You May Say I'm a Dreamer: Happy Birthday, John Lennon

Sunday 10 October 2010

by: Yana Kunichoff, t r u t h o u t | Report

You May Say I'm a Dreamer: Happy Birthday, John Lennon
John Lennon. (Photo: Stuart Hampton)

Three decades after John Lennon’s death, the world continues to mourn the loss of a musical genius and one of the strongest voices for global peace.

Lennon would have been 70 years old this Saturday, had his life not been tragically cut short when he was shot to death on Dec. 8, 1980, almost two months after turning 40 years old, by a deranged fan outside his New York apartment building.

Since his death, the legacy he created as a member of The Beatles and through his activism has kept him in the public eye.

Perhaps his best-known song, “Imagine,” calls for us to consider a world without "heaven", or countries, and the possibilities this creates for "a brotherhood of man."

“It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion too,” sings Lennon. “Imagine all the people. Living life in peace.”

Through his music with one of the most important rock bands of the twentieth century, in his solo work and in collaboration with Yoko Ono, Lennon challenged a nation over its militarism, considered the highs and lows of love, and simply made people dance.

His status as a cultural icon was confirmed on the 70th anniversary of his birthday – people around the world celebrated his birthday and Google UK ran an interactive doodle on its web page in Lennon’s honor.

A 2009 movie about his adolescence and musical beginnings, Nowhere Boy, is scheduled to be released to coincide with the anniversary and a benefit concert in Lennon’s name will be held in New York City on Nov. 12. The proceeds will go to the Playing for Change Foundation, which promotes peace using music.

Eight of his albums have also been re-mastered and are being released this week as two box sets, along with a remixed version of his 1980 “Double Fantasy” album with Yoko Ono.

Ono, Lennon’s wife, musical collaborator and fellow activist, will spend the anniversary of his birthday in Iceland, celebrating with a concert by her Plastic Ono Band, and lighting the Imagine Peace Tower in Lennon’s honor.

Ono spoke to AP about what Lennon’s take on the state of the world today would have been:

“He would have been totally angry. ... He would have felt like he wanted to run somewhere and just bang something or strangle someone, you know?,” said Ono. “But then I think, I'm sure he would have relaxed and decided he should still be an activist. We need to really do something about the world. Otherwise, we're all going to blow up together.”

This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

Comments

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he's always been one of my

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 11:53 — ivan thomas (not verified)

he's always been one of my heroes but the hypocrisy in the lyrics of Imagine:
imagine no possessions....from the man who had a room put aside for his collection of fur coats, oh purleeese! i'm homeless and sofa surfing at the moment. maybe i should have been born a fur coat! ;)

Really? A room full of fur

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 12:41 — Snitman (not verified)

Really? A room full of fur coats is too much "crass materialism"?

He had a lot more money than that. As it turned out, he should have been living somewhere more secure like on a private estate, due to his being so famous.

Just listen to the message please. The man is a different issue, John Lennon had some "genius quirks" as part of the package.

Peace!!

Yes, Lennon was a

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 12:45 — Anonymous (not verified)

Yes, Lennon was a hypocrite-a self-admitted one like all of us. But it's hard to dismiss the things he helped us feel and think about. Lots of us believe they were significant things to feel and consider. And we can't help but thank him-his memory anyway, for giving these things to us, no matter what else he may have been.

you don't have to be perfect

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 13:07 — plfdjack (not verified)

you don't have to be perfect to speak the truth.

Happy birthday to the

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 14:38 — Anonymous (not verified)

Happy birthday to the world's most famous dead-beat dad.

It's easy to hide behind

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 15:28 — A (not verified)

It's easy to hide behind "anonymous", especially from someone who only knows John Lennon from history.

The murders name was Mark David Chapman, a name I shall never forget.

Perhaps imagining a world

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 16:48 — Garrett Connelly (not verified)

Perhaps imagining a world without possessions occurs to some only after a driving hunger for fame and things has been satisfied. It matters not how John Lennon's life and mind composed such beauty. Earth's youth studies his music and lyrics, through future souls he will live forever.

It's the PRINCIPLES to

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 17:44 — Vic Anderson (not verified)

It's the PRINCIPLES to Practice: LennOn!

