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Lennon remembered
Dec. 8th, 2005 10:02 amIt was 25 years ago this evening. I found out the next morning from a newspaper rack at the bus stop.
At that time I owned precisely zero rock albums, if you exclude English electric folk, and rarely listened to the stuff. But I'd always thought the Beatles had some OK songs. I'd even gone to see the Yellow Submarine film in the theatre when it was new, though for the life of me I cannot remember why. My love for the Beatles really dates from listening to the Lennon tributes on pop radio that came up in the wake. I continued listening to pop radio occasionally for about five more years.
More lasting was my interest in the Beatles and Lennon. The antics were in the past; what was left was the music, and the music was good. I now have a nearly complete collection of legit Beatles songs on CD, 25 disks not counting some compilation disks I've made from them. I have one post-Beatles best-of album each by Lennon and McCartney. For Lennon it's the soundtrack album from the film Imagine, which I'd seen in the theatre and been moved by. The album has "Imagine" and "God" and "Mother", so except for "Watching the Wheels" that's all my favorite post-Beatles Lennon songs. I've been to the memorial in Central Park across from the Dakota, where lyrics from "Imagine" are inscribed.
The film includes footage of Lennon working on writing "Imagine" at his white piano. There's an article on his legacy in the 11/28 Newsweek that says that's how he's remembered now, either as the early moptop or as the Man at the White Piano. I like that. "The man at the white piano -- the man who wrote 'Imagine', 'Give Peace a Chance' and 'All You Need Is Love,' which amount to the greatest ad campaign for brother- and sisterhood in history." Good way of putting it. At the time all these songs were terribly, terribly naive. But the point is they're art: they've lasted, because their articulate earnestness survives naivete; and they (well, two of the three) are interesting musically as well.
When I filled in some major holes in my Beatles collection a year or two ago, I named Lennon's "No Reply" as the most striking Beatles song I didn't already know. I shall continue to listen to Lennon; and is that not what all composers want for their work?
At that time I owned precisely zero rock albums, if you exclude English electric folk, and rarely listened to the stuff. But I'd always thought the Beatles had some OK songs. I'd even gone to see the Yellow Submarine film in the theatre when it was new, though for the life of me I cannot remember why. My love for the Beatles really dates from listening to the Lennon tributes on pop radio that came up in the wake. I continued listening to pop radio occasionally for about five more years.
More lasting was my interest in the Beatles and Lennon. The antics were in the past; what was left was the music, and the music was good. I now have a nearly complete collection of legit Beatles songs on CD, 25 disks not counting some compilation disks I've made from them. I have one post-Beatles best-of album each by Lennon and McCartney. For Lennon it's the soundtrack album from the film Imagine, which I'd seen in the theatre and been moved by. The album has "Imagine" and "God" and "Mother", so except for "Watching the Wheels" that's all my favorite post-Beatles Lennon songs. I've been to the memorial in Central Park across from the Dakota, where lyrics from "Imagine" are inscribed.
The film includes footage of Lennon working on writing "Imagine" at his white piano. There's an article on his legacy in the 11/28 Newsweek that says that's how he's remembered now, either as the early moptop or as the Man at the White Piano. I like that. "The man at the white piano -- the man who wrote 'Imagine', 'Give Peace a Chance' and 'All You Need Is Love,' which amount to the greatest ad campaign for brother- and sisterhood in history." Good way of putting it. At the time all these songs were terribly, terribly naive. But the point is they're art: they've lasted, because their articulate earnestness survives naivete; and they (well, two of the three) are interesting musically as well.
When I filled in some major holes in my Beatles collection a year or two ago, I named Lennon's "No Reply" as the most striking Beatles song I didn't already know. I shall continue to listen to Lennon; and is that not what all composers want for their work?
