Monday, July 2, 2007

What Sqt. Pepper was to the Beatles -- a magnum opus

magnum opus (MAG-num OH-puhs) noun (plural magnum opuses or magna opera)
A great work of literature, music, art, etc., especially the finest work of an individual.

[From Latin magnum, neuter of magnus (large), opus (work).]

"Bespectacled, bearded and balding, Mr. Chkhartishvili is faintly ill at ease about fame. For years, he earned his living translating Japanese literature and working on what he still considers his magnum opus, a gloomy book entitled The Writer and Suicide. His idea of a goodtime is to stroll around a cemetery."
-- Guy Chazan; Roll Over, Dostoyevsky: Serious Russian Writers Reinvent the Thriller; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Feb 25, 2002.

Of course, it was 50 years ago today-- actually yesterday--that Paul met John at the St. Peter's Church fair in Liverpool. Click here for a story about Liverpool marking the day. Quiz: what song did Paul play for John to show him that me might be a good addition to the Quarrymen?


A: Eddie Cochran's "Twenty Flight Rock" (last line-- "Get to the top, I'm too tired to rock.")

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