The Beatles may have been on to something when they wrote Eight Days a Week. The passionate lover in the song won’t be satisfied by anything less than absolute commitment – ‘eight days a week.’ And why not? Think how much more we’d get done if the astronomers who decided that 7 spins of the earth should represent a week had chosen 8 instead. Think of all those 3-day weekends. Think of all the times the boss has said: I want this done in a week. Eight-day weeks would give you a whole extra day.

Number 7 swaggers around with David Beckham in a Man U shirt, its Samurai and Wonders of the World. It’s always selling itself as being lucky. But is it? According to the Roman philosopher Seneca, luck is preparation meeting opportunity. Not the covert blessing of unknown Gods on magic-worshipping mortals. Luck comes from taking chances and seeing opportunities; a combination of intuition and positive thinking.

Number 3 proudly boasts of the Trinity, but has a mixed reputation beyond that. In the fairground we say third time lucky while throwing bean bags at cans to win a stuffed panda that no one ever wins. Soldiers are famously superstitious about being the third to light a cigarette from the same match. It takes the sniper three seconds to get his eye in.

For all the loyalty heaped on 7 and 3 as bearers of good fortune, number 8 gets a lot of respect from the religions. The Buddha reached Nirvana on the 8-fold path. Hindus have 8 spokes in the wheel of dharma. Mohammed was carried to heaven by 8 angels. Christians see the 8 as the symbol of what lies beyond time; drop 8 on its side and you have infinity.

The Chinese revere the number 8 for onomatopoeic reasons. In Mandarin, 8 has the same sound as the word ‘prosper’ and people figure if they say it often enough it will come to pass. And maybe it has.

In numerology, 8 represents harvest, reward, abundance: the bearing of fruit from your labours. Note: your labours, that is preparation, as we know from Seneca. In astrology, the 8th House governs sex, death, transformation, and ‘things you have no control over,’ (ie: luck). The funniest call in bingo is two fat ladies – 88; the 8-ball rules the pool table, and you can divide a cake nicely into 8 pieces, not 7 or 3.

To return to the Beatles, there were four, half of eight. Paul McCartney told Playboy in an interview in 1984 that Ringo Starr once told him about a sleepy driver who had complained that he was working ‘eight days a week,’ which became the title of one of the Beatles’ biggest hits. Ringo was fond of malapropisms and also inspired the quirky titles Tomorrow Never Knows and A Hard Day’s Night.

There will never be another group like the Beatles. John Lennon brought the band a blend of fury and genius. Paul McCartney has virtuosity and soul. George Harrison was the beating heart. Ringo Starr provided the magic.  His nostalgia album Liverpool 8, released in 2008, was a critical and sales success, a Beatles album without the other Beatles. Was it all down to lucky 8? Or did Ringo labour in the studio eight days a week?

Would you prefer an eight days a week world? Leave links with comments.

#mc_embed_signup{background:clear; clear:left; font:10px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; }
/* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.
We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */



Add Your Name to the Mailing List for occasional Updates - Chloe
* indicates required

Email Address *









'+msg+'

The post Does Ringo Starr Works Eight Days a Week? appeared first on Chloe Thurlow.