The Beatles *were* prophets

On the way out of the office tonight, I tossed a quip at Darryl in reference to how much “The Beatles” shaped the music of the late 20th century.

“The Beatles aren’t only the foundation of rock and roll,” I said. “They’re the first three stories. I listened to “Let it Be” three times this afternoon and it sounds like it could have been released two weeks ago – its still fresh. It also underscores how lame Oasis were.”

“…and Blur,” chimed in Joey.

“…furthermore,” I continued. “The only real contribution that Elvis made to popular music is that he got The Beatles interested in being a band.”

John, Paul, George and Ringo definitely had more going for themselves than Elvis ever did. It still blows me away how big of a contribution they made to our culture in the space of nine years. Hell, Duran Duran has been toiling away for almost thirty years and their cumulative cultural and artistic contribution isn’t equivalent to any single track that The Beatles laid down on “Rubber Soul” (which was written, recorded and released over something like a 6 week period).

Anyways, I do have a point.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney need some credit for the success of RSS.

Dave Winer is “widely hailed” as “the father of RSS”. But this is where it ends. No one seems to question the source of  Dave’s inspiration. Every artist has one – even Simon Le Bon.

I’m convinced that The Beatles are Dave Winer’s muse.

Let me explain.

Its no secret that Dave is a fan of The Beatles. A big fan according to Google. My theory is that hidden messages (okay, maybe not *that* hidden) in Beatles songs made Dave do the RSS thing.

I was listening to “I Dig A Pony” on the way home tonight and I caught this little snippet hiding in the lyrics…

“You can syndicate any boat you row. I told you so.”

Wow.

Not only were these guys rock gods, but they had the technical insight to realize that XML is useful for syndicating text, *and* “…any boat you row”.

This so totally explains enclosures.

I always thought that this was something that Adam and Dave dreamt up – pshaw. Lennon and McCartney were clearly saying that RSS can be used to syndicate any binary element.

This is earth shattering stuff. I wonder if Steve Gillmor could get Paul or Ringo to do a spot on The Gillmor Gang. I know they are on hiatus, but it would be totally cool if they could get Ringo to square off with Udell. That would be bigger than The Beatles getting back together. Or Duran Duran for that matter.

So I guess that would mean that what Elvis is to The Beatles, The Beatles are to Dave Winer.

They got Dave Winer interested in syndication.

RSS isn’t only the foundation of popular syndication, its the first three stories.