WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAYS

These are the first two paragraphs of Ken Townsend's introduction to The Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Abbey Road Studio Session Notes 1962-1970 by Mark Lewisohn. Townsend is (or was in 1988, date of the book's publication) the general manager at Abbey Road Studios.

"Picture yourself as a motorist driving down Abbey Road, a quiet northwest London suburb when suddenly in the pouring rain you are confronted by a strange sight. In front of you standing on a zebra crossing are four tourists, one minus shoes and socks, being photographed by some poor bowler-hatted city gent holding an umbrella looking for all the world as though he has been hijacked especially for the occasion.

"This is no rare event. Come rain, hail or shine, never a day goes by when one does not rush to the window following the screech of brakes to witness a similar sight. Why you ask yourself, some twenty years on from the time the Beatles used this same zebra crossing for their album cover, should there still be so much interest? Why also should our mail at Abbey Road Studios contain so many letters asking for information about the Beatles, and why should we have to paint over all the Beatles-related graffiti on our front wall every six months?"

Imagine for a moment the wondrous pentimento that must exist beneath these many, many layers of white paint: at least three decades' worth of scribblings and scrawlings, Magic Marker and Pilot Pen inscriptions from every reach of the planet; names, initials, dates, dedications, recordings of lives and deaths, loves and losses, curses and wishes. So note the fan graffiti recorded here. It'll be gone soon.

London, June 25, 2006