Yana, et al., one-world

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 18:01 — S. Wolf Britain (not verified)

Yana, et al., one-world government is NOT going to "create a brotherhood of man". We can't even have a true Constitutional republic and a brotherhood of American citizens in the U.S., so how do you figure a huge, top-heavy world bureaucracy is going to be able to manage it? The answer is, they aren't. The truth is that they have no intention, and have never had any intention, of setting up a brotherhood of man.

Their true goal(s) is and/or are no true human rights whatsoever, and the complete enslavement of all humankind the world-over, though they of course hide that behind all of the nice-sounding words in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which contradicts itself and takes those very "rights" it delineates away in the end, intentionally, in its own latter part(s) with the words, "These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations". (Article 29, last part.)...

...Very tricky those

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 18:03 — S. Wolf Britain (not verified)

...Very tricky those globalist framers of the UDHR who want EVERYONE under their thumbs, completely subjugated, totally controlled, and proscribed from doing ANYTHING that isn't approved of by the state, giving themselves an "out" clause and a way to "justifiably" make exceptions to any and/or all of the "rights" previously delineated, thus being able to violate their own stated principles with impunity; which, without any doubt(s), they will, of that you can be sure.

So, please don't be fooled by any of their pretty-sounding, false and fraudulent promises of universal deliverance, hope and peace for all humankind the world-over.

The true purpose of the U.N. and world government is to control everyone under a collectivist system that is completely contrary to the individual rights that we are born with and cannot justifiably or in actuality, possibly, be taken away. Those rights are an unalienable, or inalienable, part of us...

...But the collectivist,

...But the collectivist, one-world, false unity system is totatitarian communism, socialism and/or fascism; and it is corporate-fascism's ultimate goal to control virtually every aspect of our lives, and disallow us under grave penalties from doing ANYTHING that is not in the so-called "best interests" of the state collective. Sound familiar? That is what totalitarian communist, socialist and fascist states have foisted on their people, denying them all true individual freedom(s) and liberty(ies) whatsoever, for as long as they have existed.

On the other hand, the individual liberty(ies) and freedom(s) embodied in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights are what we should be protecting and preserving at all cost(s), and in fact is the DUTY of all of us to do, not setting up pie-in-the-sky collectivism that will completely betray us in the end as it always has.

The globalists may claim that they will get socialism "right" this time, and will lie and claim it's our only "hope" in the face of all of the world's woes, but it's all ultimately one great big, huge lie embodying false promises of a utopia that they have no intention of allowing or providing. And, if we don't prevent it, it will be the equivalent of totalitarian communist China on a global basis of absolute subjugation and domination, not worldwide peace, freedom and unity.

With a closet full of fur

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 20:36 — DC (not verified)

With a closet full of fur coats Lennon couldn't have been so much for peace. There is nothing peaceful about wearing fur.

What John Lennon did was to

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 20:41 — AH_Melb (not verified)

What John Lennon did was to be an individual and free spirit. He said what he felt and asked people to actually think about peace and caring for our fellow human beings. I don't think he advocated any political party or movement though there are many that will try and allign his memory with them.
He was a colourfull character in a greying world, and is sadly missed by many people including myself.

The powers that were had

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 21:29 — Hatchetman (not verified)

The powers that were had declared war on the awareness peace love movement by flooding society with dangerous drugs and eliminating the element. They bided their time and the peace movement gave way to aids,war and greed. Now all these years later the evil has returned, this time more powerful and dangerous than before and armed with media control and great military technology. Now who will rise up and stop the insanity?At least that generation succeeded in insuring several years of American peace. Our freedom is not a license to manipulate,steal and commit mass murder then turn our heads. Instant karma
Vote early by absentee ballot!

Possessions are a weight on

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 21:56 — Anonymous (not verified)

Possessions are a weight on your soul and deter you from purity so you automatically piss on every one else the American way.

When I first heard the

Sun, 10/10/2010 - 22:55 — Anonymous (not verified)

When I first heard the expression "One World" I did not appreciate it and I remember saying that I didn't want the whole world to be the same, I love and appreciate the different cultures and all the customs of each. What is scary to me is the idea of ONE global economy, ONE religious or non-religious point of view, one government, one bureaucracy. What I would appreciate is a world where it respected the differences and to facilitate each country to live within their own design.
The support of all the countries coming together to defend with words and deeds, and not bombs, to have their own autonomous lives. We've really almost gone over the hill to destruction in the protection of human rights. Many countries have become almost indistinguishable from one another as to its abusiveness toward other countries.
My country tis of thee.

