JOHN LENNON - IN MY LIFE...

I RECALL CLEARLY THE BEATLES COMING TO AMERICA IN 1964.

I REMEMBER RIDING TO THE GROCERY STORE WITH MY FAMILY AND LAUGHING AND GETTING ALL THEIR NAMES STRAIGHT.

I REMEMBER THE EXCITEMENT AS I SAT ON THE FLOOR WATCHING THEM ON THAT UNFORGETTABLE ED SULLIVAN SHOW THAT LONG AGO NIGHT IN FEBRUARY OF '64.

I REMEMBER GOING TO SEE THEIR TWO MOVIES A HARD DAY'S NIGHT AND HELP!.

THERE WAS A CONSTANT SCREAM FROM THE GIRLS IN THE THEATER ALL DURING BOTH FILMS.

IT WAS SURREAL, A BIZARRE MOVIE-GOING EXPERIENCE, NEVER TO THIS DAY DUPLICATED.

90 MINUTES OF GIRLS SCREAMING - YOU COULDN'T HEAR THE DIALOGUE, JUST THE SCREAMS WAFTING THROUGHOUT THE THEATER.

MY PAL GORDY MANDELL AND I WERE TALKING ABOUT THE BEATLES ONE DAY AT LUNCH AND HE ASKED ME MY FAVORITE BEATLE.

WE LOOKED AT A SERVING TRAY WITH ALL FOUR BEATLES PHOTOS ON IT AND I IMMEDIATELY AND INSTINCTIVELY POINTED AT JOHN LENNON.

JOHN WAS THE BEATLE WHO WROTE THE BOOKS, THE FUNNY BEATLE, THE TOUGH BEATLE.

AS GEORGE HARRISON SO PERFECTLY PUT IT: "JOHN GAVE THE BEATLES THEIR HARD EDGE".

THEY WERE ALL FUNNY, ALL FOUR BEATLES, BUT JOHN'S WISECRACKS AND ANSWERS TO INTERVIEWER'S QUESTIONS WERE ALWAYS JUST A LITTLE FUNNIER, A BIT MORE CLEVER, THAN THE OTHERS.

HE ALWAYS SMILED, BUT ALWAYS WITH A LITTLE BIT OF A SMIRK BEHIND IT.

EVEN AT THEIR GREATEST MOMENT, ON THAT IMMORTAL FIRST "ED SULLIVAN SHOW", I SAW JOHN SMILING, BUT KIND OF SMIRKING.

AS THE WHOLE WORLD WAS FLIPPING OUT AND GOING GAGA OVER THE FAB FOUR, JOHN SEEMED TO BE SAYING TO HIMSELF, "ISN'T THIS SUCH BULLSH*T?"

JOHN HAD THE GREATEST VOICE IN THE HISTORY OF ROCK MUSIC.

OH, IT WASN'T AS PRETTY AS PAUL MCCARTNEY'S OR AS SMOOTH AS ELVIS PRESLEY'S, BUT IT JUST SO PERFECTLY CHANNELED WHAT ROCK 'N' ROLL IS.

IT WAS PRIMITIVE, VERY GUTTURAL.

BUT IT ELECTRIFIED YOU, MADE YOU WANT TO JUMP, TO GET UP OUT OF YOUR CHAIR AND DANCE, THIS IS WHAT GREAT ROCK MUSIC IS ALL ABOUT.

IT WAS PERFECT (ALTHOUGH, IRONICALLY, JOHN ALWAYS HATED HIS OWN VOICE. KIND OF LIKE THESE GORGEOUS, KNOCKOUT WOMEN WHO HATE THEIR OWN LOOKS.).

HE WAS THE GREATEST SONGWRITER EVER.

OMG------HELP, STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER, IN MY LIFE, GIRL, TICKET TO RIDE, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS, ET AL.

AND THAT PERFECT WRITING COMBINATION WITH PAUL.

JOHN'S HARSHNESS, HIS TOUGHNESS, HIS CYNICAL, UNFORGIVING, RATHER BRUTAL NATURE- COMBINED WITH PAUL'S LIGHTHEARTED OPTIMISM, HIS WARMTH, HIS HOPEFULNESS, HIS SWEET MELODIC CHARM.

THEY OFFSET EACH OTHER SO PERFECTLY, MUCH LIKE DEAN MARTIN AND JERRY LEWIS HAD A FEW YEARS EARLIER.

LIKE SO MANY GREAT ARTISTS, JOHN SUFFERED.

HE WAS ALWAYS IN SPIRITUAL PAIN.

THIS WAS EASED, TO A GREAT DEGREE, ACCORDING TO HIM, BY HIS BELOVED WIFE AND PARTNER YOKO ONO.

