The Shneatles – One Performance Only

My brother Jim has always loved The Beatles. Growing up, he refused to go to kindergarten until he’d listened multiple times to “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” on our father’s reel-to-reel tape machine. As an adult, Jim has read, watched and listened to every skerrick of information about The Beatles, and I think there is nothing about them he doesn’t know. When he became a father, he put together his favourite Beatles tracks to soothe his little boy Nik to sleep.

As the youngest of five kids, Jim was never given a birthday party, and so when he decided to have a party for his 65th birthday – his first ever – it was a big deal. I wanted to do something special for him, and that naturally had to include a Beatles song. My three Shnookal siblings were enthusiastic and so The Shneatles were born. Together we changed the lyrics of a song, amazingly without any squabbling, and along with a fifth Shneatle on guitar, Jim’s son Nik, we even managed to cram in a couple of secret rehearsals.

The party was packed, with family and friends even arriving from interstate. It was a wonderful celebration of Jim. After the speeches were done, the Shneatles came on and in true Sgt Pepper style, everyone at the party joined in. So we sang our song to Jim, with the chorus line “Do you still need us? Do you still love us? Now You’re Sixty-Five!”

And I’m very glad to report that Jim responded at the end of our song with a resounding “yes”!