His music was the point. His

Mon, 10/11/2010 - 00:11 — Anonymous (not verified)

His music was the point. His gift was the music he created and the lyrics that went with it. It's not Lennon's fault he was successful at it. If people want to give you money because you create something they enjoy that's their business to do it. Nobody posting on this story would turn down the money. Calling John a hypocrite because he was successful is stupid. All it says is that his music went completely over your head and you missed the entire point of what he created. That's your loss not John Lennon's. He did more to end the Viet Nam war than any politician ever did. Get over yourselves.

John Lennon was a conceptual

Mon, 10/11/2010 - 00:12 — Anonymous (not verified)

John Lennon was a conceptual artist, so I think you have to look at things in his life -- like the fur coats in a room unto themselves -- through that lens. That is what is what it was about when he and Yoko Ono were having the world in their bedroom, or posting advertisements on billboards about war, and so on.

If it helps to understand, think about a site specific piece that you see in a modern art museum.

It was very shocking for me, personally, when he was killed. I remember when the news came over the radio after I'd come home late from work, and I was sitting at the kitchen table.

It was like something was shot in our collective consciousness, too, at that moment.

he was a working class

Mon, 10/11/2010 - 00:28 — notamerica (not verified)

he was a working class hero

and a good one at that

Mon, 10/11/2010 - 05:11 —

Wed, 10/13/2010 - 17:14 — Anonymous (not verified)

Mon, 10/11/2010 - 05:11 — Anonymous (not verified)

"It's not Lennon's fault he was successful at it [making music]. If people want to give you money because you create something they enjoy that's their business to do it."

It's beyond hypocrisy to make a million dollars on a song about how great it would be to have no possessions and then use the money to acquire possessions.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy much of his music, but the dude was a total douche. He was making millions while his wife and kid were on welfare. Find some of his old TV interviews... he comes across as someone who is not very intelligent, not very educated, yet totally full of himself and a feeling of superiority.

Fri, 10/15/2010 - 14:40 — Erich Von Freemason (not verified)

"If people want to give you money because you create something they enjoy that's their business to do it."

You just gave a pass to every billionaire who ever made his money honestly in the free market, including a lot of conservative Republicans. You're going to catch a lot of flack on this site.

Oh, wait... rich liberal Democrats get a pass. Somehow, they've made their money without oppressing anybody. If Lennon had been a conservative, people would be ranting about the poor, oppressed, minimum wage record store workers and the poor oppressed record manufacturing workers.

God Damn you, Erich. I'll

Tue, 10/19/2010 - 15:12 — Frances in California (not verified)

God Damn you, Erich. I'll say it again so that the "cuss words filter" throws me out and only the site monitor gets to enjoy the schadenfreude. God damn you, Erich von Freemason. You provide nothing but ill will and negativity to this Comments section. Fortunately the Universe is just enough, true enough, sane enough that Lennon will be long remembered and thugs like you will be in the compost heap before dinner.

Anyone who says that John

Tue, 10/19/2010 - 15:20 — Frances in California (not verified)

Anyone who says that John Lennon couldn't be a hero to the Working Class obviously doesn't know what it is to be a hero, or to be in the Working Class, or to be a hero to the Working Class.

Tue, 10/19/2010 - 20:12 —

Wed, 10/20/2010 - 13:54 — Erich Von Freemason (not verified)

Tue, 10/19/2010 - 20:12 — Frances in California (not verified)

I provide the facts that the articles omit. Funny, but you never seem to be outraged when "ill will and negativity" is spewed at non-Democrats in almost every article published on this site.

Aren't you outraged that Lennon's wife and kid were on welfare while he was out touring and making millions? The guy was a deadbeat dad, plain and simple.

He lived a life of luxury on the backs of the record company workers, concert venue workers, merchandise manufacturing workers, etc. He was a rich capitalist who knew how to extract as much money as possible out of his target audience, and how to provide his product at a minimal cost, thus insuring high profits.