Born on this day, 1940: John "Give Peace a Chance" Lennon

[ETL]

From today's New York Times...

John Lennon

The Beatles united a generation of young people with their songs, their attitudes and their sense of style, and John Lennon was the thinking man's Beatle. Of the four, he was the Beatle who wrote books, the Beatle who embroiled the group in a potentially disastrous controversy by suggesting in an interview that they were more popular than Jesus, the Beatle who embraced the poetic innovations of Bob Dylan in the mid-1960's and shocked Beatles fans by jumping into performance art, happenings and political protests in the late 60's and early 70's. ..."

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/john_lennon/index.html?WT.mc_id=BR-D-I-NYT-AD-FP-TTOA-HP-0909-LENNON&WT.mc_ev=click
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"John Lennon, (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980) was an English rock musician, singer-songwriter, author, and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles."-wikipedia

Lennon rehearsing "Give Peace a Chance"
in Montreal, Quebec in 1969.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon

[Huck]

Just look at nature. It tells you all you need to know. It's a rough world. As Phil Gramm once said, "One day the lion will lay down with the lamb. But until that day comes, I want America to be the lion."

Great line. I actually would prefer to be a marmot or a badger. I'm an isolationist at heart. I don't celebrate superpower status or neocon foreign policy, but I realize that's a lost cause argument. I support a strong defense, and a healthy understanding of the world we live in.

[ETL]

“Peace” isn't the absence of conflict, it's the elimination of all opposition to Marxism. These are religious fanatics of the first order. Marx is their god and they're more than happy to do unthinkable violence in his name.

Glad someone here gets it. :)

[EyeGuy]

Good comments.

The Beatles story is such an interesting tale, because they were so tightly entwined with the cultural and societal changes (mostly for the worse) that occurred throughout the 1960’s.

I have always preferred the scintillating, innocent pop heaven of their early and middle period, to their more “sophisticated” and cynical later-period songs.

[Genoa]

Yeah, and the drugs didn’t exactly help.

[ETL]

Despite their misguided politics, I’m still a fan of much of their music, particularly the earlier tunes. However, I would never consider Lennon above an average song writer. Although clean, wholesome and good, the lyrics for the early songs were simplistic. The 70s stuff only made sense if you were high on drugs: “We all live in a yellow submarine”? :)

[EyeGuy]

I’ve never been a big fan of rock lyrics, it is almost ALL about the music for me.

My favorite book on the Beatles, “Tell Me Why”, is an in-depth analysis, concerning exclusively the specific musical devices the group employed in their music. Some of the simplest varaitions from the “normal” yielded a entirely different sound.

Fascinating stuff, and I can barely play a note. If I were a musician, looking for ideas and inspiration, I would consume the text of that book voraciously.

[ETL]

I’ve never been a big fan of rock lyrics, it is almost ALL about the music for me.

Same here, as I'm sure with most everyone else. I just thought he's received way too much credit for his so-called 'genius' in lyrics writing.

[dfwgator]

“PIZZA PIZZA PIZZA PIZZA...”

Oh, I thought he said, “Give Pizza Chants.”

[ETL]

Re: “Tell Me Why”

One of my all-time favorite Beatles songs, btw.

youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKl4ufehjpA

[Maverick68]

Great songwriter, shitty human being.
I still love the Beatles, but watching this interview with Julian is heartbreaking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6eV7ZsghCs

[MyFreedomIHoldDear]

Happiness is a warm, yes it is, gun. bang bang shoot shoot

[Wyatt's Torch]

Imagine is the worst, most anti-American song in recorded music history. But it sure sounds pretty........

[gilor]

I remember when the 2nd beatle croaked, ruining one of my favorite jokes.....

What is it gonna take for a beatles reunion?

....3 more bullets