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well, the dying is done, and the guy's music still around, so i
think you made the right choice brian.
personally, i still like most of what he did. Certainly had a major
impact on the business et al. As far as culture, i don't think any of
the Beatles changed the world, but i'd buy the notion that they/he were
rather high profile mirrors of what was happening.
rather useless to speculate what the last decade would have
brought.
bob
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| Well, maybe I should mention that I heard last night's episode of the
"Lost Lennon Tapes" show last night and wondering why this ugliness is
still on the air. It started out as an excuse to air private demos and
rarities. It has stooped now to a "fantasy" episode: a "simulated"
concert by J&Y if he hadn't died and gone on to tour in 1981.
Coming up next: John goes on "Hollywood Squares", Yoko reveals her
affair with Geraldo and a simulation of a concert with John, Jimi and
Miles Davis. 8^) 8^)
Accckkkk.....
Brian
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re .? - ya, a simulated concert seemed rather tasteless. As i
recall his worst fear was ending up like Elvis and playing Vegas.
Well, Elvis played Vegas while the living dead, and john will probably
end up as a hologram playing in Ceasar's Palace some time in the
future.
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I just finished reading a book by John Lennon, Skywriting By Word Of
Mouth. It's his stories, drawings, poems, and autobiography.
Lennon's writing is funny, although his sense of humour gets real odd
at times. The parts where he picks up on Nixon (for obvious reasons)
are hilarious, but overall I did not find the book a pleasant reading.
It is not supposed to be a pleasant reading either. It is intentional
that it is disturbing. His drawings are adorable by the way.
Although the book did not make me a fan of John Lennon as an author,
his writing style displays intelligence and creativity. I agree with
one of the critics who says "Lennon has a playful say with words,
toying with them, tossing in ideas, and stringing them together in
sentences that ring as true as his finest songs." Well, I don't know
about the "as true as his finest songs" part, but the rest is true.
He comes up with these things like "Classical Musak College of
Inferior Decorating" or "scholarships on bedwetting in early Rome"...
From the autobiography, I understand that John and Yoko did not have
opinions of their own. They have always had a common opinion on
everything ever since, quote, they've together become man, unquote.
Lennon starts by saying that he always had fantasies about a beautiful,
intelligent, dark-haired, high-cheek-boned, oriental, free-spirited
artist. He says that he had never met anyone worth breaking up a
happily-married state of boredom for. About his wife "She also had had
side-interests, much to the surprise of my pre-liberated male ego"
referring to her brief affair that coincides with his meeting with
Yoko.
Some parts I thought were interesting :
"Yoko also gave me the inner strength to look more closely at my other
marriage. My real marriage. To the Beatles, which was more stifling
than my domestic life. Although I had thought of it often enough,
I lacked the guts to make the break earlier."
"My life with the Beatles had become a trap. A tape loop. ... Although
even then (1965) my eye was already on freedom."
"I must say I felt guilty for springing it on them at such short
notice. After all, I had Yoko - they only had eachother. I was guilty
enough to give McCartney credit as a co-writer on my first independent
single instead of giving it to Yoko, who had actually co-authored it
(Give Peace a Chance)."
"I started the band. I disbanded it. It's as simple as that."
Explaining the court case with the government :
"In the car the first morning on the way to court, we were both very
nervous. We had followed the psychic's instructions carefully: read
the right passages in the King James Bible, had put the right verses
in our boots, and dowsed our ritually folded hankerchiefs with the
magic oil."
Although annoying at times, interesting book all-in-all.
Lale
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