"What they want is dead heroes, like Sid Vicious and James Dean. I'm not interested in being a dead (expletive) hero. .. So forget 'em, forget 'em." - John Lennon
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I'm pleased something heretofore unpublished from Lennon has now come to light. Rolling Stone came across tapes from John's final interview, which will be in print on newsstands Friday. 'Leaks' from the tapes have circulated media outlets all day. (Story here) I was favorably impressed. Thirty years ago tonight Lennon was gunned down outside the Dakota in Manhattan. Many, many remembered him there today.
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May his soul find mercy and love and eternal rest forever.
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Photo: Outside the Dakota the night John died.
What a confused soul he was. Amen.
ReplyDeleteMercury, you've got a way with words!
ReplyDeleteI remember my mother loving the song "imagine". She was a religious conservative but grew up in the city and lived through the depression and so she had a streak of social justice in her that would take her a bit off the trajectory from time to time.
She would sing the song and say how much she loved it and I would tease her about the nutty lyrics and John and Yoko naked in bed, toking a tookie or two.
crazy times.
May he rest in peace..
ReplyDeleteMy mom also likes "Imagine."
Sara
Not to knock anyone's moms, but I think "Imagine" is about the worst and most depressing song he did. The direct opposite of Christian Hope. Why can't it be "Watching the Wheels" that he's famous for?
ReplyDeleteOr "#9 Dream"?
ReplyDeleteTerry, you should post the video of Lennon calling out the overpopulation myth for the bunk that he thought it was.
+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, Terry, you remind me very much of Lennon. I bet I could make the perfect soundtrack for your blog using only his songs--including Imagine.
Mercury, Whattsa matta yoy?
ReplyDeleteCan't. IMAGINE the perfection and peace of a world without heaven or religion?
Haha, Carol, no, I can't IMAGINE it. Mark Shea wrote a great piece on why the song is bunk, but I can't find it for the life of me.
ReplyDeleteBesides all that, it's just simply not his best work, but maybe not his worst (Yoko doesn't sing on it).
OMIGOSH! I'm your parents!
ReplyDeleteAnyway - I think there was more to him than we 'Imagine' - (sorry) - I believe his honesty meant that he was working through everything in his life - that he was continuing to grow. Like many songwriters and artists - he documented everything - hence some of his lyrics. (Like anything in writing - especially today online - these things hang around forever.) I was pleasantly surprised that he seemed at peace right before he died - genuinely convinced and open to a spiritual reality of something greater than himself perhaps.
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As we know, some mystics say there is that moment after death when mercy is offered to the soul. It seems to me John may have been disposed to accept that.
He wasn't my favorite - McCartney's music appealed to me more.
If he would have lived, he would most likely continued to have troubles with sobriety and infidelity, and God knows what. I'm sure he would stand by his lyrics as he aged, so as not to disappoint the fantasies of his fans. I'm afraid he would have become little more than the socialite Yoko has become... he was close to that at death. Death came at the right time I think - when he was most spiritually alive. Socialite life and celebrity - real or imagined - has a way of petrifying the soul, I think - like an anticipation of hell. I'm convinced it happens to most narcisists.
May God have mercy on us all.
BTW - I think Lennon and McCartney were only genius in relationship to one another.
I feel the same way about Elvis and Judy Garland and all the other big music stars who died relatively early - that maybe they were taken before they became rigid caricatures of themselves.
ReplyDeleteI have often wondered if Elvis were alive today, if he would be an elderly joke of a musician struggling desperately to still look relevant. Like the Rolling Stones, etc. Not to mention McCartney.
Charlotte - I think Elvis might have ended up like that... a heavy Liberace.
ReplyDeleteTerry...were you at those three days at Woodstock?
ReplyDeleteAll we need to do is look at Michael Jackson. Imagine how much better his reputation would be if he had died after "Thriller" or something.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about John Lennon above, Terry. And I think the GENIUS was limited to Lennon/McCartney, though they were both good musicians on their own. Although - did you know the White Album is more or less a collection of solo projects?
As far as the Beatles go, though, I am always a George Harrison fan - he had such a tenderness in his personality that Lennon and McCartney lacked, even very early on. His choice of religion seems "off" - I think he would have made a great Christian. Pray for Mercy for him, too.
Poor Ringo. No one cares.
Carol - amazingly not - I was relatively normal at that exact time - it was after Woodstock that I really 'turned on' - up to that point I used to think - about my friends - 'get a job'... And then... and then... LOL! So glad those days came to an end. Our Lady intervened and nothing has ever been the same since.
ReplyDeleteMercury - poor Ringo wasn't as bright - God takes care of babies and fools. George was very spiritual - I hope he wasn't closed to truth. Hopefully Paul can die a Catholic.
ReplyDeleteIsn't Paul a baptized Catholic?
ReplyDeleteAnd does he do much more than make dumb comments at the White House these days?