today would be john lennon's 66th birthday if he wasn't dead. i was 10 years old and watching little house on the prairie when he died, and newsbreaks broke in and interrupted the show. i asked my mom why it was such a big deal, as i did not grow up with pop culture in the house. or music. in fact, the tv we were watching was the family first. my mom told me this man dying was a big deal because he was in a band. that's all she said, "he was in a band."
3 years later i was old enough to understand the real reason why and embarked on an obsession. i read everything written, but refused that goldman book that was nothing short of sacreligious. seriously, what a prick.
16 years later i spoke face to face (or rather her face to my waist) with yoko ono. i had the EXTREME priviledge of speaking with her, an artist and woman i greatly respect on june 16, 1996. meeting her, after years of adoration was fucking unreal to say the least. more on that story later.
21 years later, i got a job photographing yoko ono at a dance club in the middle of the night, where she was performing a re-release of her song "kiss, kiss, kiss." TWO yoko encounters? MINDBLOWING.
i love john lennon for his music, art, writing (A Spaniard in the Works, In His Own Write and Skywriting by Word of Mouth), and revolutionary ideas more than i ever loved the beatles. even though he fessed up to being a misogynist as a young man ("i've been mean my woman and kept her away from the things that she loved and man, that was mean but i'm changing my scene and i'm doing the best that can") - i cleared him of guilt because he fessed up.
happy bday JL. god, i wish you were still around. fucking hell.
2 comments:
I am so sorry to be nit-picky, but it is the Beatles... The line from "Getting Better" actually reads: "I used to be cruel to my woman and beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved. Man I was mean, but I'm changing my scene, and I'm doing the best that I can." This is generally a McCartney song, but they did collaborate a lot more back in those days and these lines do have a Lennon ring to them. Thanks for the reminder about John. And please don't forget to tell the Yoko story.
that's ok. i know it's a beatles song. i know jl wrote the lyrics, as well, despite who wrote the tune.
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