Advertisement
A short while ago I posted a blog that entertained the divinity of John Lennon. The title of the the blog 'John Lennon Died For Your Sins' I stole from the film 'Rude Awakening' starring Eric Roberts and Cheech Marin. Robert's character, a hippy in exile who has returned to Manhatten after hiding out in a South American jungle for 20 years, is sitting on a bench in Central Park, reading this incredulous grafitti, John Lennon Died For Your Sins. He is heartbroken and stunned at just dicovering, 7 years too late, that the voice of his beloved culture and generation has been silenced. This was a profound scene and it stuck with me all these years. I want it reflected for the record and for the benefit of the members of this good tribe that one) I am not a nutcase or a flake and two) I do not believe that John Lennon died for any other senseless reason than some sick person extinguished him. I was merely ruminating on this film, "Rude Awakening,' when I came across this particular Lennon blog and what I was attempting to do was ignite a conversation on that particular scene in the movie when Eric discovers that Lennon has been killed. Obviously, it backfired and our good moderator brought it to my attention ~ and then was absolutely silent on the matter. I apologise to anyone regarding anything I may of said about Lennon's divinity or about him dying for anyone's sins. And please disregard any "God" or "Jesus" remarks I have made. This particular apology sound familiar Mike? How ironic that I'm making it on a Lennon site of all places. Thanks for your response.
posted by:
|
Unsubscribed |
Advertisement
Advertisement
-
Re: JOHN LENNON DIED FOR WHO?
Mon, May 8, 2006 - 4:29 PMHey Danny,
I don t think you should apologize. In my oppinion, John was the messiah, the second coming of Christ. All he stood for was peace and love and kindness to your fellowpeople, peace on earth and all that sort of stuff. Unfortunately most of us realized it too late. His social conscience was just unbelievable. 25 years later and I still cry at the tought of what he might have conceived for worldpeace and hunger. I cannot even come close to imagining what he and Angelina Jolie might have achieved in their quest to abolish world hunger and injustice.
Kindly in love and peace
Christine -
-
Re: JOHN LENNON DIED FOR WHO?
Tue, May 9, 2006 - 12:06 AM"sorry if we hurt your field, mister."
--A Hard Days Night -
-
Re: JOHN LENNON DIED FOR WHO?
Wed, May 10, 2006 - 11:07 AMthat's a great movie...
-
-
-
Re: JOHN LENNON DIED FOR WHO?
Thu, May 11, 2006 - 1:33 PMIf you want to know who Lennon died for, read Albert Goldman's biography, The Lives of John Lennon. You can pick one up for cheap on Amazon. I highly recommend it for any Lennon fan who wants to get an honest and indepth look at the man behind the myth. And he was, after all, just a man, with all the faults and folly as the rest of us. The book is very well written and very well researched. Goldman conducted 1,200 interviews, including family members, childhood friends, business associates, lovers, fellow musicians, etc., over the course of a six year period and all are listed in the back of the book. Ironically enough, it was published the same year Eric Roberts's character would have discovered the demise of the voice his generation. -
-
Unsu...
Re: JOHN LENNON DIED FOR WHO?
Thu, May 11, 2006 - 4:17 PMGoldman's book 'The LIves of John Lennon' sits on my own shelf. I've read it eight times and lend it out at least twice a year. I've laid it on people like a Witness with a tract. It's so ragged now, I'm about ready for a new copy. This discussion is now taking it's intended turn and I'm smuggly happy about that. Herein lies the rub, as they say. Yes, Lennon was just a man who put his pants on the same way as everyone else did in the morning; he possessed a multitude of idiosyncratic, yet often lap slapping humorous traits and the contradictions he espoused provided the catalyst I think for some of the craziest hijinx in all of Rock & Roll lore. He was just an ordinary guy sure, but a guy who could get downright overwhelmed and panicked about his fame. It could really fuck with him, his fame. And I think people instinctively read that about the man. His vulnerability ~ his shortcomings. They make you care and sympathize for him even more. I think some of the same qualities that make Ozzy Osbourne lovable to Americans are the very same qualities that made Lennon a man to love as well as laugh at too. We create our gods in our own images; we all do. And the world and a generation took a good look at this regular working class (that's another story) hero from Liverpool and wondered how he managed to achieve the height of fame he did. His violent death made him divine. His 'ordinariness' made him a god to ordinary guys the whole world over, that want the world to know that their souls are painted like the wings of butterflies too. His vulnerability made him a god to everyone who's rizen up from the ashes of low self esteem and wallowing self-indulgence, only to channel their energies into something positive and life re-enforcing. He was a god to all who loved his music and carried the same cross of addiction within themselves and battled and took on their addictions and won; as John and Yoko did with Heroin. John was a god to all of us ordinary people who want to imagine a better world, one without hunger and greed, and who feel that we all belong to the same fraternity of dreamers. -
-
Re: JOHN LENNON DIED FOR WHO?
