I'm Only Sleeping

No, not the Beatles song from their album Revolver, a great record by the way (I can't make up my mind whether it or Sgt. Pepper is the group's best) where John Lennon laments that he's, uh, only sleeping. But sleep for me is on the one hand more elusive, while on the other can happen quite unexpectedly.

I can be at home stretched across the bed of an evening, clean, fed, and seemingly comfortable after a trying day, yet can't get close to sleep. The ceiling draws near as I stare at it; closed eyes are only that, and there are no distractions. My mind isn't set onto any disturbing, hurried or worried thoughts. I just can't drift off. 

Then in the middle of the afternoon at the old barn I'll find myself hot, dirty, completely uncomfortable, sweat soaked and generally physically miserable. I'll sit down at my desk in what passes as an office, with a coffee from my Shop Keurig at the ready, taking a break to gather myself, and doze off in seconds, chin on my chest, with no trouble whatsoever. I don't even realize it's happened, and am typically jolted awake by a phone call twenty minutes later. 

Why is that? And I should have shut off my phone.

No Need To Imagine

I have said before that, while most things don't bother me too much these days, some things nevertheless instantly infuriate me. The Montreal Canadiens infuriated me, instantly, this past Saturday night. Before their hockey game against the Seattle Kraken, they played John Lennon's Imagine. They did it to show support for Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion.

Are you kidding me? There's a joke, a very bad one, in there somewhere, isn't there? Several jokes, I, uh, imagine.

You don't think so? Then allow me to explain.

To begin with, Lennon's song says 'Imagine there's no countries' before a sporting event featuring a team named, for all practical purposes, after a country. That's such delightful irony that it must have been intended as humor.

But let's continue to imagine no countries. There might not be a Ukraine in the next few weeks, so the joke must be that Soviet, er, Russian leader Putin is doing what he can to aid the ringing in of the ex-Beatle's dream world.

Imagine no religion. Well, Putin apparently has none, so there's another of John and Yoko's visions coming true.

Imagine nothing to live or die for. Well, I guess the whole war is Ukraine's fault then. The Ukrainian people dare to believe they have something worth living for, and therefore worth dying for. They deserve to be imagined out of existence. It fits the narrative of the song, does it not?

Imagine all the people living for today. Well, Putin certainly is, while Ukrainians die for today. Another unforced error by Kyiv.

Imagine no hell below us. Well, the Ukrainians don't have to do that. Hell is all around them.

Just so you do get it, and just because I'm mad enough that I want to be a total smartass right now, I'm quoting Lennon's song and offering explanations for the rank stupidly behind it as applied to real world events. Do you understand that?

Because if you don't, keep singing. An attack on your smug self righteousness will surely come upon you someday to explain it more powerfully.

Bad post Beatles

Yesterday I mentioned my favorite songs from each of the Beatles as solo artists. Today I will tell you my least favorites.

I don't actually have any George Harrison or Ringo Starr efforts which I don't like. They have some bland things out there but nothing which makes me wretch. But there are two, one each by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, which are simply bad songs.

Sorry Lennon fans, but Imagine is a cloying tune with an insipid and banal message. He's basically saying there's nothing to live for. End of story.

For Sir Paul, it's Temporary Secretary.  It's McCartney's attempt at technopop, and it's embarrassingly bad. Stomach churning bad. Not even bad enough to be good. No. Where. Close. It's awful.

There you have them. My work here is done.

Post Beatles

My favorite John Lennon post Beatles song is Instant Karma! 

George Harrison? I would go with his cover Got my Mind Set on You.

Band on the Run for Sir Paul.

And with Ringo Starr, it would be Oh My My.

I just thought I'd share that with you this morning. I know you've been curious.

Christmas and John Lennon

During the Christmas season we hear ad infinitum all and every Christmas song imaginable. That's okay, of course. They are part of the holidays and many are well worth hearing, containing sentiments expressed well and to a good point.

Not all of them quite make that standard, however; even some of the better ones. John Lennon's Happy Xmas (War is Over) is one of those. It is a neat little tune, at times ethereal and perhaps even angelic. But the trouble with it is that it preaches to the choir just a bit too much, while more or less undermining the very sentiments it pretends to address.

War is over...if you want it. Well, of course the bulk of the Western world wants it. Indeed, most individuals in the world want it. Yet the problem with calling for the end of war is that it falls on too many deaf ears. So long as that's the case, so long as there are those who do in fact want it on some level, then we have little more than something too idealistic to be practical.

Especially when you attempt to combine Lennon's general philosophy with the apparent point of the song. One need only recall the words of another famous song of his to get that irony: Imagine there's no heaven...no religion. In short, he usually in his life appealed to sentiments contrary to Christmas. Without Heaven or Religion there would be no Christmas. Indeed, with nothing universal and eternal, the sentiments he expresses in his work are rendered meaningless. There can be no brotherhood of man worth salt without forever.

And Forever is precisely what the greatest Christmas songs call us towards. Family, friends, fellowship; these are eternal values. John Lennon ultimately only speaks in support of earthly ones. Values of the type he could not safely proclaim even or especially in the Gulag, or modern China or North Korea. Places, it must be noted, without heaven or religion. Places mired in earthly concerns.

In the end, what he preaches must be hollow. Or, and we should truly and fully hope and pray for this, the song shows he was in fact a better man than his professed creed. Because as it is, what he calls for is little more than comfort and self indulgence. Those feelings are not in the Christmas spirit.

John Lennon and Christmas

During the Christmas season we hear ad infinitum all and every Christmas song imaginable. That's okay, of course. They are part of the holidays and many are well worth hearing, containing sentiments expressed well and to a good point.

Not all of them quite make that standard, however; even some of the better ones. John Lennon's Happy Xmas (War is Over) is one of those. It is a neat little tune, at times ethereal and perhaps even angelic. But the trouble with it is that it preaches to the choir just a bit too much, while more or less undermining the very sentiments it pretends to address.

War is over...if you want it. Well, of course the bulk of the Western world wants it. Indeed, most individuals in the world want it. Yet the problem with calling for the end of war is that it falls on too many deaf ears. So long as that's the case, so long as there are those who do in fact want it on some level, then we have little more than a vague ideal too fantastic to be practical.

Especially when you attempt to combine Lennon's general philosophy with the apparent point of the song. One need only recall the words of another famous tune of his to get that irony: Imagine there's no heaven...no religion. In short, he usually in his life appealed to sentiments contrary to Christmas. Without Heaven or Religion there would be no Christmas. Indeed, with nothing universal and eternal, the sentiments he expresses in his work are rendered meaningless. There can be no brotherhood of man worth salt without forever.

And Forever is precisely what the greatest Christmas songs call us towards. Family, friends, fellowship; these are eternal values. John Lennon ultimately only speaks in support of earthly ones. Values of the type he could not safely proclaim even or especially in the Gulag, or modern China or North Korea. Places, it must be noted, without heaven or religion. Places mired in earthly concerns.

In the end, what he preaches must be hollow. Or, and we should truly and fully hope and pray for this, the song shows he was in fact a better man than his professed creed. Because as it is, what he calls for is little more than comfort and self indulgence. Those feelings are not in the Christmas spirit.