MANY OF US BEATLE FANS COULD NOT COMPREHEND YOKO AND NEVER WILL, BUT THE FACT OF HER BRINGING SUCH JOY INTO JOHN'S LIFE WILL ALWAYS BE APPRECIATED BY US- JUST AS JOHN BROUGHT SO MUCH JOY INTO OURS.

I DON'T KNOW WHERE JOHN LENNON IS NOW- WHERE HE ENDED UP AFTER THAT JERK-OFF TOOK HIM AWAY FROM US.

WHEREVER HE IS, HE IS STIRRING UP TROUBLE SOMEHOW, STIRRING THE POT, I AM SURE, SASSING BACK AUTHORITY, ENTERTAINING, MAKING THEM LAUGH, ENCHANTING HIS FOLLOWERS.

JUST AS HE DID WITH US.

JOHN HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY GREATEST HERO.

ABOVE ALL THE OTHERS - ABOVE JERRY LEWIS AND DEAN MARTIN AND F.D.R. AND WYATT EARP AND WOODY ALLEN AND CLARK GABLE AND DOC HOLLIDAY AND OLIVER HARDY AND TOM BRADY AND ELVIS AND CHARLIE CHAPLIN AND BUSTER KEATON AND TOM HANKS AND JOHN TRAVOLTA AND MICHAEL JORDAN AND BABE RUTH.

AND YES, EVEN ABOVE PAUL, GEORGE AND RINGO.

I'VE MET MANY CELEBRITIES AND I'VE MET OR SEEN FIVE U.S.PRESIDENTS.

SOMETIMES I'VE BEEN DISAPPOINTED BY THESE ENCOUNTERS.

I DEEPLY REGRET NEVER MEETING JOHN LENNON.

SOMEHOW I KNOW IN MY HEART THAT MEETING HIM WOULD HAVE BEEN EXCITING, ELECTRIFYING AND UNFORGETTABLE.

BUT NEVER DISAPPOINTING.

THIS GUY WAS A FORCE OF NATURE.

HE WAS WILD, UNCHAINED, UNINHIBITED.

HE TOOK DRUGS LIKE THE REST OF US CONSUMED JELLYBEANS.

HE LASHED OUT, BOTH PHYSICALLY AND VERBALLY.

AND LIKE ALL OF US, HE OFTEN LATER REGRETTED WHAT HE'D SAID OR DONE.

JOHN WAS ALL OF OUR GREATEST LOVES.

THAT SPECIAL BOYFRIEND OR GIRLFRIEND WE'LL NEVER FORGET.

AND AS WITH ALL THE TRULY GREATS, WE ALL LIVED THROUGH HIM VISCERALLY - AT LEAST TO A DEGREE.

I KNOW I DID.

AND I ALWAYS WILL.

Comments

[Frank Jackman]

Excellent perspective Eddie! Thank you.

[Ari Ross]

That is a really wonderful and thoughtful posting on what John Lennon meant to you (and at least to a degree most of us during that era).

Have you ever considered writing a book about your life? I think it might be a bestseller!

[Jack Huerta]

Eddie, I think this is one of your best stories ever. Although all of The Beatles were great, you hit it right on the head with John. John Lennon was Thee Guy!!! Also my favorite hero period. Not just my favorite Beatle. My favorite hero. No denying that. He is the one person that walked this earth that really had a major effect on my life. I do believe that I'm a guitar player because of him. I was 9 when I started learning. My 9th birthday was 12 days after that first appearance of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. One of my best friends, Bob Mytkowicz, aka Bobby Fury, who owns so many of the instruments liked The Beatles used and we also played in a '60's cover band together many years ago before I moved to Portland, is a Beatles expert much like you. He once told me that I had the largest collection of Beatle Boots on the west coast. Hah! Great, great, story on John!!!

[Gary Kennamer]

So true, Eddie. And so eloquently put. I share exactly the same sentiments. I can tell you've read all the same books about John & Los Beatles. The one thing that pops into my head, which perfectly sums up Lennon, was when a frustrated school teacher threw him up against a wall and demanded to know what Lennon was going to do with his life. John rather non-chalantly answered, probably with that smirk you mentioned, "I'm gonna be a rock-n-roll singer". He couldn't have been more than 17 or 18, but he knew. I don't recall the teacher's name, but John's name will be remembered forever.

[MARK DEMOS]

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Well said......with your best point being how BOTH Paul, and Yoko, in different, but VERY important ways, were the "Yin" to John Lennon's "Yang" (or vice-versa!), that, in the end, allowed him to flourish both professionally and personally.....

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