Hey, everyone. It's a late night thing again. I got out of bed to read a bit. My wife had picked up a copy of Rolling Stone for me because I wanted to read the John Lennon interview. I just finished it as I sat here in the study where the light is better. It's between five and six in the morning.
I enjoyed the article very much and there was an article that Yoko Lennon wrote which described their last days together. I enjoyed both articles very much. It's funny, looking back. I never thought about the two of them facing the racial intolerance thing due to the mixed racial marriage. This is odd because I remember John's song, The Ballad Of John And Yoko which describes the lack of acceptance from people and governments. Especially as a young person, I never really thought about people other than as a person and I never thought of myself as a white guy, just as a guy. Besides, the males of my generation always thought of Japanese and Chinese women as incredibly hot, so what's the uproar about? That was probably due in part to movies like James Bond and a little later the TV miniseries called Shogun. (A terrific video) One thing is clear from these interviews, John was devoted to his wife and its hard for me to fault a guy for that.
John talked about what he perceived as his failures as a parent. He felt that artistic people were inherently selfish and that the giving of time to his son was difficult. He said that he found it tough sledding to play with his son and that he wasn't skilled at it. I would never have thought this, just judging by the times I've seen him clowning around with the Beatles on set.
Fame and critics were discussed and I got the impression that John was quite aware of the danger that nut-cases presented to him. During the interview, Yoko came in and said that there had just been a call from someone who identified himself as George Harrison who wanted to come over. She had called George's house and had been told that George was asleep and that the caller had not been him. On the critics discussion, I got the impression that John was a trifle bitter about some of his press but that he was remarkably philosophical about the whole thing.
For a guy my age it was great to get this glimpse into John's thinking and I'd recommend it to you. It's the December issue of the magazine and it has John on the cover.
This post, the article and my life, in a limited way, remind me of a terrific song by the Bellamy Brothers called He's An Old Hippy. The best part of that song goes, He was sure back in the sixties, that everyone was hip; then they sent him off to Vietnam, for his senior trip. I remember those days well. They had a draft lottery my senior year of high school. Every birthday was given a number and then they were pulled out, one number at a time, to see the order of being drafted, and of course sent to Vietnam. Even before my graduation, friends of mine were coming back from that senior trip in body bags.
It was a turbulent time with lots of social changes and I explore it at length in a novel which is finished but I haven't even started typing.
To put an end to the post let me say that I liked John's music and that's enough. I like to narrow the view of things. Is the man a writer? Do I like his writing? I don't have to have perfection from people that produce things I like. Indeed, their personal life is none of my business. Take Bret Favre, for instance. I've enjoyed watching him play football for a number of years. The personal stuff does not detract from that. When I was young I'd make friends with anyone. What did I care about their peculiarities? The issue was how they treated me. Many times now, I look back and admire some of my simplistic ways from the early years but as John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens while we're making plans."
From the green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
I enjoyed the article very much and there was an article that Yoko Lennon wrote which described their last days together. I enjoyed both articles very much. It's funny, looking back. I never thought about the two of them facing the racial intolerance thing due to the mixed racial marriage. This is odd because I remember John's song, The Ballad Of John And Yoko which describes the lack of acceptance from people and governments. Especially as a young person, I never really thought about people other than as a person and I never thought of myself as a white guy, just as a guy. Besides, the males of my generation always thought of Japanese and Chinese women as incredibly hot, so what's the uproar about? That was probably due in part to movies like James Bond and a little later the TV miniseries called Shogun. (A terrific video) One thing is clear from these interviews, John was devoted to his wife and its hard for me to fault a guy for that.
John talked about what he perceived as his failures as a parent. He felt that artistic people were inherently selfish and that the giving of time to his son was difficult. He said that he found it tough sledding to play with his son and that he wasn't skilled at it. I would never have thought this, just judging by the times I've seen him clowning around with the Beatles on set.
Fame and critics were discussed and I got the impression that John was quite aware of the danger that nut-cases presented to him. During the interview, Yoko came in and said that there had just been a call from someone who identified himself as George Harrison who wanted to come over. She had called George's house and had been told that George was asleep and that the caller had not been him. On the critics discussion, I got the impression that John was a trifle bitter about some of his press but that he was remarkably philosophical about the whole thing.
For a guy my age it was great to get this glimpse into John's thinking and I'd recommend it to you. It's the December issue of the magazine and it has John on the cover.
This post, the article and my life, in a limited way, remind me of a terrific song by the Bellamy Brothers called He's An Old Hippy. The best part of that song goes, He was sure back in the sixties, that everyone was hip; then they sent him off to Vietnam, for his senior trip. I remember those days well. They had a draft lottery my senior year of high school. Every birthday was given a number and then they were pulled out, one number at a time, to see the order of being drafted, and of course sent to Vietnam. Even before my graduation, friends of mine were coming back from that senior trip in body bags.
It was a turbulent time with lots of social changes and I explore it at length in a novel which is finished but I haven't even started typing.
To put an end to the post let me say that I liked John's music and that's enough. I like to narrow the view of things. Is the man a writer? Do I like his writing? I don't have to have perfection from people that produce things I like. Indeed, their personal life is none of my business. Take Bret Favre, for instance. I've enjoyed watching him play football for a number of years. The personal stuff does not detract from that. When I was young I'd make friends with anyone. What did I care about their peculiarities? The issue was how they treated me. Many times now, I look back and admire some of my simplistic ways from the early years but as John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens while we're making plans."
From the green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
Comments
Post a Comment