George Martin

If you toss a coin in the air a couple of dozen times, you'll get little runs of heads or tails. There's nothing magical going on there, it's just statistics. It's the same when you're having 'a spell of bad luck'; it's just the usual mix of good and bad coming out in an unlikely - and unenjoyable - order.

And so it's been with the number of famous people passing away this year. I don't believe it's a sign of an impending apocalypse, although maybe God would get all of the good guys up there first so they can start rehearsing for some big welcome party. Maybe Terry Wogan is warming up the seat at Celestial FM as I write.

Today, I heard that George Martin has passed on. Here's what Philip Norman said about him in his (excellent) book 'Shout': "The importance of George Martin cannot be overemphasised. First of all, he signed them. Second, he did not cheat them. Third, he did not adulterate them. It would have been easy for him, as all-powerful record producer, to insist that each release should carry a B-side composed by himself. Martin happened to be of the rare breed who are content to use their talents in improving other people’s work. To Lennon and McCartney he was the editor that all creative promise strikes if it is lucky. He took the raw songs, he shaped and pruned and polished them and, with scarcely believable altruism, asked nothing for himself but his EMI salary and the satisfaction of seeing the songs come out right. As the songs grew more complex, so did Martin’s unsung, unhinging role."

It occurred to me as I thought about him that he was exactly the kind of man I would like to be; a proper gentleman in the best senses of that word. 

And as I thought about his talent, I knew there was only one song that I could choose to play on the radio show this Sunday in recognition of him and his work and that's the incredible 'Tomorrow Never Knows' from The Beatles' 'Revolver'. It still sounds amazing to me today, fifty years on, so God only knows what it was like to hear it for the first time in 1966. To me he was, artistically, undoubtedly one of The Beatles and not just "the fifth Beatle". Rest in peace, George.