My thoughts on John Lennon - long yap

[johnnie]

I still have a little news clipping from the paper that says something like “A man believed to be ex-Beatle John Lennon was shot outside the Dakota in New York last night. His condition is unknown”. Things sure have changed in the last 26 years. Today we would have known about it before the cops even got there, but it wasn’t like that then.

I heard about John’s death the next morning when I woke for school. My radio alarm went off and as I looked up, my older sister was at the foot of my bed looking at me like someone just died. I remember the music coming out of the clock radio was Beatles and my sister saying something about John Lennon being shot. It was a blur because everything was a blur for me at that age. I was sitting up in bed trying to get over the few hours of sleep I was lucky to have, then the voice on the radio echoed what my sister had just told me. Funny, “Shaved Fish” (A John Lennon greatest hits album) was still on my record player from the night before.

The next thing I remember is dropping some tabs and a lot of us sat out in the smoking lounge at school most of the day with the radio on. There were candles being lit out there, like usual there were some guitars being played and everyone seemed to be a bit more somber than normal. I remember going to my science class though. It was a jack off class for people who didn’t like going to school. The teacher was pretty cool and when I walked into the classroom, he looked at me and just said “I know”. He had the radio on and told us to do whatever we wanted, he was pretty bummed out.

I still get bummed out around this time of the year. It’s not so much that I am still mourning the death of John Lennon, but it’s the feeling I had that day that still lingers in me and shows itself once and while. To me it was an assassination of a dream, a feeling that we can “change the world”, a light at the end of the tunnel that wasn’t too far out of reach. John Lennon taught me that we can “Imagine” what it would be like and we all have the ability to change things if we tried.

I was 16 on that day and even then I was a “dreamer”. When I first started playing music, I sucked (I still do) at playing other people’s music. I decided that I would rather learn to write songs instead because I had something under my skull that thought more about the world around me other than “I love you, you love me, lets go kiss under the apple tree” type thing. I was a frustrated teen and there weren’t many ways to get the frustration out. Today, they would have loaded me up on meds and hoped that I would just shut up. They didn’t do that back then; they just called you a trouble maker and made your life hell.

I was a big Beatles fan when I was a kid, but around the time I started writing music, I found John Lennon’s solo work. His music spoke for and to me. You didn’t have to be born with a spork in your mouth to be a “Working Class Hero”, “You may say that I’m a dreamer”, but I wasn’t the only one, “Woman is the nigger of the world, Think about it...do something about it”, “I don't wanna be a soldier mama, I don't wanna die” and so on.

This one really hit home to me:

Working Class Hero

As soon as your born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for 20 odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion, sex and T.V.
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

There's room at the top I'm telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
Working Class Hero is something to be

At the tender age of 12, nothing else had come close to saying what I was trying desperately to tell people. Lennon’s music helped me realize that I could take my thoughts and put them into lyrics and music and express how I feel. I didn’t have to write songs about relationships if I didn’t want to, I could write lyrics that said “fuck off” to someone, and they wouldn’t even know I was talking to them.

I knew a bit about politics at that age, but not enough to have some real opinions on what was going on. Once again, it was Lennon’s music that sent me into a search of something else that would help me become who I am.

I'm sick and tired of hearing things from uptight-short sighted-arrow minded hypocrites
All I want is the truth
Just give me some truth

I've had enough of reading things by nuerotic-pyschotic-pig headed politicians
All I want is the truth
Just give me some truth

No short haired-yellow bellied son of tricky dicky is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me
With just a pocketful of hope
Money for dope
Money for rope

I'm sick to death of seeing things from tight lipped-condescending -mommies little chauvinists
All I want is the truth
Just give me some truth

I've had enough of watching scenes of schizophrenic - ego - centric - paranoic - prima - donnas
All I want is the truth
Just give me some truth


I knew who Nixon was, but why “tricky dicky”? Why was John so vocal about all this? I had to start learning things, and I did. I also found out why he was so pissed. Once again, he helped me find some direction.

This is not to say I didn’t have other people in my life that sent me off into some search for the holy grail of existence, but he played a big part. And today is the anniversary of his death, so that’s who I am talking about.

Many people (mainly younger) think of John Lennon as a mop top Beatle who became a freaked out hippie and got shot. It’s party true, but I think many people miss the point of what John did.

Take for instance the famous (or infamous) Bed-in for Peace. Not long ago, people on here were talking about it and many seemed to not get it. To me it was brilliantly simple. Basically, if everyone went to bed for a day, there would be peace that day. Sure John used his celebrity position to do some weird things, but he was honest about them. It wasn’t to sell records or promote a film. It was about saying something, meaning something and being a player in the game of life.

