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REFERENCES
The Beatles have had such a huge
influence on our culture - references to them are prevalent throughout
films, television, and the songs of other artists. I'm steadily compiling a list
of references made to the Beatles below...enjoy!
If you know of any additions I
could make to this page, please e-mail me!
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BOOKS
Elsewhere
(by Gabrielle Zevin) |
»
"In the book 'Elsewhere' there's a dog character named Sadie, after the
Beatle's song Sexy Sadie, also it mentions that in John Lennon's after
life he becomes a gardener (the book is about a teenage girl that is
killed and ends up in the after world, Elsewhere, where she adapts to a
new life (death), of course this is all fictional)" (thanks,
Kirsten!)
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High Fidelity (by Nick Hornby) |
»
"In Nick Hornby's book 'High
Fidelity' the main character Rob who owns a record shop talks about
listening to his Abbey Road record when he gets home, but thinks about how
to skip out 'Something' as he has just split from his girlfriend."
(thanks, Chazz!)
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John, Paul, George, and Ben
(by Lane Smith) |
»
"In the history book for kids, 'john, paul, george,and ben' (a book joking
around with john hancock, paul revere, george washington, and ben
franklin's childhood):
since the title sounds like john, paul, george, and ringo, it has beatle
related things. First, in the beginning, it says 'with a little help from
my friends: the book is dedicated too....(yadda yadda yadda)'
and the inside cover has paul, george, john, and ben walking together like
abbey road, john has a white suit on, paul is barefoot and instead of
holding a cigarette he is holding a lollipop." (thanks, Anna!)
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Mafalda comics
(by Quino) |
»
"Mafalda was created by Quino in Argentina in the 60s and to this day it's
still really popular in the Latin countries. The main character and
all of her friends (except one) are huge fans of The Beatles, and the Fab
Four are mentioned several times in the comics." (thanks go to
Susana at
The
Fab Four Galleries for all of the Mafalda info/pictures!)
» Below is Susana's translation of
this comic:
Manolito (thinking): "The Beatles!"
Manolito: "How can you love them if you don't understand what they
say?"
Mafalda: "So?"
Mafalda: "Half of the World loves dogs, and to this day no one
knows the meaning of 'guau'."
["Guau" is the sound dogs do when they bark.] |
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MOVIES
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Almost Famous |
»
When the band is told that they are to be on the cover of Rolling Stone,
"Jeff Bebe mentions that when he first bought a Rolling Stone Magazine,
the Beatles were on it" (thanks,
Katie!)
»
Kate Hudson plays a character named 'Penny Lane.' (thanks, boisjoli!)
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American Beauty |
»
The song played during the credits is a cover of "Because"
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Apollo 13 |
»
Jim Lovell's (Tom Hanks) daughter Barbara is upset because of the Beatles'
recent breakup, which she blames on Paul: "I'm never coming out! I
hate Paul! And no one else can ever play another one of their
records again." (eek!!!)
»
Her little sister comments, "She's still going on about the stupid Beatles
breaking up?" and Barbara yells back, "They're not stupid! You're
stupid!"
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The Benchwarmers |
» "When
the team is on their bus arriving at their championship game, the crowd
outside is going crazy. One of the guys on the team says something like
'Dude, we're like The Beatles!'" (thanks, Julia!)
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The Departed |
»
Frank Costello: "Do you know John Lennon?"
Billy Costigan: "Yeah, sure,
he was the president before Lincoln."
Costello: "Lennon said, 'I'm
an artist. You give me a f---ing tuba, I'll get you something out of
it.'"
Costigan: "Well I tell you Mr. Costello, I'd like to squeeze some
f---ing money out of it."
Costello: "Smart mouth. Too bad. If you'll indulge me... [...] The
point I'm making with John Lennon is - a man could look at anything, and
make something out of it. For instance, I look at you and I think, 'what
could I use you for?'"
* Costello quotes John Lennon based on John's
1971 interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, in which he says: "I'm an
artist, and if you give me a tuba, I'll bring you something out of it."
»
John Lennon's song "Well Well Well" (from the album Plastic Ono Band)
appears in the film prior to and during the above quote
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas |
»
"Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" is mentioned in a scene (thanks,
Jack!)
