Imagine: Tribute to John Lennon

On this day in 1980, John Lennon was murdered.
Assassinated by a deranged fan
outside The Dakota,
where Lennon lived with wife and muse Yoko Ono
and had been a stay-at-home dad
 for their young son Sean.

I remember waking up to the news
and feeling stunned. 
Horrified. 

I felt stricken, 
knowing that all however-unlikely hope
 for a Beatles reunion was now moot.

It angered me that such senseless acts of violence
existed and that this cultural icon's life
ended in such a gruesome and tragic way. 

It felt so personal.

The assassin had ripped a hole
in the fabric of my life,
tore the threads of melody that sang
stories of loves found and loves lost,
tales of youthful fascination with things
counter to the dominant culture,
taking a stance against war and discrimination,
in favor of peace and justice.

When the Beatles first invaded American shores,
John wasn't my favorite Beatle.
I'll freely admit to being into cute. . .
and cute described Paul, 
even if he was way too old for me
(though these days it seems that 
the only men interested in me are way too old.
Go figure!)
But John's irreverent wit, his brilliance,
his quirkiness, his activism, and his heart
won me over.

"Too Soon Gone" created on Polyvore.com by MeriMagic/Meri Arnett-Kremian

To this day, listening to Imagine makes me cry.
It was John's best-selling single and 
Rolling Stone named it # 3 
on the list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Rolling Stone described the lyrics as "22 lines
of graceful, plain-spoken faith in the power
of a world, united in purpose, 
to repair and change itself."

The song was not without vociferous critics, however.

It was called "the most subversive pop song recorded
to achieve classic status."

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro
held nothing back when he opined:

"There are no words for how truly evil and terrible this song is ... 
utter and complete rubbish ... It's vomit-inducing bad ... 
It commits the worst musical sin: it is completely boring ...
 But that's not what makes this song so horrible. 
For that, we have to examine the lyrics, 
which are not just ignorant, but Soviet-style ignorant.
 It's a communist, atheist song, pure and simple ...
 no borders, no God, no meaning, no values, and no wealth. 
And it's being penned and sung by
 one of the richest people on the planet.
 Despicable as art; despicable as politics."

So there you have it. 
Proof positive you can't please
all of the people
all of the time.

If it makes you feel any better,
I also cry every time I hear
that non-Soviet song
Woman.

And anyway,
my point is (besides paying tribute to Lennon)
to spread his message

"Give Peace a Chance" created on Polyvore.com by MeriMagic/Meri Arnett-Kremian

How utterly subversive!