Why did the Beatles want to be musicians?

Answer 1

For the same reason most of us want to be musicians -- to express ourselves. In John's case there wasn't much else he could do. He was a rebel and was thrown out of college and had no qualifications whatsoever to fall back on -- other than his guitar which his mum encouraged him to play. Paul's father was a trumpeter and he encouraged his boys to play piano, although Paul preferred to learn by ear. He bought Paul a Trumpet which he subsequently traded in for a guitar. By the time he met Lennon he'd already composed a couple of songs, one of which became "When I'm 64". George was the most academic of the three but, at age 14, became hooked on music after hearing Elvis' "Heartbreak Hotel". School took a back seat from then on. When the three finally got together in 1957, Paul and John stole each other's melodies and put their own words to them. Generally, whoever sang the song wrote the lyrics but they gave each other equal credit. Along with George and Richard's input, The Beatles were prolific songwriters, producing over 200 original songs over a 10 year period. That's more than two album's worth of music every year. You simply don't produce that kind of output by not wanting to be a musician. In the end it was the screaming fans that spoiled it for them (and for those of us who can appreciate talent without screaming and fainting). By the end they hated playing together because they simply couldn't hear what they were playing anymore. There were other reasons, of course, but when you don't enjoy your work then it's time to move onto something else.