Sunday, October 09, 2005

Doin' The "Mind Guerilla"



(Don't worry...I don't know exactly what that means either - I'm just guessing.)

I, like millions of other people I’m sure, have often wondered what John Lennon would be like today had he lived into old(er) age, with today marking what would have been his 65th birthday. Would he have been some paunchy geezer with a flag bandana wrapped around his head attending peace rallies or World Trade Organization demonstrations somewhere, or would he have become a pragmatic broker of alliances between business and government leaders and entertainment industry types of behalf of worthy causes (maybe doing what Bono does today, possibly with him)? Or would he have just become a recluse altogether, or even run off with May Pang? We’ll never know, of course.

One thing I will say is that Lennon frequently re-invented himself in his career and his life when it suited his purposes, and I think the world was better for it. How it affected his personal and family life is an entirely different matter, though, and that’s a reason why I’m glad to see that Cynthia Lennon has written a book about him that apparently says what she truly wanted to say (she wrote a book in the 70s which, to my knowledge, wasn’t censored, but it was made clear to her from Yoko Ono and John that some subjects were off limits).

Lennon did make charitable contributions and donate his time in the 70s (as he did in an appearance in Philadelphia for a Variety Club Telethon in 1975, which was captured in the photo). However, I thought this column, which contained an excerpt from a two-part interview Lennon gave to Playboy Magazine published after his death (the interviews were excellent, by the way, and got into all kinds of stuff related primarily to the Beatle songs) was a bit revealing about his attitude towards charities in general. I can appreciate how Lennon would feel because, after he achieved his fame, he and the other Beatles probably ended up facing people left and right with the hand out “putting the bite on them,” and a long, LONG time ago, those four guys were destitute also.

(I know the column starts off with conservative hack Jonah Goldberg trashing “Live 8,” and I apologize for that. I suppose, for some people, there is NOTHING in this world, no matter how good or well intentioned, that cannot be held up for ridicule somehow.)

This link takes you to a review of Yoko Ono’s Broadway musical about Lennon (the title of the review is a hoot), which I’m sure has closed already…I’d be truly surprised if it were still running (all of mankind can breathe a sigh of relief).

I’m not saying Lennon shouldn't be commemorated. I’m just saying that he shouldn’t be deified. I think he was, in many ways, a regular, well-intentioned guy with some problems who just happened to be one of the greatest poets and musicians who ever lived. And I think “Instant Karma” should be the national anthem, so there!

One more note in a related vein: apparently, J.D. Mullane wrote a column in the Bucks County Courier Times today trashing the '60s. I’ll do my best to avoid it.

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