoot and a homeless man gave me a flower. I mean, I remember that too. It’s a great memory. But it’s a memory that doesn’t make me miserable. I don’t associate the boardwalk with pain or a summer day with the failure of lasting love. And I most certainly, under no circumstances, will allow any Beatles song to be tainted with sadness simply because a relationship ended.
I mean if you need a nostalgic pang in your gut for all of those romantic reasons that people listen to sad songs when they’re sad, I understand that. I get nostalgia. I’m a romantic. But, I’m also a realist – and realistically speaking, the Beatles are mine! I think of no one when I hear those songs – only how much I’ve loved John, Paul, George and Ringo my whole life even though by the time I was born they were already broken up. Still – they’re mine.
If someone needs a bit of “relationships of yore melancholy” – at least be smart about it – choose something less prevalent. Like …the smell of patchouli. Billie wore patchouli. When I smell it – I think of him. But, who wears that? I’d have to go to a Grateful Dead Show to smell it and Jerry Garcia is dead so there goes that. There was this one guy though. Kyle, oh my god, he rocked my world in a big way. For years, the smell of cigarettes and beer… the taste… his taste…. But now most people I know don’t smoke, which is a good thing since I have a horrible allergy to it these days, so I’m rarely around it. Thus, memory of Kyle – rarely reactivated. So, choose wisely. I mean, the Beatles wrote a lot of songs.
Annie Wood is a Hollywood native, lifelong actress and writer. She’s an award winning playwright with a hit web-series that she created, wrote and stars in, Karma’s a B*tch, which has over 1.7 million views and was Best of the Web on Virgin America. Season 2 was co-written with veteran TV writer, David Schladweiler. (Look for season 2 in 2015) Subscribe here: www.youtube.com/karmatheseries For information about Annie’s writer-for-hirer work, where she will write a unique scene specifically for you to use in your demo reel and in workshops, please visit