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Ferris Bueller's Day Off |
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Ferris (Matthew Broderick) says, "A person should not believe in an 'ism',
he should believe in himself. John Lennon said it on his first solo
album. 'I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me.' A
good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the
walrus and I'd still have to bum rides off of people."
»
Ferris lip-synchs to "Twist & Shout" at a parade.
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Field of Dreams |
»
Ray Kinsella: "The man wrote the best books of his generation. And
he was a pioneer of the Civil Rights and the anti-war movement. I
mean, he made the cover of Newsweek. He knew everybody. He did
everything. And he helped shape his time. I mean, the guy hung
out with the Beatles! But in the end, it wasn't enough. What
he missed was baseball."
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Hairspray |
» "In
the 2007 version of the movie Hairspray, on the Corny Collins show board
that has the current radio hits, there's a song called 'Please Mr.
Postman' by The Marvels, in reference to the song of the same name by The
Beatles." (thanks, Katherine!)
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I Am Sam |
»
Beatles references exist throughout the entire movie... Sean Penn
plays a character who is obsessed with the Beatles.
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Love Actually |
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"...a boy is telling his dad about how he's in love and wants to get the
girl's attention by learning to play the drums. His dad thinks it's a good
idea and says something like 'Yeah, Ringo Starr even married a blonde!'
A little later on the boy, who does decide to learn the
drums, has 'Ringo Rocks!' written as his eternally changing chalkboard
message on his door.
Also, at a wedding, 'All You Need Is Love' is played."
(thanks, Emma!)
»
"In the movie, Hugh Grant's character is the president of the UK.
He's at a press conference and he says 'We may be a small country, but
we're a great one, too. The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, The
Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter. David Beckham's right foot.
David Beckham's left foot, come to that." (thanks,
Susana!)
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The Parent Trap (new version) |
»
"They walk across a zebra crossing, like Abbey Road (it may have been
Abbey Road). Also, Here Comes the Sun plays during the movie"
(thanks, Katie!)
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Rain Main |
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Charlie (Tom Cruise) asks his brother Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) what the
song was that he used to sing to him - Raymond starts to sing a portion of
"When I Saw Her Standing There." Charlie asks Raymond if
they used to sing any other Beatles songs together.
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That Thing You Do |
»
various references are made to the Beatles throughout the film
»
during a performance of the Wonders, the camera focuses on each member one
by one, displaying each name on the screen; the subtitle "watch out girls,
he's engaged!" for the rhythm guitarist replaces "sorry girls, he's
married!" for John.
»
During one of their performances, the camera pans behind them (looking at
the Wonders' backs and the audience's faces), much like the shot used in
A Hard Day's Night |
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Wayne's World |
»
When Wayne and Garth are going to the
Gasworks, they have this conversation with the bouncer:
Tiny:
"Wayne! How you doin'?"
Wayne: "Hey Tiny, who's playing today?"
Tiny: "Jolly Green Giants and the Shi**y Beatles."
Wayne: "Shi**y Beatles? Are they any good?"
Tiny: "They suck!"
Wayne: "Then it's not just a clever name."
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MUSIC
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Barenaked Ladies |
»
Be My Yoko Ono: "But I don't like all these people slagging her for
breaking up the Beatles" (thanks,
Shadab!)
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Bush |
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Glycerine: "We live in a wheel / where everyone steals / but when
we rise it's like strawberry fields"
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The Clash |
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London Calling:
"London calling, now don't lecture us / Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the
dust" (thanks, Jack!)
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Joe Cocker |
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Joe has covered "With A Little Help From My Friends" and "She Came In
Through the Bathroom Window."
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Howie Day |
»
Howie does a fabulous cover of "Help!" (featured on the I Am Sam
soundtrack).
»
Howie covered the Beatles a lot when he was first beginning his career; he
has since played a lot of Beatles tunes live, including "You've Got to
Hide Your Love Away" with Dispatch.
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Brian Desveaux |
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New York: "...Still there's nothing like walking through the park
with my girlfriend, / The city's alive, got Dave on the Great lawn, /
Strawberry fields, imagining John above, / You know he's looking down... /
With peace and love, across this human town, / So sing along, and all you
need is love, our love..." (thanks,
Shadab!)
