Remembering John Lennon Thirty Years Ago! (1 Viewer)

[superchuck500]

Listened to Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) this morning and then saw this thread. Weird how things like that happen.

Anyway, that song is so different now that I'm a father. It's always been moving but now when I hear it, it's devastating. It' beautiful and tragic. John spent most of his life searching for love, meaning, and purpose. He finally found true happiness in being a father and that song reflects that.

Some people don't realize how physchologically damaged John was. It shows in his music, especially his solo work. Nobody sang with more conviction and emotion. Nobody was more believable. I remember listening to the album Plastic Ono Band for the first time and it gave me a feeling like I was listening to something I shouldn't be. It felt like I was listening to a therapy session. Few albums have that kind of raw emotion.

His childhood was forked up, emotionally at least. No two ways about it. Split up parents, dad offers him to come to New Zealand, but mom refuses. Then mom gives him to his aunt - so she's still around but doesn't want him. That's just so sad for a child to have to endure.

 

[saint_drago]

His childhood was forked up, emotionally at least. No two ways about it. Split up parents, dad offers him to come to New Zealand, but mom refuses. Then mom gives him to his aunt - so she's still around but doesn't want him. That's just so sad for a child to have to endure.

The song "Mother" on Plastic Ono Band really sums it up. Gives me chills every single time I hear it.

 

[superchuck500]

The song "Mother" on Plastic Ono Band really sums it up. Gives me chills every single time I hear it.

Yep. When he says "you had me . . . I never had you" it's just heartbreaking every time you hear it.

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Two songs that have been mentioned in the last few posts are both on the Imagine documentary soundtrack i mentioned earlier, along with another song that’s in a similar vein that i’ve always liked a lot called ‘God’.. In the chorus is a line that says ‘God is a concept, by which we measure our pain’ and I remember once in high school, a friend of my cousin’s was riding with us in my car when that song came on.. she was (possibly still is) very religious, and she heard that line, got really offended and threw a fit like i had never really seen before; i’ll never forget here yelling at me : “God ain’t no CONCEPT!!”

I guess John’s music isn’t really for everyone.

 

[superchuck500]

Two songs that have been mentioned in the last few posts are both on the Imagine documentary soundtrack i mentioned earlier, along with another song that’s in a similar vein that i’ve always liked a lot called ‘God’.. In the chorus is a line that says ‘God is a concept, by which we measure our pain’ and I remember once in high school, a friend of my cousin’s was riding with us in my car when that song came on.. she was (possibly still is) very religious, and she heard that line, got really offended and threw a fit like i had never really seen before; i’ll never forget here yelling at me : “God ain’t no CONCEPT!!”

I guess John’s music isn’t really for everyone.

God is a really cool song - it's sort of three parts. There's the first part that gets on you the hook with the provocative "God is a concept" thing. And then it moves into the sort of slamming piano part where he disavows all of these humanisms, and spirituralisms, but also his musical footing (Elvis - Dylan (Zimmerman) - and even the Beatles!) to declare that he "just believes" in himself (and Yoko of course). But the Beatles line then sets the context for the third/final part about the dream is over, which has additional Beatles references and closes with urging everyone to just carry on - but the dream is over.

The song begins as a musing on God and Lennon's relationship with spirituality but shifts to being his epilogue about the Beatles. The melody and vocals are quite beautiful at times in that song as well.

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

That said, if John and George were alive today (and in relatively good health) I would guess that the demand and price for a 'one time' Beatles Reunion Concert ticket would top anything that has ever happened in music history... even rivaling the Led Zeppelin 02 Reunion concert back in 2007!

There’s no doubt in my mind that this would have happened waaay before 2019.. matter of fact, i’d bet it would’ve happened around 25 yrs ago, in the early /mid 90s when the Eagles Hell Freezes Over tour and all that was going on (not saying the Eagles were on the Beatles level at all).. or maybe even in the 80s.. we’d have probably had at least a couple of reunions by now, a la Simon & Garfunkel, but on a larger scale.. i just cant get over how young John was when he died, only 40, and how early, just barely into the 1980s.

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

For anyone who thinks that there is even an iota of fairness in the world- Yoko Ono has now outlived Linda McCartney by a quarter century .. Explain that one !