Let Me Take You Down

How in the world you gonna see?
Laughing at fools like me?
Who on earth do you think you are?
A super star?

Well, right you are.

12/8/2005

Yes, I believe this image is appropriate and no, I did not lead this post with this stunning photograph to shock, mock or offend the memory of a true icon of the 20th century. I am simply trying to illustrate exactly what kind of artist, agitator and human being John Lennon was.

This was an album cover for God’s sake!!! At the height of his fame!!! What balls!!! (No pun intended)

Released in 1968, Unfinished Music #1: Two Virgins was an experimental album, which featured all kinds of noise that best could be described as "a continuation of Revolution #9." Featuring electronic sounds and "every instrument known to man played with no rhyme or reason," I think it is safe to say that probably no one ever really played this disc and bought it only to see a naked Beatle. It was quite a scandal and record stores didn't display it or covered it with a plain brown wrapper, if they stocked it at all.

I can’t really imagine any rock star today doing something like this. The closest thing I can think of was the Madonna "Sex" book. But even that wasn’t the same because "The Establishment" was not as established in 1990 (or whenever that thing came out) then it was in 1968. One of the reasons for that, of course, was this guy I am writing about.

Putting aside the overwhelmingly solid art Lennon wrote, co-wrote or was involved with between the years 1964 and 1975, it is the other things that make him truly great:

He cowardly walked away from his first wife, Cynthia, and his son, Julian, in the mid 1960s. He then completely redeemed himself in 1975 by walking away from a wildly successful music/public career to become a house-husband and to raise his second child, Sean. In my book, John grew up and became a man.

When The Beatles were given the MBE Medal (Member of the British Empire) in the 1960s, many former recipients, mostly Generals, Admirals and Military types, protested because The Beatles were "only singers." John immediately went on the offensive and suggested an intriguing idea. Why does someone have to kill or be killed to be honored by their government? Yes, he implies, that he was "only" a singer, but why wasn't the thing he was doing just as, if not more, important than dropping bombs against other human beings? Why is the enrichment of culture considered low in the pecking order of life while killing is the pinacle? If you think about it, isn’t that one of the core ideas progressive people have been striving to achieve ever since? Isn’t that simple notion one of the premises that certain segments of our population today want us to forget? Or worse, make us think like we never thought of it at all?

He later gave the M.B.E. back in protest, demonstrating the simple truth that external recognition can never fulfill internal longing. For that matter, doesn't necessarily make something "legitimate" either.

He moved to New York City in the 1970s, which was possibly the worst decade we ever had. Through urban decay, racial strife, forced bussing, off the charts unemployment, endless recession, municipal insolvency, blackouts and an astronomical crime rate he lived openly among us. He was regularly seen, with baby Sean in tow, all around town and in Central Park. He could blend in with the crowd, be just another regular Dad playing with his kid. He never let on that five years earlier he was one of the most famous men on Earth. That is the kind of transplant I would take…any day of the week.

He truly loved Yoko, and never allowed anyone to sway him of that simple fundamental truth. Besides the bullshit, "She broke up the Beatles" stuff which he had to hear from the millions of average Beatle fans which, I suppose, he could have easily dismissed, he also, I can imagine, was told countless times by personal mangers, producers, record executives or just acquaintances, lines like, "Leave her, she’s bad for your career," or "She just wants publicity," or some variation on that theme. But, for all those years, he never wavered. He was true to himself, and his love, which is probably the most important aspect of being a man.

And 25 years ago today he was murdered.

For absolutely no reason at all except that a psychologically damaged young man felt betrayed…or whatever…and decided to rob humanity of one of its most eloquent and insightful voices. The man who committed this awful crime 25 years ago probably wanted to be famous and remembered…so I will not even print his name.

I remember the night it happened. It was a Monday and since I just turned 13 I was at that age when "bed times" were becoming more and more irrelevant. I would have normally been sleeping at that time anyway but Monday Night Football was on. I used to really like Football.

It was during the game that one of the most infamous moments in Network Television happened. ABC commentator, Howard Cossell, announced that John Lennon was just shot in front of his home The Dakota, a luxury Manhattan Apt. building adjacent to Central Park. I ran into the kitchen to tell my mom and she was completely shocked. I ran back to the TV and a little bit later, I would like to say 5 minutes but I could be wrong, Cossell announced in his nasal-twang

John Lennon…Dead on Arrival

Now, remember that I was only 13 years old. And although I was a Beatles fan (I grew up listening to the "Blue" and the "Red" Greatest Hits Records) the impact was not as emotionally devastating as you might think. It was more shocking than saddening and that whole week at school (I just started the 8th grade) was pretty much devoted to this aftermath. Front-page news stories, makeshift TV tributes, radio marathons, all night vigils in the park and commemorative magazines filled the air. I totally submerged myself into it...reading, listening and watching anything I could on Lennon and the Beatles. It had an event quality to it and judging by the subject, totally justified.

Years later, I watched a VH1 Behind the Music called, "The Last Days of John Lennon" which is self-explanatory. As I watched the various scenes of Lennon walking around Manhattan, talking with people, playing music, it started to become quite clear to me what an enormous loss this city, this country, this planet had suffered all those years ago on one of the grimmest nights in New York’s rich, proud history.

Would The Beatles ever get back together? Would he have "sold out" and become just another aged rocker burnout dancing for The Man? Would he have embraced the new art form of Rap that was rapidly growing in the Bronx? Would he have been politically active about Aids research in the 1980s? Corporate synergy in the 1990s? The Iraq War today? With his new found maturity, experience and perspective, would he have made the best music of his life?

All questions that can never be answered.

A tear comes to my eye thinking about it.

If anybody wants me, I’ll be at Strawberry Fields tonight, paying my respects to a man who, I believe, truly has earned it.

John Ono Lennon
1940 - 1980

R.I.P.

All We Are Saying...
Is Give Peace A Chance.
Larry