7.33pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
With the Love Me Do anniversary and MMT being on tv and released on dvd Johns birthday has been overlooked by me so far – so thanks for the post and reminder.
I think i’ll compose a playlist of my favourite John solo songs and go for a long walk. Might also add some of his interviews and listen to them over the week.
72 years old. Man, thats not that old and he’s been gone for 32 of them. 32!!! Sad to think about. Truth be told i dont often remember special dates like that as it brings me down.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
8.09pm
3 May 2012
I´ve been trying not to think of it too much because like m3 said, times like these get me down.
He would´ve been 72 on Tuesday, same age as my grandparents. He should be here to see his sons as grown ups, and I can´t describe how much I would love to hear what he would say about the 60´s and The Beatles now, with the maturity of a 72 year old.
I don´t know what I´m going to do on Tuesday, but I have no doubt that he will be on my mind all day long.
Moving along in our God given ways, safety is sat by the fire/Sanctuary from these feverish smiles, left with a mark on the door.
(Passover - I. Curtis)
8.17pm
14 February 2012
My sister’s baby is expected to be delivered Monday, so I’m really hoping for a Tuesday delay. How awesome would it be for my first niece or nephew to share a birthday with John Lennon ?! I can tell you one thing: that child’s birthday will never be accidentally forgotten by me.
"I'm not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I've always been a freak. So I've been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know? I'm just one of those people."
12.35am
30 September 2012
I have never really passed an October 9th too deep in thought of John Lennon – I love the Beatles and I love the music but have never been so absorbed to that level. Anyway with that said I am grateful that he was on this earth long enough to give us all this great music! I hope that somehow his message of peace and love which resounded so loudly in the 60’s and 70’s will find their way back to the youth now and that they- like their grandparents(in my case parents) will also hit the streets and demand peace as well.All we need is love- hopefully we will get back to that….
2.29pm
Reviewers
14 April 2010
Happy Birthday to John Lennon , Winston O’Boogie, Winston O’Raggae, Winston Leg-Thigh, Dr. Fred Ghurkin, Booker Table (And The Maitre D’s), Mel Torment and any others who were (re)born on this day.
&
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BeatlebugTo the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.
2.44pm
3 March 2012
4.27pm
14 February 2012
Happy Birthday , Johnny boy!
I just thought I’d take a moment to tell you how much of an inspiration you are to me and how much of a role model you have been for me in the past four years of my life. I sometimes wonder whether I would even be remotely the same person I am today if not for you. The drastic change in my personality all started about a year after I started listening to The Beatles. Naturally, I found myself being pulled in by your music and your voice. But it wasn’t until I started listening to your interviews and studying your story that things started to move forward for me.
Not many people know this about me, but I grew up in a family that suppressed my opinions and punished me for thinking differently. My mother and stepfather would yell at me, inches from my face, because I had something to say that they refused to accept. But what else would you expect when you’re a Peacenik born into a military family? I gradually realized that my parents would never be able to accept me unless I matched my thought pattern and view of the world with their own. Tired of the constant punishment and ridicule from my family (for my sisters thought the same), I retreated into a kind of illusion in which I would present myself as being one with the opinions expressed by my family. On the outside, I looked fine. I looked content with my life. But inside, I was screaming! I was in constant battle with myself. How could I ever attain peace of mind when it was a battle field? I can’t tell you how many years I was living a lie in my own home (if you can even call that prison a home): my own family didn’t even know me! They didn’t want me unless I was like them. I was afraid to speak, afraid to cry, afraid to go home or to answer a phone displaying my mother’s Caller ID–afraid to live. It took years for people to notice my situation. It was April, during my senior year of high school, that I was called to the counselor’s office to be asked if I was being emotionally abused at home. I had only told my two closest friends–the only people in the world who knew the real me–about the stories of my home life. But someone else must have noticed, too, for one of my friends couldn’t have been the anonymous caller who spoke to my guidance counselor in the middle of the school day…Of course, I told my counselor that everything at home was ship-shape, but something tells me he didn’t believe me. I would graduate in a month, so there was really no point in doing anything about it. When I got home from school that day, I spent hours extensively researching the “signs you are being emotionally abused”. My life matched every checkpoint–every. single. one.
It’s like something was set free that day: I realized more than ever that I was allowing cruel, vindictive people to rule my life and I wanted to put a stop to it. I was tired of being the product of my “family”. It was time to be exactly what I was made to be: MYSELF. Coming out of the experience, I still have extreme self-esteem issues and fear. But the more I listen to your music–especially Plastic Ono Band–the greater my Hope For The Future becomes. I think the reason I had always been most drawn to you was because your music, especially songs like “Help !” and “I’m A Loser “, was speaking to me and making sense in a way that nothing (and no one) could. I just didn’t realize it at the time. And, hey, it also helps that you’re the most attractive man I’ve ever seen. But seriously, thank you so much for your music and your words. Thank you for your life and thank you for helping me reclaim mine. We may have never met, but I feel you’ll forever remain one of my greatest friends. Happy Birthday , friend.
