October 9, 2010 would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday. I still remember where I was the night he was shot. I was at a Springsteen concert at the Spectrum where the Boss played one of many soldout nights. He and the E Street Band even did Twist and Shout for an encore. I didn't yet know that Lennon was dead until we all got back to the car and turned on the radio. It was a sad couple of days. Everytime I heard Lennon or Beatles songs on the radio my eyes would well up. But that was then, this is now.
Nothing I write here is meant as a personal attack on John Lennon. He did nothing that warranted being gunned down in cold blood by a lunatic outside of his own home. He was an icon, a husband and a father. But his impact on the culture went far beyond his music. Actally, his music was the vehicle which imparted his radical views to the masses.
Early in the Beatles surge to fame, Lennon stated that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ. Quite a radical statement to make for a guy who just wanted to make music. As it turns out, John held a world view that was antithetical to Christianity and traditional American values. Later he would craft a song that would encapsulate succinctly his view of how he hoped things should or would be. The song, "Imagine".
Couched in a maudlin melody, he asked us to imagine what life would be like without God, heaven, eternal consequences, national sovereignty, core beliefs worth dying for, or personal possessions. Now keep in mind, John Lennon was a millionaire. Millions made off albums purchased by god fearing, freedom loving, capitalist Americans. The country that fought along side England to defeat Nazi Germany. The country he chose to make his home(possibly in part due to the high tax rate in England). He asked us to embrace the idea of a "brotherhood of man". Which at this writing I think the feminists would have changed to "people or persons", not "man".
Words mean things. Whether put to a melody or recorded in a periodical or novel. They convey thoughts, feelings and ideas. Now if Lennon just recorded songs to amass his millions, it would fly in the face of his lyrics. Asking us to imagine no possessions all the while accruing a fortune. Like all Socialists, he was an elitist. Telling us how to live, yet he himself living a life of luxury. I don't begrudge him that, just don't preach a life of self denial from a luxury New York high rise to us down below.
So while John Lennon will remain a music icon for the ages, I have grown out of the idealism of the 60's and early 70's. Had Lennon lived longer, maybe he would have changed his ideology. Maybe not. I still like listening to the Beatles but was never a huge John Lennon fan. In fact, I didn't like any of the lads on their own as much as I did collectively. It's remains a sad ending to a talented musician. I however have lived long enough to find what is true. That I cannot live without God(specifically Jesus). That I love the United States of America and respect her borders. I like working hard for the living I eke out in this life so that I can buy the things that I need and sometimes want. I like to think that my core beliefs are of such value, that if called upon to do so, I would give my life for them. Finally, I believe in heaven. It is my destination and my home. And because there is heaven there is hell too. Life has it's consequences. Not so much "Instant Karma", but reaping and sowing. Not come upppins' by an impersonal universe, but a face to face judgement by a righteous God. I sometimes wonder if any of these thoughts raced through John Lennon's mind before his life slipped from this earth.
Anyway... there is no doubt that he was born 70 years ago into a time where he had a chance to change the world. And he did. We are all of us born into the time that God chooses. And just like a boy from Liverpool did, we too can change the world. Maybe not the whole world, maybe just our little piece of it. Happy birthday John.
Excellent commentary, BT!
ReplyDelete