fett on 10/10/2010 at 03:44
Ya know, from watching the Anthology DVD's, the other three guys really seem like everything was fine between them and John before he died. George and Ringo played on several of his albums, and also on some of Paul's, though John and Paul had the most bitterness toward one another for the longest time. But in the end, John even mentioned in an interview that he would like to do something with the other three again, now that they weren't "boys" anymore and had their shit more together. I don't think John hated them, more like he was just very cautious about starting rumors of a reunion that likely wouldn't happen. Even Paul and Ono have recently been very civil to each other, working together on the Rock Band project and the Love show by Circe de Sole (sp?). In the end, the love you take...
Mr.Duck on 10/10/2010 at 06:24
*Nods and sits in silence, listening to some more Beatles' music*
Fingernail on 10/10/2010 at 11:09
Quote Posted by Dia
I loved Lennon's somewhat twisted sense of humor: he was writing Monty Python-esque stuff before M. Python ever appeared on BBC. His book, 'In His Own Write', still makes me laugh.
.:Good Dog Nigel:.
Arf, arf, he goes, a merry sight,
Our little hairy friend,
Arf, arf, upon the lampost bright
Arfing round the bend.
Nice dog! Goo boy,
Waggie tail and beg,
Clever Nigel, jump for joy
Because we're putting you to sleep at three of the clock, Nigel.Perhaps pre-Python but it's clearly heavily influenced by Spike Milligan and the Goon Show (1951 onwards), as was Python.
Queue on 10/10/2010 at 15:26
People say I'm crazy doing what I'm doing,
Well they give me all kinds of warnings to save me from ruin,
When I say that I'm o.k. they look at me kind of strange,
Surely your not happy now you no longer play the game,
People say I'm lazy dreaming my life away,
Well they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me,
When I tell that I'm doing Fine watching shadows on the wall,
Don't you miss the big time boy you're no longer on the ball?
I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round,
I really love to watch them roll,
No longer riding on the merry-go-round,
I just had to let it go....
Inline Image:
http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/sad/sad0019.gifInline Image:
http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/sad/sad0017.gifGingerbread Man on 10/10/2010 at 15:50
Quote Posted by Fingernail
Perhaps pre-Python but it's clearly heavily influenced by Spike Milligan and the Goon Show (1951 onwards), as was Python.
Yes. Thank you.
Also today's unpopular but nonetheless true thought: I wish he had never written that frikkin tune given what we've turned it into. I've never really liked "Imagine" - to me it's an all-too maudlin hippie dirge that might as well be made into a Honda commercial.
Maybe it's just me. But when Lennon was shot my teacher wouldn't shut up about the song. It was on th PA in the mornings, in the assemblies, we had to write what it meant to us etc etc
Fuck that shit. Here I am grown the fuck UP on Blue Jay Way and Whatever Gets You Through The Night, and Steel and Glass. You want to talk about Lennon's political relevance, teach? How about Woman Is The Nigger Of The World? Retards. Stop playing that bullshit tune, I'm more sick of Imagine than I am of Jingle Bells, ffs.
/bitchy
fett on 10/10/2010 at 16:04
No, you're exactly right. It's a nice thought, but I appreciated John more for the snarky stuff like It's Getting Better ("it can't get no worse"), Everybody's Got Something to Hide, and Dr. Roberts ("well, well, well, you're feeling fine"). Great hope mixed with realistic pessimism, which in the end is why people related so well to the Beatles later works, more than Paul's silly love songs, or George's karmic utopia. I like to think of John as an optimistic skeptic, and to me, that's exactly what makes him so iconic.
p.s. He was also a stay at home dad, and those guys kick ass.
Gingerbread Man on 10/10/2010 at 16:12
A lot of it is my own personal take on the world, I'm sure. Not that my worldview wasn't strongly shaped by the socio-political music I grew up listening to, but I think I met it halfway. I have an extreme (sometimes debilitating) affinity for Justice with a big J in the world, have done since I was a baby apparently, and so weedy little songs about "wouldn't it be nice" always feel like a weak, moist hippy with pasty skin and not very much conviction is tugging gently on my sleeve and hoping I'll smile at his pie-in-the-sky.
I contend that WE did that to Imagine for the most part.
But even as a child (and remember that I was, for some reason, very uncomfortable with "hard" music) I skipped the needle over certain songs, heading for Cold Turkey or #9 Dream. Lennon's weirder and rougher stuff, in stark contrast to The Beatles (well... mostly contrast) really appealed for some reason. Like the box of Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the video store. Um. I don't know what this paragraph wants to say.
Mostly I despise the weakness in people who focus on Imagine and refuse to listen to the far more savage, real, and relevant Lennon-rants like Woman Is The Nigger Of The World. Which I actually know was the very first socially-relevant song that managed to make me think something, feel something, and be fucking infuriated about something.
Edit: Man, I'm getting a little worked UP about this shit, aren't I? :D
Queue on 10/10/2010 at 16:12
It was, for the time, the anthem of the liberal-minded and the counter-culture, and the song deeply effective those of such mindsets in a world in which their "hippie" values were quickly dissolving.
And now their icon had been killed.
Ironically, Jingle Bells was written by an abolitionist poet--the John Lennon of his time. Or just some dink in a ratty beard, depending on how you view it.
Regardless of all this, you have to admit that the universe took the wrong two Beatles first. Did humanity really need Ringo? And Paul without John has led to Wings and prancing around like a aged cock-smoker strumming a mandolin.
P.S. Hey! I'm a stay at home dad, fett! More-or-less. I'm home, and the kids are around here somewhere....
june gloom on 10/10/2010 at 17:15
Every time someone asks me who my favourite Beatle is, I always answer with "Bob Dylan."
I just never connected with the Beatles' music. I don't hate it or anything- I reserve that for the Rolling Stones- but nothing in their music has ever triggered my give-a-damn.
I feel a little guilty about it.
uncadonego on 10/10/2010 at 17:21
I don't dislike Imagine that much, but I agree WITNOTW is way more relevant. Even We're All Water says more than Imagine. There may not be must difference between Chairman Mao and Richard Nixon if we strip them naked is a lot harder to sing back then without getting the deportation thing started than "and the world will live as one". Give Me Some Truth off the imagine album sounds fed up to here though, so I agree with others that Imagine was likely written with the "too bad this will never happen" attitude.
A lot of what Lennon wrote was naive. free all prisoners in the towers, free all prisoners everywhere. All they want is truth and justice, all they need is love and care. Yoko doesn't want Chapman freed, do you? Lennon once said that if he could make an album everyday and release it as it was, you'd know the artist better. He also said there isn't anything he wouldn't go back and re-do. The guy was full of impulses and contradictions like everyone else. That's one reason why everyone could identify. He didn't "Hollywood Gloss" over his humanity.