These days, I don’t really listen to much of John Lennon music. To me, many of the things he did were a bit far out, but that’s cool. If I had to pick a “favorite Beatle” I would lean more towards George, but John is very close. But this wasn’t about The Beatles to me back then. This was about a person who I didn’t know, that had some major influences in my life. My parents were great (considering I was a fuck off); I had some great friends and some teachers through the years. I had other people who were “famous” that had a lot of influence on my thinking and the way I did it, but John Lennon sticks out because he happened to be the one that was there at the right time when I was at that certain fork in my road.

John didn’t only help to change music; he was part of a very small group of individuals that changed the whole world. Like it or not, John Lennon is a legend, a part of all of our lives if you want to realize it or not. He was just some guy, born not to royalty or some prominent family of entertainment or politics, but to some unknown family in Liverpool, England and was gifted enough to become one of the most influential people in the last 100 years. That’s just fact, and it is what it is. We still want to Imagine Giving Peace a chance, thanks John… for everything.

[tigereye]

1. that's excellent. Thanks.

:thumbsup:

:hug:

[johnnie]

3. Thank you tigereye

It really makes ya wonder if he would have been vocal these days if he had lived.

[tigereye]

4. yeah, I'm sure he would have!

[mdmc]

2. peace and low stress

thans for the OP
:cry:

[johnnie]

11. Thank you

For reading it. :hi:

[mdmc]

15. thanks for posting

peace, God.

[buddhamama]

5. i am reduced to tears

thank you johnnie- a heartfelt poignant remembrance. :cry: :hug:

[johnnie]

12. Thank you

I didn't mean to make you cry...

[wildhorses]

6. ---

[Mad_Dem_X]

7. Thanks for that

And God bless ya, John, wherever you are. O8)

[johnnie]

13. You're welcome

And thank you for reading it.

[meegbear]

8. Dropping some tabs?

Doing acid?

[johnnie]

10. Could have been

:yoiks:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. My dear johnnie...........

This is wonderful......thank you so much!

You've put your thoughts so clearly and forcefully....

Really great!

K&R

:toast:

[johnnie]

14. Thank you Peggy

I appreciate you taking the time to read it and responding. :hi:

[Ptah]

16. You're still fucking peasants as far as I can see.

Two youtube versions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ89B1WUzVM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v45RDyIiAmY

Thank you, johnnie.

:thumbsup:

if you want to be a hero, just follow me

[johnnie]

17. Very cool, thank you

I never have seen that first one.

[Blue-Jay]

18. johnnie, I like your posts.

The funny ones are hilarious, and the serious ones are poignant. I rarely read long posts in their entirety (I'm a "skimmer"), but I read this one and liked it.

:thumbsup:

[johnnie]

20. Thank you Blue-Jay

That means a lot. :thumbsup:

[Texasgal]

19. here is something I posted in GD.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2885392&mesg_id=2885392

[johnnie]

21. Oh yeah...

Yoko put that together a year or two ago. Very powerful stuff. Thanks for posting it Texasgal.

[Texasgal]

22. It brought TEARS to my eyes...

Very poignant..

[u4ic]

23. Thank you, johnnie

Very thoughtful and moving.

[johnnie]

27. Once again..thank *you* for reading it

[enigmatic]

24. I'm a year older than you

And I was listening to M105 and MMS all that night and the next day after I found out what happened; my best friend (and still is to this day) was as much of a Beatlemaniac as I was so it devastated us. I didn't go to school that day; I couldn't do it. I'll never forget that day..

Excellent post, bro.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

25. Hard to believe it's been 26 years ago that he was taken

away from us. I was 10 years old.

I usually light a candle for him and post something on the anniversary. I'll be doing that today (got home late last night, had dinner and was so exhausted, I fell asleep on the couch!?). I posted something on my myspace page.

<img src="">

[johnnie]

26. MMS is what I had my radio set to

That's what we listened to all the next day. I think it was better for me to go to school than to have sat at home. Like I mentioned in my OP, we had an outdoor smoking lounge and I remember that it wasn't a very cold day that next day, so we hung out there. We split earlier than normal that day too.

Thanks for reading and replying enigmatic.

[lizziegrace]

28. Thank you Johnnie

Like you, I was old enough to know what he was doing but not quite old enough to understand the meaning. He was a man with great courage and conviction. Something there for all of us.

:hug: