DECEMBER 8th - Imagine That



On this day in 1980, John Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman. Chapman voluntarily stayed at the scene reading The Catcher in the Rye waiting to be apprehended, later saying that the book was his statement. I am not really sure what he meant by that. Catcher is one of the few books that I have read more than once, and I am not certain why conspiracists and killers feel such a connection to a sophomoric, spoiled character such as Holden Caulfield. The feelings of ostracism and the self-entitlement and passive-aggression perhaps. I don’t know. But before I get all book-reporty here, let’s just agree that Chapman was probably a nutter, though he did refuse to plead insanity. The real tragedy of course is the loss of one the most gifted songwriters in music history. Lennon and McCartney wrote some of the best songs in history, and that’s coming from someone who was always more of a Stones guy. And John was no slouch on his own. I don’t think there has been a more thought provoking-song than "Imagine." I used to think it was too radical to take seriously. No heaven, No governments, No religion. Can be taken as a bit nihilist in a certain light. Eventually I’ve come to appreciate the truth of the song (regardless of believing its real world implications) and the genius of the song is in that “imagine.” Yeah it’s still full of radical ideas, but I’ve come to think that the only truth-tellers that don’t get scrutinized to the point of derision are radicals or comedians--people the average viewer can shrug off as fools. That’s how Shakespeare used them, right? I am not calling Lennon a fool or a radical. I’m just lamenting the loss of a wonderful singer and songwriter that was taken too soon. Not sure what else you can do, beside know that songs he has written have touched generations and generations of people. I wonder if he imagined that.

This day has been Marked.

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