7.00pm, Wednesday 8 October
Friargate Quaker Meeting House
The extraordinary quality and enduring appeal of the Beatles’ songs has led Professor Campbell to seek the secret of their songwriting virtuosity. Musicologists have succeeded in identifying this in their music but what about the lyrics? Whereas the popular tendency is to focus on meaning, Professor Campbell’s original approach reveals the genius evident in the widespread use of rhetorical structures while also directing attention to their unique lyric legacy.
Colin Campbell was one of the first sociologists to join York University in 1964 in the new department of Politics and Sociology. He served as Head of Department for five years, and continues to enrich the community as an Emeritus Professor. Profoundly committed to tackling fundamental sociological questions, he eschews the traditional emphasis on specialization, being renowned for his work on religion, consumerism, cultural change and action theory. And not least, The Beatles. Here, he has fascinated audiences with his unique insights on the band’s lyrics and their general cultural impact.