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Dream Academy |
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Life in a Northern Town: "He said 'In winter 1963 / It felt like
the world would freeze / With John F. Kennedy / And The Beatles'"
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| Gnarls
Barkley |
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Smiley Faces: The music video for this song features a cartoon
snippet of the duo, stylized to look like a scene from Yellow Submarine
and labeled as "Baron von Counterculture's Groovy Purple
Dirigible."
[entire
music video]
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Gryphon |
»
British progressive rock group Gryphon did a cover of Mother Nature's Son
on the 1975 album Raindance. (Thanks, Robert!)
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Klaatu |
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When the album was first released, a lot of people thought Klaatu's
self-named album was in disguise a Beatle's reunion album. There was some
dissension about this as the same folks were sure that Paul was still dead
at the time. (Thanks, Robert!)
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John Mayer |
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Split Screen Sadness: "'All you need is love' is a lie 'cause we
had love but we still said goodbye" (thanks,
Shadab!) |
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Ricky Nelson |
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Garden Party: "People came from miles around, everyone was there /
Yoko brought her walrus, there was magic in the air"
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Oasis |
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Supersonic: "Can I ride with you in your BMW? / You can sail with
me in my yellow submarine"
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Don't Look Back In Anger: "So I'll start the revolution from my bed
/ Cause you said the brains I had went to my head" (a reference to John's
Bed-In)
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D'You Know What I Mean?: "The fool on the hill and I feel fine /
Don't look back cause you know what you might see"
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My Big Mouth: "I got something in my shoe...it's keeping me from
walking / Down the long and winding road...back home to you"
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the song title Magic Pie on the album "Be Here Now" is a reference
to John's mythology regarding the naming of the Beatles (a man came to him
on a flaming pie, declaring that they would be The Beatles with an "a")
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Fade In-Out: "So get on the helter skelter / Bowl into the fray"
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Be Here Now: "Sing a song for me, one from 'Let It Be' / Open up
your eyes, get a grip on yourself inside"
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Take Me Away: "I'd like to be...under the sea..." (thanks,
Shadab!)
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What's the Story (Morning Glory)?: "another sunny afternoon dancing
to the sound of your favourite tune, tomorrow never knows what it doesn't
know too soon…" (thanks,
Shaun!)
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Pearl Jam |
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Love Boat Captain: "I know it’s already been sung, can’t be said
enough - love is all you need, all you need is love…" (singer and lyricist
Eddie Vedder is a huge Beatles fan) (thanks, Shaun!)
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Pink Floyd |
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Let There Be More Light: "Oh my, something in my eye / Something in
the sky / Waiting there for me / The outer lock rolled slowly back / the
servicemen were heard to sigh / For there revealed in glowing robes / Was
Lucy in the Sky"
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Tenacious D/Sum-41 |
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Things I Want (recorded in 2001 for a KROQ Christmas CD): "Hey
now Santa I'm writing to you / 'cause there's a lot of cool sh** I want /
I know I've been naughty but cut me some slack / 'cause there's a lot of
cool sh** I want. (...) / I want a see-through jumpsuit that fits me tight
/ I want all of the Beatles copyrights / I want to chop
Florida off the map / I want Pamela Anderson's speedo top." (thanks,
Susana!)
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Sandi Thom |
» The
Human Jukebox: "Scottish musician Sandi Thom has a song called 'The
Human Jukebox' and she mentions The Beatles: '...They get Kylie on a
Wednesday, the Stones on a Friday, bow to the Beatles on a Saturday night.
He's Dylan on a Monday and Bowie on a Sunday, does Elton on a Thursday if
you lend him your tights...'" (thanks,
Susana!)
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Shania Twain |
»
When: "Shania Twain mentions the Beatles on her song 'When' (from the
1998 album 'Come on Over'). The lyrics are: 'I'd love to wake up smiling
full of the joys of Spring, and hear on CNN that Elvis lives again, and
that John's back with the Beatles and they're going out on tour, I'll be
the first in line for tickets, gotta see that show for sure.'" (thanks,
Susana!)
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Eddie Vedder |
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Eddie covers "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" (featured on the I Am Sam
soundtrack).
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The Who |
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Seeker: "I asked Bobby Dylan / I
asked The Beatles / I asked Timothy Leary / But he couldn't help me
either" (thanks, Jack!)
