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We all shine on: the enduring resonance of John Lennon
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Let me begin by plainly stating what is patently obvious to music fans possessing even the slightest degree of insight into the John Lennon mythos: the man was no saint. Throughout his life Lennon was known to be taciturn, petty, and vindictive. While singing odes to enduring love with the Beatles, Lennon habitually cheated on his wife, Cynthia and was an absentee father to his first born son, Julian. While praising the virtues of peace, Lennon was embroiled in bitter personal conflicts, most notoriously with former bandmate and friend, Paul McCartney. Yet focusing exclusively on Lennon’s negative traits is a severe misjudgment of the man. The very same people injured by his lapses, those that knew him best, would be first to recognize his astonishing capacity for warmhearted humor, generosity, and forgiveness. Within Lennon’s character was a complexity of contradictory elements that goes far deeper than any of his iconic pop culture images can suggest.
Rather than denying his failings, Lennon was remarkably candid in his lyrical confessions. Collectively his lyrics read like the diary of an artistically gifted but emotionally wounded human being striving to live up to extraordinarily lofty ideals. In applying explicitly candid lyrics to his musical compositions, Lennon forged a profound connection with his listeners. By exposing his scars, Lennon revealed himself not as a rock god, but simply a flawed mortal. Expressions born of personal experience became universal anthems. Lennon’s view of the world, in essence, became a looking glass for generations.
Listeners connected with the raw emotions displayed by Lennon’s best work - whether the heart-rending loss of Mother, the insecurity of Jealous Guy, or the buoyant joy of newfound love in Oh Yoko. Each of those three songs, like so much of his work, runs the risk of being labeled too personally insular. But the songs endure because listeners still relate to those complex emotions. Even the vitriolic How Do You Sleep can be felt not as a specific attack on McCartney, but as the estranged pain resulting from a disintegrated friendship.
For good or bad, Lennon was a major influence on the proliferation of singer-songwriters in the 1970s, most of whom were nowhere near as gifted at stretching beyond themselves. Whether celebrating human potential in Instant Karma or dreaming of global unity in Imagine, Lennon had a unique gift for stepping outside himself to cast broader reflections upon the state of the world.
On December 8th, First Avenue will host the 29th Annual John Lennon Tribute, performed by locally renowned musician, Curtiss A and his exceptional supporting band. Curtiss A has been performing these tributes every year since the very night Lennon was tragically murdered. What started as a lamentation has evolved into a celebration of music that continues to inspire. Ranging from early Beatles classics to solo obscurities, Curtiss A and company never fail to invigorate the music with devoted passion. Rather than impersonating the original records, they inhabit the spirit, bringing forth the music’s vitality with conviction and abandon.
29 years since his death, Lennon’s songs still speak for our regrets and aspirations, our failures and our victories. Despite all the subsequent merchandising, the man was no saint. He was one of us; a flawed human being that continually struggled to live up to his own ideals of an envisioned better world. And that makes his accomplishments all the more worthy of celebration.
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