Love,
Courtney
"I'm not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I've always been a freak. So I've been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know? I'm just one of those people."
5.18pm
10 August 2011
I celebrated John’s birthday (coincidentally) by having dinner with his optometrist, Gary Tracy. He told this story:
When John first went in for glasses, Gary had him fill out a “new client” form with address, phone #….
Lennon was reluctant to put down his phone #.
Gary suggested that he’d write down the number upside down and backwards a la Da Vinci.
John liked that.
Happy Birthday John.
"Into the Sky with Diamonds" (the Beatles and the Race to the Moon – a history)
6.12pm
20 January 2012
9.18pm
5 November 2011
Today is not a day to be upset about the man whose life was prematurely taken from him and his family, but a day to celebrate his life. He was a very talented man, and he has touched millions of people with his music, and with his beliefs. He was a man who loved his family, and even though he may not have always shown that to them, his family loved him. There are people who did not know him, and were born well after he died, but they have such an intense connection with him it would almost be just the same if they had known him. John Lennon was a very special person who brought joy to the lives of many people, and I might just be one of those people. Happy seventy-second birthday, John.
All living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit
9.57pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
To remember John today i compiled a playlist of 70 tracks, both outtakes and commercial versions, hit shuffle, and they blasted out when outside. Loved hearing the music again. All kinds of things came out in the music, the fun John had recording them, the emotional aspect of the dekota demos and songs like Grow Old With Me , the kick and energy the tracks had. More than anything you get to hear different sides of John in tracks like Give Peace A Chance (activist), Jealous Guy (tender), Move Over Ms L (kick ass fun), Beautiful Boy (loving father), Bless You (beautiful love song to a lost love).
At times its easier to get tied up in analysing what he recorded, so much so you lose just how good and varied his music is. Today it was getting back to the music and the man.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
3.51am
1 May 2010
I wore a Yellow Submarine t-shirt to school and some of my students asked me to play some Beatles song. One of them started singing Imagine all of sudden.
It was a nice day. I’ve been listening to John a lot. I got very emotional today while listening to Imagine .
And in the sky with diamonds, that’s a very cool story!!!
Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……
Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…
Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.
Beware of Darkness…
11.47pm
3 March 2012
I just returned from NYC. Took my 7 and 4 year old daughters to Strawberry Fields…. Walked by the Dakota. Its just still hard to do. Just so very sad…. God I hate that “that day” is fast approaching once again.
A square is not a square when the sides are less than four...
12.56am
12 November 2012
When I went to Strawberry Fields, a woman asked me why there was a random circle with the word “imagine” in the middle. I had to tell her that she was looking at a memorial for John Lennon . I was upset by this, but I have to realize that not everyone is a John lennon fan. I wanted to go back there on my birthday (which is on December 8th), but my family and I have other plans.
"The world is a very serious and, at times, very sad place - but at other times it is all such a joke."-George Harrison
2.44pm
1 December 2009
Surprised she didn’t ask “Where are the strawberries?”
GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
2.56pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Maybe after folk complain about the singing and tributes this year the fans will reply “sorry we hurt your field mister”.
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Von Bontee"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
3.28am
14 February 2012
meanmistermustard said
Maybe after folk complain about the singing and tributes this year the fans will reply “sorry we hurt your field mister”.
I. Want. This! Hahaha.
"I'm not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I've always been a freak. So I've been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know? I'm just one of those people."
2.29am
16 August 2012
2.57am
Reviewers
29 November 2012
We never forget, John…we all shine on…
I was 10 months old when he was taken from us all, but I take solace that for at least almost a year, I was alive when all 4 of them were, too.
"I know you, you know me; one thing I can tell you is you got to be free!"
Please Visit My Website, The Rock and Roll Chemist
Twitter: @rocknrollchem
Facebook: rnrchemist
4.32am
1 May 2010
The highlights of today :
– I was on a bus on my way to school and Imagine started playing, and at least 4 of the passengers (including me) started singing in loud voice.
– I went to a screening of Let it Be in a rooftop. Yes, a local radio station had a huge screen in a rooftop. The funny part? When the Beatles finished a song, all the crowd clapped as if it was a live concert.
– At the end, they showed Imagine video. Everybody sang it. It was beautiful.
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BeatlebugHere comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……
Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…
Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.
Beware of Darkness…
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