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#Post#: 6211--------------------------------------------------
It was forty years ago today...
By: AJ Date: December 8, 2020, 10:18 pm
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....A scumbag lump of shit named Mark David Chapman murdered
John Winston Lennon. Just because he, Chapman, was NOT John
Lennon, and wanted to be.
Because of his wounded ego, and general failure to be a decent
human being, he murdered one of the icons of an era. May Chapman
die in prison.
John Lennon was no saint. He was a flawed man, who faced up to
and admitted his flaws. Not only in print, but recorded songs
cataloging his various self considered sins. He was incredibly
creative. Comfortable with a few instruments, I'd say. Though no
virtuoso at any. He had, I thought, a wonderful, sincere voice,
yet he hated the sound it himself. He wrote some of the most
inventive lyrics ever penned, IMHO. He laid down some, hell, a
lot of unforgettable guitar tracks and wrote some absolutely
amazing songs. A hella lot of 'em too.
I think the millennials will probably know him for two songs
though...Imagine...and Happy Christmas. I guess I'm
uncomfortable with his entire catalog being distilled down to
those two tracks...Strictly speaking of his solo work, but I
stand by what I said. They probably won't hear "Number Nine
dream" or "Instant Karma", or it won't imprint on them. "Give
Peace a Chance"? Maybe a few will latch on to that. "Power to
the People", "Woman is the Nigger of the World". They'll never
hear them. All they'll hear off his last album is "Starting
Over". They won't hear "Cleanup Time" or "Beautiful Boy", or
"Watching the Wheels".
They'll hear Beatles tunes though. And all those gems he and the
rest of them made together. And that is satisfying for me. The
chemistry they had together was a wonderous thing. It took all
of them to put that stuff together. John's acid and Paul's
saccharin. Ringo's drumming, while not explosive, always served
the songs...Perfectly. George providing the flourishes needed to
give that extra bit of grit...While he methodically honed his
own sound and songs, until at Abbey Road...Where with
"Something" and "Here comes the sun", he showed the world his
own genius.
I could write about the Beatles and Lennon for hours. Today, on
the forty year anniversary of his death...I'm just sad, and
taken back to that night...Where I was sitting alone, watching
Monday night football...And got the news from Howard Cosell...of
all people.
I called my closest buddy at the time...He was watching football
too....of course. Well shit...We're Texas boys...we love our
rock n roll but we love football too! He was as speechless as I
was. We both kept saying the same thing..."I can't believe
it!'...."Why?"....It was shattering....
It still is. I mean...I wasn't bowled over by John's solo work.
I thought Macca's initial efforts, where he recorded everything
himself, was more interesting, and Harrison's more ambitious.
Ringo's was pure fun. But still, Lennon's place in my heart was
cemented by all his work and by his irrepressible personality.
By 1980, I'd moved on musically, anyway. From Southern Rock to
Fusion, to rediscovering blues, roots rock, and thinking country
rock wasn't all that weird after all. Punk music started
influencing everything, bands like the Talking Heads, the
Cars....I was all over the place musically. But The
Beatles...And what I considered their GodHead in Lennon, were
never far from me musically...Perhaps at my very core. I think
maybe still.
It's been forty years ago today. :'(
#Post#: 6213--------------------------------------------------
Re: It was forty years ago today...
By: guest13 Date: December 9, 2020, 2:31 am
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What a well-written post! Bravo, Jim. You nailed it.
Thank you for not trying to deify him, as I've seen so many
times. He was a bit of an asshole at times, actually. That's
spelled H-U-M-A-N.
There's no questioning his creativity and significance, both as
a solo artist and as a moving force behind/among a band that
changed the world. We know, we were there!
On that fateful day, I was a newly married and newly promoted
Petty Officer Third Class stationed at Great Lakes Naval
Training Command (N. Chicago), just finishing Electronics
Technician "A" school (that's where I got my degree). Very
shortly after, I was ordered to Lowry AFB in Denver to attend
Metrology "C" school. My then-wife got out of the USAF and met
me there. We attended a memorial service for Lennon at Red
Rocks, one of the most amazing venues I have experienced (saw
the Doobies there too).
Again, you posted a good one here, old son.
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