Lennon

John Lennon would be 70 today. It's news that is hard to miss. His birthday has been covered extensively in the news.

Seventy. He was killed when he was 40. It's hard to imagine him any older. He will forever be the age I am now. On Weekend Edition Saturday, they spoke to David Sheff, the reporter from Playboy who spent three weeks with Lennon and Yoko Ono in August 1980--just a few months before Lennon was murdered.

It was fascinating. Sheff's interviews were turned into a book and are now being released as an ebook. You can hear the full piece as well as parts of Sheff's interview at the link above. But it was the part of the piece where Sheff talked about Lennon's view towards the past and the future that I found most interesting. " 'I don't believe in yesterday,' Sheff says, quoting Lennon. 'Life begins at 40, or so they promise. And I believe in what's going to come.' "

This struck me for several reasons (other than the obvious, since he would be gunned down in a few months). I'm 40. I stressed over turning 40 because of the things that I haven't done... or maybe it's more accurate to say the things I am supposed to have done. But, like most societal expectations, I'm beginning to realize they're bullshit. And, you know what, Lennon's right: Life does begin at 40. Life begins at whatever point you are at right now. There's a reason this really struck me, but it relates to one of the few things I won't write about on this blog.

This comment also made me start thinking about music in general. I don't know what the music world would be like if Lennon were still alive. But I am fairly sure he would have kept evolving, changing, growing, and producing amazing material. And while I don't know what the music world would be like if he had lived, I do know how great it is because he was part of it.

I was ten when Lennon was killed. I don't remember the announcement on Monday Night Football, but I remember the report of it the following morning on the Today show. Thing is, I didn't know who John Lennon was. I knew who John of John, Paul, George, and Ringo was, but I didn't know his full name. (He was my favorite Beatle, by the way.) A few months prior to all this, I remember dancing around a friend's living room to her Mom's Beatles records. When I realized who John Lennon was, I knew his death was A Very Big Deal.

It was also when I realized the power of music. Music wasn't something to merely entertain, to passively listen to. It affected people in a deeply personal way. It was a major force. And during the weeks after Lennon's death, his song "(Just Like) Starting Over" was on heavy rotation. But it was the song "Watching the Wheels" that I really connected with. It was the first song I remember that really moved me. It was the first song that had meaning to me. I couldn't get enough of it. It is still a song that I love and adore. Obviously, it is a song that is personal to Lennon, he had spent five years being a "househusband," raising his son Sean, baking bread, and just being. And loving it. It's also a reminder to slow down and to enjoy life. When I hear this song, all of a sudden, I am ten years old, standing on the basement steps of my former-stepdad's house, hearing this come over the radio. I'm just standing and all of a sudden I got it--it was the first grown-up song that I remember really getting.



I can't choose a favorite Lennon song. Not from The Beatles nor from his solo work. When I traveled to West Germany to visit my host family over Christmas in 1987, his compilation album Shaved Fish was in my personal heavy rotation. The next to be in heavy rotation was The Beatles' White Album. By the time I was half-way through college I had almost the entire Beatles catalog on vinyl. Interestingly enough, I only have a few on CD.

I'm not even going to try to list which songs make up my top Beatles/Lennon song list, because I'm not sure I could. But "In My Life" has always been one of my favorites. The first verse is, in my opinion, one of the best examples of songwriting to ever exist.

There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all



So here's to you, Mr. Lennon. There is no doubt you knew how many people's live you touched, but this is my thank you to you. You taught me to appreciate and love music. Like a few of the other pop culture legends I have mentioned on this blog, you changed my life--probably more than any other.