Fri, May 12, 2006 - 2:59 PMWell said, and I think that Goldman's book really exposes how multi-faceted John was as an artist and a visionary, and how multi-dimensional and complicated he was as a person. It is the only Lennon biography I have read to date, aside from A Twist of Lennon which I read in high school before John's death, and I don't really feel a need to read any others, but I may. Tomorrow never knows, does it? -
-
Unsu...
Re: JOHN LENNON DIED FOR WHO?
Fri, May 12, 2006 - 3:20 PMYou know Sage, The Last Days Of Lennon by friend and personal aide Fred Seaman, would probably make a good introduction to the "Lives Of ..., for those people who might find Goldman too aggressive and heavy handed at first. The Last Days would grease 'em up and break 'em open; makes Goldman alot more palatable for 'em. Some people walk around with this one dimensional image of Lennon in their mind. Sometimes you tweak with things like that and people (the fans) get upset because it threatens the fixed assumptions they have of their heros/gods. We mess with their sacred cows. We Blaspheme. Albert Goldman now lives in Europe and has ever since first publishing The Lives Of John Lennon, for the death threats he faced in the United States were overwhelming! Not much has really changed with guns in America since December 1980 has there? And even now in Toronto, what was once the safest of all world class cities, is plagued almost daily with gun violence and needless bloodshed that make me think, sadly, that life has become much cheaper since 1980. -
-
Re: JOHN LENNON DIED FOR WHO?
Fri, May 12, 2006 - 3:27 PMI wasn't aware of the death threats. Well that's why they are called fan(atic)s. I loved Goldman's book because he didn't pull any punches. He wasn't being judgemental, he was just being an honest journalist.
I will check out The Last Days of Lennon and see how that book compares to what Goldman wrote about Lennon's last days. Thanks for the suggestion. -
-
Unsu...
Re: JOHN LENNON DIED FOR WHO?
Fri, May 12, 2006 - 3:38 PMHave you read Loving John by May Pang or Cynthia by Cynthia Sylvia Twist (LOLyou know who I'm talking about Sage) I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist (LOL) Right Sage ~ now read this back to yourself as fast as you can! LOL!
I appreciate that you appreciated a three dimensional view of the man that obviously meant something to you. He meant something to me too. -
-
Re: JOHN LENNON DIED FOR WHO?
Mon, May 15, 2006 - 1:51 PMThe Beatles meant everything to me as a child and as a teen, but Lennon was especially important to me for a number of personal reasons. His death was so incredibly devestating to me, as I know it was for many, that I just couldn't bring myself to read anything written about him because it made his loss all that more real. I still have all the local newspapers from December 9, 1980, and all the fan magazines, etc., that were published after his death all neatly put away in a box in a closet. I have never read any of them, but for some reason I keep them. I only recently read the Goldman book. I guess after 25 years I have been able to come to terms with his death. I think the fact that I am a few years older than Lennon was when he died may be a reason why I was finally able to read a biography about him. I wasn't looking to read anything about Lennon but Goldman's book sort of presented itself to me. I found it on a sale table for $3.00 (for the hardbound, still with dust cover and in excellent condition) at a library where my son was taking a test for school. I started reading the first chapter and thought, "Oh boy, this is going to be good." So, I bought it and I am so glad I did. I am going to check out the other book you mentioned because now I feel a need to know, and I don't want to rely on just one book. I'm not terribly interested in Pang's or Twist's (I read her first one back in '78) books because I'm not terribly interested in either one of them. My interest in this area has always been the Beatles, as a whole, and John as an individual. -
-
Unsu...
Re: JOHN LENNON DIED FOR WHO?
Tue, May 16, 2006 - 11:01 AMYeah, I can appreciate your rationale ~ it's just that these are the women that lived, loved, and heard him fart in the middle of the night, you know, so they provide a personal sketch of the man that few other writers could touch on. It's vastly more interesting to read about Lennon the man rather than Lennon the myth. Hands down though, Lennon the man, any way you want to slice him, was one RARE article! -
-
This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.
Re: JOHN LENNON DIED FOR WHO?
Tue, May 16, 2006 - 1:42 PMI agree with your point about the intimate details of his day to day life. Well, if I can find a copy of them cheap, they could provide interesting poolside reading come summer.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
