Random thoughts about Johnny
Happy Birthday, John
Hmmmm. You can whistle just as many John Lennon songs. "Girl" is a pretty expansive melody. So is "Good Night". McCartney could be totally raucous like "Helter Skelter" or screaming "Long Tall Sally". Lennon could give "Julia", "Imagine", "Beautiful Boy" (a totally whistle-able tune). Ok, some of his melodies tend to sit on one note as the chords change (Help, for instance, I Am The Walrus), but not all. Anyway, a tune you can whistle isn't (to me) the ultimate measure of a composition's worth.
Lennon also was WAY more likely to experiment with odd time signatures than McCartney. And Lennon chord changes and McCartney chord changes (and Harrison's too) are all about equal in my book-all three were unorthodox and original......and the songs are so well written, that you don't even notice it usually! It sounds so simple and perfect, as if it HAD to be that way!
Lennon played the Django Rheinhardt-style guitar solo in "Honey Pie" (in one take no less!), which shows he was conversant with jazz styles as well. But I do think McCartney was the all around best musician, no doubt. His guitar playing, totally underrated. Taxman guitar solo? Wow. Lots of other guitar solos too he doesn't get credit for. (Lennon also played the guitar solos in "You Can't Do That", "Get Back"-great solo, and the first solo in "Long Tall Sally")
I remember when I found out he was shot, the next morning, I was so distraught my mom kept me home from school. It was definitely a dividing line in my life, even though I was only 10. I've always drawn a line in my life: before Lennon was murdered and after.
That really set the tone for the 80's for me. The beginning of an era that in a way hasn't gone away, unfortunately....haha.
As far as John Lennon being an egoist...all I can say is: what person gets that kind of success and DOESN'T turn into Michael Jackson or Fat Elvis or any of these idiot divas that we currently have, throwing imbecilic temper tantrums....The Beatles were lucky they all had each other to keep them on the ground SOMEWHAT....and as a result, they turned out pretty damned good, considering they had the world eating out of the palm of their hands by the time they were about 23 (Lennon turned 23 in October of 1963, which was right before they played The Royal Variety Performance and also, at the end of October '63, had their first mob scene when they returned from Sweden to London...Ed Sullivan happened to be at the airport, wanted to know what all the fuss was about, and soon after booked them on to his American TV show....the rest is history....hahah) These guys could have TOTALLY been more like Michael Jackson. Lennon, of the 4, definitely was the closest to being that way....Yoko definitely didn't help.
Lennon wrote better lyrics than McCartney BY FAR. What's the summit of McCartney's lyrical powers? Hey Jude is excellent, I would say it doesn't get much better than that.
But McCartney never wrote ANYTHING close to sheer poetry like:
Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup, they slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind,
posessing and caressing me.
Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes that call me on and on across the universe,
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box they tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe
Sounds of laughter shades of earth are ringing through my open ears inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns, it calls me on and on across the universe
Jai guru de va om
Jai guru de va, jai guru de
We miss you John, we're still listening to you. 🙂
