Analyzing The Beatles’ Abbey Road as a site of memory
Perhaps the most iconic album cover in music history is the Beatles’ Abbey Road: it represents one of the most significant eras of rock n’ roll — an era in which the world was practically owned by the Beatles. Despite the fact that every teenage girl who was once lucky enough to see John Lennon play live is well into their elder years now, each generation that has followed knows who the Beatles were and are.
The photo of the fab four walking across Abbey Road remains a media artifact, and the crosswalk itself — or as the British call it, “zebra crossing” — is a pilgrimage site for not only the thousands of Beatlemaniacs and casual listeners that come each year, but also for the Beatles themselves: most notably, Paul, who revisited the crosswalk for the cover of his 1993 live album, Paul is Live, and more recently, in 2018 for the 50th anniversary of Abbey Road’s release. Though much more modern compared to what French historian Pierre Nora may have envisioned when defining lieux de mémoire in his text Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire, Abbey Road — the album, the place, and the legacy — is just that.
A large portion of Nora’s text explores the distinction between history and memory. In short, memory is untouched, unviolated, and is able to truly capture the experiences of the certain groups it directly involves, whereas history is merely an attempt to reconstruct and understand the past, and does not sincerely resonate with or belong to anyone.
Because most memories date so far back into the past, something is needed to remind everyone of their very existence, as “without commemorative vigilance, history would soon sweep them away.” There is a need for markings of the past to make us remember what once truly was. Nora coins the term “lieux de mémoire,” or sites of memory, which he defines as meaningful entities in which memories are captured and displayed in order to engage audiences and allow them to experience similar feelings and/or practice traditions from past eras.
Lieux de mémoire are not simple objects representing a dead past. They lie in a gray area between life and death, the past and the present. Each one is a moment in time, an idea of the past, often captured in a tangible object, and immortalized for future generations to observe and relive. It is this definition of the concept that solidifies the idea of Abbey Road as a site of memory. The Beatles do not strictly belong to the time period of their creations and activity. They are still constantly brought up in conversations about music, and more and more parts of their narrative are unveiled each day.
Just last year, a documentary nearly 500 minutes in length was released onto Disney+, revealing hours of never-before-seen footage that transformed the way fans understood the Beatles’ relationships and interactions during that time period. Suddenly, it became much clearer that Yoko acted more as a quiet presence in the studio, rather than some conniving she-devil determined to break the band up and that Paul was not the tyrannical control freak that got on everybody’s nerves, but instead the glue of the group, desperately trying to get the others to contribute song ideas for their upcoming album.
On January 28, 2022, a newly edited version of their iconic “Get Back” rooftop performance was released on music streaming services, and at the time of this essay’s creation, it already boasts millions of streams on Spotify alone. Every few years, new exclusive content is found, recovered, and distributed, demonstrating that the story of the Beatles is still evolving and ever-changing, capturing the interests of and resonating with a large, growing audience.
As the last album recorded by the Beatles (although Let It Be was technically released to the public a year later), Abbey Road is also often regarded as their most successful work, both musically and commercially. From “Something”’s iconic six-note guitar hook to every seamless transition between tracks on the B-side’s extensive medley, critics and listeners alike have praised the genius of the entire album since its release in 1969. Most can agree that every single track is memorable (the same cannot be said for the White Album or With the Beatles), and thinking retrospectively, it being the Beatles’ “grand finale” only further cements its place in rock n’ roll history.
The album cover itself is quite simple: George follows Paul who follows Ringo who follows John in a line, each pair of legs perfectly in an inverted v-shape, crossing Abbey Road. Each of them wears a suit except for George; each wears shoes, except for Paul (feeding into the absurd yet not uncommon conspiracy theory that Paul McCartney has actually been dead since 1966). The words “The Beatles” or “Abbey Road” are nowhere to be found on the cover, because after all, they are the Beatles; they need no introduction.
In the distant background, behind Paul’s head, are the gates of Abbey Road Studios, and one could argue that they are walking away from the building as if to symbolize their departure from this era of their lives (less than a year after the Abbey Road recording sessions, John Lennon would unofficially leave the group, with Paul following soon after). However, given their reputation of nonchalance and facetiousness, it is also very possible that the four chose the photo they did because it looked aesthetically pleasing and, in simple terms, pretty cool.
The Beatles must have known the effect their album cover would have on this humble road. In fact, they had originally planned to name the album Everest (after a brand of cigarettes one of their sound engineers smoked), but decided against it due to a lack of willingness to travel all the way to the hills of the Himalayas (Sheffield). Besides, Mount Everest was a historical site; as the highest altitude on the earth’s surface above sea level, the mountain already holds meaning for practically everyone. It represents the peak of human curiosity and grit — an obstacle explorers spent years attempting to overcome.
Abbey Road, however, was insignificant. That is until the Beatles gave it meaning to their fans, or whoever listened to or even saw the album.
What is interesting to consider is why Abbey Road is the place for a Beatles fan to visit, rather than the foursome’s hometown, Liverpool, or other noteworthy locations mentioned in their song titles and lyrics, that although widely known in popular culture, do not attract as large of a herd as the iconic crosswalk and studio do. Everybody is aware of Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane, but only the diehard, most dedicated Beatlemaniacs have these listed as travel destinations. If Abbey Road is a site of memory, then the other locations listed also ought to be categorized as such.
