Last night I attended an event, at a theater here in Santa Barbara, commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the Beatles’ first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The entire CBS broadcast, including commercials (for Anacin and Pillsbury), was shown at the event. The original program aired live from New York City on Sunday, February 9, 1964, at 8:00 p.m., to an audience of 73 million viewers.

The night that John, Paul, George, and Ringo took the stage for the first time in America was also the night Paul’s son would be born, in Liverpool, England, where it was already the next day. These concurrent events inspired my song “Your Old Acoustic,” the first verse of which begins and ends: “You came the night all eyes were watching me… / But you could find me only on TV.”

During their two-week trip, the Beatles would also perform at the Washington Coliseum; Carnegie Hall; and the Deauville Beach Resort, in Miami Beach. While still on American soil, twenty-one-year-old Paul penned a song for his new son: “Beautiful Boy.” Reflecting on the circumstances of becoming a father exactly as the Beatles were striving to take their success to the next level, he wrote: “Life is what happens to you / While you’re busy making other plans.” In another lyric, “Out on the ocean, sailing away / I can hardly wait to see you come of age,” Paul refers to the Atlantic, the ocean that was separating him from his child at that moment.

Am I just making up a story? I might be. I am entirely capable of it. But in case I’m not: happy birthday, my son.