The Limited Forgiving of Lennon
There's an important omission from the Vatican forgiving of John Lennon for his Beatles more popular than Jesus remark. They don't say they forgive him for Imagine. As it is one of the soppiest, most irritating and vacuous songs ever written, I'm with Benny on this one.
# posted by Bryan Appleyard : 7:46 AM
39 Comments:
At November 24, 2008 9:22 AM,
Johnny said…
Yep. But I think its enduring appeal lies in the fact that it makes stupid people feel clever.
At November 24, 2008 10:05 AM,
Brit said…
Vacuousness isn't its problem. (Nothing wrong with vacuous pop songs - "I wanna hold your ha-aaa-aaand" is pretty vacuous, but it's still great).
Over-familiarity and the victory of resigned cynicism over hippy idealism have made it trite, but 'Imagine' is the secular left's hymn, and as such it is of great historical significance.
At November 24, 2008 10:34 AM,
David Aspden said…
Indeed, Johnny.
At November 24, 2008 10:52 AM,
Gordon McCabe said…
"Imagine there's...Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too."
Actually, I think it's got quite a nice ring to it.
At November 24, 2008 11:05 AM,
J.Marles said…
The most spectacularly tasteless use of "Imagine" comes at the end of the film "The Killing Fields". "Imagine no possessions...and no religion too"? Most Cambodians under the Khmer Rouges wouldn't have to strain very hard to do that (IIRC up to 95% of Buddhist priests had been slaughtered by the regime, 100,000 Cham Muslims killed, and mosques, churches and cathedrals razed to the ground).
At November 24, 2008 11:10 AM,
Paddy said…
I think the video was shot at his mansion in Surrey.
And he was happy enough pronouncing on no possessions, while owning a Rolls Royce.
The middle-class need little prompting as it is to demonstrate their smugness. John Lennon gave them even more. And it's the empty-headed emoting Lennonists who are too dominant in the meeja and politics today.
At November 24, 2008 11:35 AM,
malty said…
Will you still need me, will you still feed me.
When I'm sixty four.
Well, actually John, the questions a bit of an academic one.
I've got to admit it's getting better
A little better all the time.
Only up to a point mate.
At November 24, 2008 11:45 AM,
Brit said…
Those were Paul.
At November 24, 2008 11:48 AM,
Brit said…
Although 'Happiness is a Warm Gun' was John.
At November 24, 2008 12:04 PM,
malty said…
Paul, scmaul, bit sad that Brit, knowing that much about sixties pop, I bet you know every line of every Circlip Richards song.
At November 24, 2008 12:09 PM,
ian russell said…
hmm, actually, it was Paul's chaffeur, that one. Alf, I think, or was it Wilf, who really cares?
Christian sentiment from the Vatican at last, eh? nice.
At November 24, 2008 12:21 PM,
Brit said…
Of course I know every word to every Cliff song, Malty. I know everything there is to know. I know far more than the most knowledgeable man alive 10 years ago knew. I have Google.
(Mind you, I knew that about the Beatles songs anyway.)
At November 24, 2008 12:29 PM,
Bob said…
[Its enduring appeal lies in the fact that it makes stupid people feel clever]
I would put it this way:
The enduring appeal of cynisism lies in the fact that it makes people feel clever.
Plus you get to name the non-cynical people naive and stupid.
At November 24, 2008 1:28 PM,
malty said…
Brit, congratulations and jubilation's, you want the world to know how happy you can be.
All you need now is a living doll, or a devil woman.
At November 24, 2008 4:01 PM,
Neil Forsyth said…
I like Imagine. The lyrics may be a bit trite but the tune itself is rather beautiful. Sometimes, when vacuous words are set to music they take on greater significance.
At November 24, 2008 6:34 PM,
Dr Hackenbush said…
But will Benny invite Zimmy to play for him? (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QKuWX-Pyb5s)
At November 24, 2008 8:32 PM,
Vernon Howell said…
'Imagine' unquestionably has a pleasant melody, but the half-rhyming doggerel Lennon croaks on top of it is dire, on a par with the 'idealism' of a 9 year old girl wishing for a pony and a river full of fizzy pop to go siwmming in. 'She Loves You Yeah Yeah' is a much more effective lyric, and crucially better suited to the ephemeral medium of 3 minute ditties in which Lennon's actual talent lay. Sadly that wasn't enough for him, and as a result he was probably the worst case since Charlie Chaplin of a popular artist believing his own hype and vanishing up his own arse, from which dark and sweaty place pretentious and inferior work subsequently issued forth.
However Lennon's sins are ultimately greater than Chaplin's because you can easily make it through life without having to endure the Jewish barber's speech at the end of 'The Great Dictator' whereas 'Imagine' is not only cruder but brutally ubiquitous.
Imagine Lennon never wrote 'Imagine'... alas, only in dreams, in beautiful dreams...
At November 24, 2008 9:24 PM,
Anonymous said…
It could have been worse. Imagine it was Bob Geldof who sung Imagine? The Horror..
At November 25, 2008 3:01 PM,
elberry said…
Years from now footage will emerge of Tony Blair singing 'Imagine' to his Cabinet, all stark bollock naked, on the verge of the Iraq War.
At November 25, 2008 3:51 PM,
malty said…
There are times elberry, when you stare into the abyss longer than you should.
At November 25, 2008 6:12 PM,
Tom P. said…
So it only took 45 years for the Vatican to forgive a young and silly musician for saying something silly?
"Lennon told a British newspaper in 1966 - at the height of Beatlemania - that he did not know which would die out first, Christianity or rock and roll."
If I wasn't an atheist I would pray that it was Christianity that would die out first.
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