But when someone mentions “Abbey Road,” there is a long list of things they could be referring to. The album? The road? The crosswalk? The studio? The idea? Abbey Road, whatever definition it decides to take, remains inextricably linked with everything Beatles; there is no Abbey Road without the Beatles, and conversely, the Beatles are not the Beatles without Abbey Road. It is not merely a historical event or site; its meaning and essence transcend its physical location, and like other lieux de mémoire, it “is double: a site of excess closed upon itself, concentrated in its own name, but also forever open to the full range of its possible significations” (Nora).
The building at 3 Abbey Rd, Westminster, London was formerly named EMI Recording Studios until the mid-70s when the synonymous relationship between the album and the studio in which it was recorded was fully realized (Womack). It has hosted the sessions of a large range of influential artists such as Pink Floyd and Kate Bush; yet, rarely are those artists thought of as being associated with the Abbey Road Studios.
As Samantha Bennett writes in her paper, The history, mythology and the aura of Abbey Road Studios:
“Anyone who works or records there positions their life stories in an associative context; their relevance is validated by the famous recording studios and the most significant band to have recorded there. In other words, the recordists do not stand alone; their achievements only become relevant when situated in the larger context of Abbey Road Studios and the Beatles legacy.”
The studio — the birthplace of masterpieces like “Come Together” and “Here Comes the Sun” — has a feeling of mysticism and nostalgia permeating the air. It is a building full of memories of the Beatles creating together, where the yellow submarine continues to “live beneath the waves” (Brabazon). It acts as an intersection between “Yesterday” and today: the studio now regularly brings in up-and-coming musicians who hold enough talent as well as the potential to carry on the Beatles’ legacy into the present.
Most fans who visit Abbey Road do not enter the building, however, due to the high number of fees and connections it takes to obtain a formal tour of the place. The studio remains relatively pure and untouched on the inside, especially when compared to the wall that surrounds its exterior.
Littered across the wall’s white surface are hundreds of messages and images painted on, ranging from lyrics of “All You Need is Love” to paragraph-long declarations of love dedicated to George Harrison. The beautiful chaos on the wall is evidence of a certain unity amongst Beatles fans that is not truly represented at places such as Strawberry Fields or Penny Lane. Through the act of what is essentially vandalism, a community — the fandom — is brought together to honor the Beatles and create visual and symbolic connections between themselves and the 1960s.
Every month or so, a fresh coat of white paint is applied to the wall, seemingly erasing the work of hundreds of dedicated fans in order to accommodate the next batch of visitors. Fans, desperate to leave their mark on Beatles history, face a deep “struggle to write and be read” (Brabazon). However, the wall is able to capture their fleeting thoughts and “moments of consciousness,” and although not visible, everyone’s messages are physically bound to Abbey Road under layers and layers of paint. Thus, each fan that visits the wall is making a new contribution to the site, nurturing an environment that encourages future generations to do and feel the same.
Those who travel to Abbey Road have often been referred to as pilgrims, with the spot itself being referred to as a pilgrimage site. Many scholars have drawn parallels between fandom and religion; Brabazon writes:
“In Rome, Catholics first visit the Vatican, and Jews in Jerusalem go to the Wailing Wall and manic depressives in San Francisco head straight for the Golden Gate Bridge. But you, the true Beatlemaniac, must go straight to the Abbey Road crosswalk. Nowhere else is more sacred.”
It is important to distinguish the pilgrim from the tourist; while there are surely plenty of tourists who visit for the sole reason of obtaining a dash of Instagram clout, most do not go to Abbey Road to only take photographs and view the area. In addition to etching one’s own name into the wall, the even more important ritual is crossing Abbey Road like the Beatles once did on their album cover. Those who complete these rituals “share a certain worldview which bonds them together even when there are no other visitors present” (Bennett). As a site of memory, the crosswalk itself is the tangible element, whereas the practice of recreating the walk across is the intangible.
It is not necessary for one to have lived through the 1960s in order to feel the nostalgic effects of the Beatles’ discography. Similar to other lieux de mémoire, the music of the Abbey Road album has the unique ability to pluck us out of the present and drop us directly into Abbey Road Studios circa 1969, right between the bellows of Ringo’s bass drum and George’s haunting vocalizations.
The Beatles and the foundation they built for practically every band that followed them have resonated with fans of all ages, genders, and nationalities throughout the decades since their split, and no other site demonstrates the seamless bridge between present and past as well as Abbey Road. Each fresh coat of paint on the crosswalk and studio wall represents the celebration of their undying legacy by a new generation. The feelings visiting Abbey Road evokes vary from fan to fan, but these individual sentiments come together to form one collective memory — a continuously evolving memory of the Beatles and their impact on culture today.
Works Cited
Alan, Womack Kenneth Parsons. Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles. Cornell University Press, 2019.
Bennett, Samantha. “Behind the Magical Mystery Door: History, Mythology and the Aura of Abbey Road Studios.” Popular Music, vol. 35, no. 3, 2016, pp. 396–417., https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261143016000556.
Brabazon, Tara. “We’Re One Short for the Crossing: Abbey Road and Popular Memory.” Transformations, 2002, pp. 1–16.
Nora, Pierre. “Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire.” Representations, no. 26, University of California Press, 1989, pp. 7–24, https://doi.org/10.2307/2928520.
Sheffield, Rob. Dreaming the Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World. Dey St., an Imprint of William Morrow, 2018.
