Friday, October 9, 2009

John Lennon. (And during the playoffs too. Humpf.)








"I make it a point not to get involved with a woman when the World Series is about to start, but for you I'll make an exception" -Lou Landsky Mermaids






It's Friday night. Here it is, a nail-biting BoSox/ Angels playoff game #2. A tie-scored, 7th inning playoff game (I'm all about Angles btw, if you needed to know. In this game anyway. Dodgers are who I'm screaming the loudest for). I wasn't going to, but how could I not. I love John Lennon. I really do and I was thinking about it today. I've gone back and forth about favorite Beatles, each one getting a chance at "Bee's Knees"- well, okay, not Ringo, but the other three, and I've come to this conclusion. It's totally John. Don't tell anyone though,  because it's suppose to be Paul otherwise, what kind of fangirl would I be?!

Paul is the cute, charming one. George was the funniest. Ringo drummed and John... I don't know what to say about John Lennon. I guess he was the walrus. *cues rimshot*.

I guess what it boils down to is not what I love about them, but what I don't like. Paul is plastic. Paul is a Barbie. I love Paul heart and soul, but I get why people, like my hubby, can't stand him. I get it. He's a product, he's no longer a person. He's afraid to fail. He's afraid to let anyone see him fail, and when he divorced Voldemort, even then he tried to put on "The Face". And in not lettin' 'em see him sweat, he looks a fool. I blame Linda (sorry Linda). I do because at least when he was with Jane Asher, he was the Swingin' 60s. He was hip and with it.




Then Linda comes along and makes him go all goody-two-shoes and grow a mullet. And then he became "mullet Paul". And then John dies, and he feels he has to right some wrong about his public image,  trying to be "hip and with it Paul" which doesn't work when you've been out of the game on your farm in Scotland with a sycophant as your only meter of self. (Writing that just broke my heart. I'm really sorry Paulie. I totally love you!)



And as much as I love George and Ringo, they were and are (increasingly) bitter old men, respectively.






And the fact that overly optimistic Paul is now forever coupled with cranky pants, Ringo till death do them part makes me sad for them both.





It has to be worse for Paul because he seems to want so much for Ringo to like him now. It's weird. He's Ringo. But for Ringo, it must totally be annoying, you know? It wasn't always bad with them though....





So on to John. You could argue that John Lennon would be just as much a stereotype of himself had he not been gunned down nearly 29 years ago, but he never bought into himself the way that Paul has and though he was a bit bitter, it was never to the extent of George or Ringo. And John wouldn't do another paid concert once he stepped off the stage at Candlestick in August of 1966 (Paul's tickets go for thousands of dollars, I'm just sayin') AND Lennon is said to have been the only ex- Beatle to treat every fan that came up to him with respect. The Only One. Mr. Perfect McCartney, I've seen video on TMZ of him being rude to a fan. Mr. Righteous Harrison, I've totally heard of him being rude. Aaaaaaand Ringo...?



And though that fan respect most definitely lead to his becoming dead, you can't say that John Lennon didn't care. Now, it must suck to really have been a Beatle and I can't say that I wouldn't be rude. I'd bust  out all Ringo Starr on you, but that just proves my point about John even more. He was awesome, he'd invite crazy fans into his house for tea!

John was vulnerable and so much more than the other three. Well, more than George and Ringo, anyway. John just chose to say, "Yo, this is me. Suck it" and Paul, well, Paul didn't. John was angry, and drunk and funny and mean and sweet and all those things and he just was. So happy birthday Johnny. You're my fave. Right now.





2 comments:

Tom Degan said...

Nothing to do to save his life; call his wife in.

All he was saying was, "Give peace a chance".

When a celebrated person passes on, we may pause and reflect for a moment on his or her life and career, but then we move on. We may watch with appreciation the brilliant performance of a long dead James Dean in the film Giant and think not a thing about his absence from our lives. That's not the case in this instance.
`
I sure do miss John Lennon.
`
Before you cross the street
Take my hand
Life is what happens to you
While you're busy making other plans
`
Anyone who was living in Goshen, NY in December 1980 will remember this:

Six days after he died, on Saturday the fourteenth, a worldwide vigil in John's memory was held at 2 PM EST. For ten minutes there was silence - peace - all across the planet earth. I had a couple friends over to observe the event on television. In the village of Goshen, although it had been a clear and sunny day, the moment the vigil began at two o'clock, it began to snow - and not just flurries - for ten solid minutes there was a blinding blizzard. At exactly 2:10, the moment the vigil ended, the snow stopped and the sun came out. His child-like, 1971 anthem, Imagine, drifted through the ether:

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

It was only at that moment that I felt happy for John Lennon.

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

Amy said...

That's amazing! I never heard that about the snow at the vigil before. Thank you for that.