All Those Years Ago
December 7 and 8 mark two days of infamy in the 20th century. The attack on Pearl Harbor and the murder of John Lennon. While one event was clearly more significant in its scope and consequences, the other left an indelible imprint on many people's lives. I can't do the Pearl Harbor experience justice, so I'll talk a bit about Lennon.
Among the four Beatles, I think of George Harrison as probably the most impressive as a human being, but John Lennon was, by far, the most interesting among them. He was also the most human in many ways. He was intensely thoughtful, but with childlike impishness. His life and music were both erratic, and yet produced more brilliance than anybody could aspire to in a full lifetime. He took a stand against the Vietnam War, and got a special file at Nixon's FBI. This was a man who was kicked out of the house by Yoko Ono and basically wandered the streets of New York for a year. Then they got back together, and he abandoned his music career for almost five years to be a stay-at-home dad. And in between it all, he produced some of the most memorable music ever. And that doesn't even include his years with the Beatles, when he was the one who pushed the envelope (am I the only person who likes Revolution 9?) and inspired the others to do the same.
Lennon was killed just before my 13th birthday. He had just released his first album in five years, so I have no recollections of him as a living performer and can't say that his death left any impression on me at the time. But many others regarded the event as cataclysmic, not just the violent death of a pop star. Some have opined that the reason the death of Lennon was taken so hard is that it marked an official end to the idealism of the 60's, and a wake-up call for the baby boomer generation. Instant karma hit them right in the face. I believe there's something to that. There's also the sad irony of somebody who sang bout the virtues of peace and love meeting a violent end. But a lot of it was people coming to grips with their own mortality. Those who grew up with the Beatles could feel young and invulnerable no more. Could it also have been John's prescient lyrics? "The way things are going, they're gonna crucify me." (The Ballad of John and Yoko) "Shoot me." (Come Together)
John Lennon was a fallible homo sapien who contributed mightily to the culture of his time, and whose work will surely be enjoyed for centuries. He wanted to help create a better world, and he did make many people's worlds a little bit richer. Maybe he has found his own peace as well. Imagine.
UPDATE: Here's a piece that expresses these thoughts much better than I could ever hope to.
Among the four Beatles, I think of George Harrison as probably the most impressive as a human being, but John Lennon was, by far, the most interesting among them. He was also the most human in many ways. He was intensely thoughtful, but with childlike impishness. His life and music were both erratic, and yet produced more brilliance than anybody could aspire to in a full lifetime. He took a stand against the Vietnam War, and got a special file at Nixon's FBI. This was a man who was kicked out of the house by Yoko Ono and basically wandered the streets of New York for a year. Then they got back together, and he abandoned his music career for almost five years to be a stay-at-home dad. And in between it all, he produced some of the most memorable music ever. And that doesn't even include his years with the Beatles, when he was the one who pushed the envelope (am I the only person who likes Revolution 9?) and inspired the others to do the same.
Lennon was killed just before my 13th birthday. He had just released his first album in five years, so I have no recollections of him as a living performer and can't say that his death left any impression on me at the time. But many others regarded the event as cataclysmic, not just the violent death of a pop star. Some have opined that the reason the death of Lennon was taken so hard is that it marked an official end to the idealism of the 60's, and a wake-up call for the baby boomer generation. Instant karma hit them right in the face. I believe there's something to that. There's also the sad irony of somebody who sang bout the virtues of peace and love meeting a violent end. But a lot of it was people coming to grips with their own mortality. Those who grew up with the Beatles could feel young and invulnerable no more. Could it also have been John's prescient lyrics? "The way things are going, they're gonna crucify me." (The Ballad of John and Yoko) "Shoot me." (Come Together)
John Lennon was a fallible homo sapien who contributed mightily to the culture of his time, and whose work will surely be enjoyed for centuries. He wanted to help create a better world, and he did make many people's worlds a little bit richer. Maybe he has found his own peace as well. Imagine.
UPDATE: Here's a piece that expresses these thoughts much better than I could ever hope to.
posted by Jaymeister at 12/07/2005 10:26:00 p.m.
2 Comments:
Jay... very well put. I share your sentiments and miss Lennon terribly.
Aside from his obvious artistic talents, I think people should appreciate John for his courage.
He was not afraid to take a stand and speak out against war and injustice. He was ahead of the curve on everything - not a lemming, like most people today.
For those who don't think an artist should comment on politics and war, I give you this quote from Picasso after the Nazi bombing of Guernica, Spain:
"What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has only eyes, if he is a painter, or ears if he is a musician, or a lyre in every chamber of his heart if he is a poet, or even, if he is a boxer, just his muscles? Far from it: at the same time, he is also a political being, constantly aware of the heartbreaking, passionate, or delightful things that happen in the world, shaping himself completely in their image. How could it be possible to feel no interest in other people, and with a cool indifference to detach yourself from the very life which they bring to you so abundantly? No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war."
I like that Picasso quote. I think that Lennon realized the social responsibility that comes with being an aritst, where his bandmates (particularly Paul) tried to stay in a safe comfort zone. But Lennon was also all over the map when it came to his passions and compulsions. At the end of his life he was in a period of domestic contentment, and not very politically active. We can only speculate on how influential a voice he might have been in the 80's, and especially in the current political climate.
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