Dec. 8, 11:07 pm E
I suppose something has to be said on this day. Every year at 11:07 pm Eastern I always sit down and listen to "Imagine", as over-played as it is, on a pair of trusty headphones and spend the time reflecting. John was murdered on this day in 1980, and was pronounced dead supposedly at 11:07 pm.*
The song is known the world over, and is perfect, right down to it's nearly-exact 3 minute length. I have to realize that despite the fact that this one song is all a lot of people have as a basis of knowledge of John and his complex personality (much like some people think all Jimi Hendrix ever did was burn his guitar and then later play the 'Star-Spangled Banner' at Woodstock) that this song is still an amazingly beautiful, simple statement. This ignorance of John's impact, and the over-use of this one song at the neglect of his other masterpieces, is really all down to the media.
John once said that this song was the same message as a lot of what he said on the Plastic Ono Band album (which was a very raw and often painful collection of songs written during Primal Scream therapy), but that he realized after it was poorly received, that he had to sugar coat the message for it to sell and hit people. He was a clever lad, indeed; this world requires a slight knowledge of marketing to get anything you need to say over to the mass public. John was a man who was not afraid to use this fame that was put upon him to use it to his advantage, and the world's advantage, by promoting peace and non-violent protest. Even through works like Plastic Ono Band, the most raw personal statement I have ever heard from any artist, he promotes not only committed monogamous love, but also introspection, psychoanalysis, and the healthiness of feeling one's own pain rather than running from it or keeping it at bay with drugs. The man had so much to say to those that would listen, but all the time he knew he was just one of us. His artistic drive, and the nature of all real artists to feel life more intensely than the most of us and to then share/reflect that with us, helps us to realize that we are not alone in our pain and our joys.
I vividly remember this time 23 years ago. I was five years old, and was sitting in the back of my parent's car as we drove through the neighborhoods to see the christmas lights all along the way to my grandma's house.This must have been the day after or weekend after, since the event did happen late an night. I remember hearing Imagine on the radio and other John songs, I think from Double Fantasy and inevitably some Beatles tunes. I knew vaguely who he was from seeing him on the couple of records my parents had. They weren't collectors or enthusiasts like I turned out to be, but I think it was somehow explained to me that this was a sad time because someone very important had died. I just remember having a strange, sad, yet calm wave come over me as I peered out of the half-window from next to the back seat of the 2-door car hearing "Imagine" on the radio, mixed with the coziness of the cold and the pretty lights.
23 years later I am a young man who has been touched by all the messages that this artist has given us. Now that I have a better understanding than the average person, or even average Beatles fanatic, I can see that he was also a very fragile person, with a lot of deep-rooted pain due to his childhood and the deaths that he witnessed at such young ages. I understand Julian's view of him as a man who was never prepared to be a father, always thinking of himself; a man who told the world how to Imagine peace and who went out into the media and stopped at nothing to get his peace message across, even if it made him look foolish and naive to the average Joe; all the while he wasn't able to be a father to his first child and a husband to his first wife, something that most ordinary men can do. In summation, John Lennon was a man of many inconsistencies, many faults, and many dualities; but, in the end he lived his life deliberately, not frightened of what anyone thought, and ultimately had a good heart buried beneath that defensive acerbic wit. John Lennon was human, but that didn't hold him back-that's why I love him.
Eric
*(11:07-yes those numbers do add up to 9, and he believed the number had significance in his life. His street address as a child was 9. he was born on October 9, 1940, and his son Sean was born 0n the same day October 9, 1975. He recorded a song called "Number 9 Dream", and during the Beatles had written "Revolution 9". He was murdered in New York on December 8th, which in Liverpool, where he was born, it was December 9th. Make of that what you will.)
The song is known the world over, and is perfect, right down to it's nearly-exact 3 minute length. I have to realize that despite the fact that this one song is all a lot of people have as a basis of knowledge of John and his complex personality (much like some people think all Jimi Hendrix ever did was burn his guitar and then later play the 'Star-Spangled Banner' at Woodstock) that this song is still an amazingly beautiful, simple statement. This ignorance of John's impact, and the over-use of this one song at the neglect of his other masterpieces, is really all down to the media.
John once said that this song was the same message as a lot of what he said on the Plastic Ono Band album (which was a very raw and often painful collection of songs written during Primal Scream therapy), but that he realized after it was poorly received, that he had to sugar coat the message for it to sell and hit people. He was a clever lad, indeed; this world requires a slight knowledge of marketing to get anything you need to say over to the mass public. John was a man who was not afraid to use this fame that was put upon him to use it to his advantage, and the world's advantage, by promoting peace and non-violent protest. Even through works like Plastic Ono Band, the most raw personal statement I have ever heard from any artist, he promotes not only committed monogamous love, but also introspection, psychoanalysis, and the healthiness of feeling one's own pain rather than running from it or keeping it at bay with drugs. The man had so much to say to those that would listen, but all the time he knew he was just one of us. His artistic drive, and the nature of all real artists to feel life more intensely than the most of us and to then share/reflect that with us, helps us to realize that we are not alone in our pain and our joys.
I vividly remember this time 23 years ago. I was five years old, and was sitting in the back of my parent's car as we drove through the neighborhoods to see the christmas lights all along the way to my grandma's house.This must have been the day after or weekend after, since the event did happen late an night. I remember hearing Imagine on the radio and other John songs, I think from Double Fantasy and inevitably some Beatles tunes. I knew vaguely who he was from seeing him on the couple of records my parents had. They weren't collectors or enthusiasts like I turned out to be, but I think it was somehow explained to me that this was a sad time because someone very important had died. I just remember having a strange, sad, yet calm wave come over me as I peered out of the half-window from next to the back seat of the 2-door car hearing "Imagine" on the radio, mixed with the coziness of the cold and the pretty lights.
23 years later I am a young man who has been touched by all the messages that this artist has given us. Now that I have a better understanding than the average person, or even average Beatles fanatic, I can see that he was also a very fragile person, with a lot of deep-rooted pain due to his childhood and the deaths that he witnessed at such young ages. I understand Julian's view of him as a man who was never prepared to be a father, always thinking of himself; a man who told the world how to Imagine peace and who went out into the media and stopped at nothing to get his peace message across, even if it made him look foolish and naive to the average Joe; all the while he wasn't able to be a father to his first child and a husband to his first wife, something that most ordinary men can do. In summation, John Lennon was a man of many inconsistencies, many faults, and many dualities; but, in the end he lived his life deliberately, not frightened of what anyone thought, and ultimately had a good heart buried beneath that defensive acerbic wit. John Lennon was human, but that didn't hold him back-that's why I love him.
Eric
*(11:07-yes those numbers do add up to 9, and he believed the number had significance in his life. His street address as a child was 9. he was born on October 9, 1940, and his son Sean was born 0n the same day October 9, 1975. He recorded a song called "Number 9 Dream", and during the Beatles had written "Revolution 9". He was murdered in New York on December 8th, which in Liverpool, where he was born, it was December 9th. Make of that what you will.)