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Frank Zappa |
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Joe's Garage: "...got matching suits and Beatles boots..." (thanks,
Shadab!) |
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TELEVISION
| Arrested
Development
|
» Season
1, Episode 11 ("Public Relations"): At the beginning of
GOB's Aztec Tomb illusion, "The Continuing Story of Bungalow
Bill" is being played. |
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CSI |
»
"Grissom is looking at a bug and Sarah asks him...
Sarah: What is it?
Grissom: It can be John or Paul
Sarah: An important beetle? (thanks,
Chester!)
» "There's also an episode where they are investigating the case
of a guy that was killed (I guess by his wife) and he had Paul's signature
on his White Album record." (thanks,
Chester!)
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Freaks and Geeks |
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In episode 12 ("The Garage Door"), Ken says to Amy (who is wearing a
marching band uniform): "Hey Sergeant Pepper...where's the rest of the
Lonely Hearts Club Band?"
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The Mary Tyler Moore Show
|
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In episode 17 of Season 1 ("Just A Lunch" - 1971), Mary eats lunch with a
famous news reporter and is asked for her autograph by one of the
reporter's fans. After she signs the fan's paper, she says, "I
shouldn't have done that." The reporter responds, "What's the
harm?", and Mary says, "I didn't want to disappoint him, so I wrote the
first thing that came into my mind - Ringo Starr. Mrs. Ringo Starr.
I didn't want her to spend the whole afternoon trying to figure out who
Mary Richards is."
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The Powerpuff Girls |
» "The
Powerpuff Girls episode 'Meet The Beat-Alls' which is reference after
reference to The Beatles and a must-see for all Beatles fans. The
references are visual, musical and in every last piece of dialogue. It's
quite fun to go through it and try to find every last reference."
(thanks, Sara! [www])
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The Simpsons |
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In Season 2, Ringo guest-starred. Marge had a crush on him when she
was younger and painted a portrait of him. Mr. Burns recalls the
Beatles' "off-key caterwauling on the Ed Sullivan Show."
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In Season 3, Homer sings the Spanish Flea song: "It was a little Spanish
flea / a record star they thought he'd be / he'd heard of singers like
Beatles / seen the Chipmunks sing on TV / it was a little Spanish flea."
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George guest-starred in Season 5, which featured Homer's old Barbershop
Quartet group, "The B Sharps." The B Sharps' album covers imitate
the Beatles'
album covers. They have a reunion on the roof of Moe's Tavern a
la the Beatles' rooftop concert.
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Paul & Linda guest-star in Season 7. Apu says he was the "fifth
Be-a-tle" (like in Help!).
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In one episode, Bart is "'freeing' some elderly people from the old folks
home, and the moment they make it out the door, the whole 'Can't Buy Me
Love' scene from A Hard Day's Night is imitated, music, frolicking
and all." (thanks,
Senki!)
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"Homer goes to the ophthalmologist and the doctor shows him a style of
glasses and says that those are very popular amongst celebrities like Val
Kilmer (Homer says "Oooh, my favourite Door"), and Yoko Ono (Homer says "Ew,
she ruined the Plastic Ono Band!") (thanks,
Susana!)
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In the episode "The Simpsons Behind the Laughter": "There was a scene that
showed a group of girls watching TV and screaming insanely to what was
being shown, and we could hear Twist And Shout on the TV. Then they
show the TV screen and it's actually Bart riding his skate!
Afterwards we see the girls are in the 'Hysteria Wing' of some hospital,
and a group of doctors comes with hoses and violently sprays them as if
the groupies were rioters." (thanks,
Susana!)
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"Bart and Milhouse go to Flanders' cellar accidentally and basically the
cellar is a Beatles sanctuary with tons of Beatles memorabilia. Then
Ned catches them and, since the kids were so surprised, Ned explains that
he's a huge Beatles fan and that back in the 60's they were 'bigger than
Jesus.'" (thanks,
Susana!)
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The Wonder Years |
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The title song is Joe Cocker's cover of "With A Little Help From My Friends"
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Kevin has the posters from the White Album hanging on his wall.
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The mini Paul-poster from the White Album is hanging in Kevin's locker in
junior high.
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In episode 33 ("Rock 'n Roll") of the 1st season (1988), Kevin joins a
band after having seen the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. |
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