{"id":7493,"date":"2010-10-09T00:01:56","date_gmt":"2010-10-09T04:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=7493"},"modified":"2019-07-14T17:45:53","modified_gmt":"2019-07-14T21:45:53","slug":"musings-on-john-lennons-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/musings-on-john-lennons-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Musings on John Lennon’s Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, well, well<\/a>. John Lennon would have been 70 today. It’s strange to think that it’s been almost 30 years since he was murdered. I remember getting up for school that morning. My mother, who was in the kitchen surprisingly early, told me, “John Lennon was killed,” and I said, “WHO?!” because I was so shocked. She thought I really didn’t know who he was because she started explaining, “John Lennon from the Beatles!” But I’ve had that same “WHO?!” reaction many times since then upon being told of someone’s death, no matter how well I know the person in question. I hear the word “died” and my mind goes blank for a moment.<\/p>\n

It’s also strange to think that I’m now older than he was when he was killed.<\/p>\n

I expect that a lot of people will be quoting from “Imagine” today, but as I’ve said before<\/a>, that’s not my favorite Lennon song. I prefer “God<\/a>,” with its repetition of\u00a0 “I don’t believe …” In general, I’m more interested in the funny, smart, bitchy, insecure, paranoid, Jealous Guy<\/a>, mother<\/a>-obsessed, heroin-using<\/a>, Paul-McCartney-criticizing<\/a>, nude-album-cover-creating<\/a> Lennon to the peacenik saint image that’s so popular.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>