Greetings,
And so it is October 9th once again. I bet a lot of people know why this date might be significant to me and all the fans of a particular man. That man would be John Lennon, and today is his birthday. I know he passed away years ago, but I like the idea of using the day where his life started to celebrate it. The best way I can think to do that for myself, since he did so much to inspire my writing, is to devote some of it to him. Specifically, I wanted to share my favorite songs of his.
Before I begin, let me clarify. These songs are only from his solo career, so no Beatles songs. Yeah, I'm not sure I could never make a top ten list of those. Maybe top one hundred. I think these are all ones that people know, and I may have omitted some that would seem like slam dunks for the list. But we all have our personal favorites. These are mine.
#10. "Cold Turkey" - Hey, wanna know why I'm never going to do heroine? Well, it pretty much has to do with this song. It goes through the horrific experience of getting oneself clean from drugs and doing it "cold turkey". It's raw and harsh and vicious even, but sometimes the truth hurts.
#9. "#9 Dream" - What an appropriate spot for this song. Anyway, I'm a person who loves dreams and has been quite affected by some of my own. Apparently, I'm not the only one, since this song was very much inspired by a dream that John had. Oh, we artists can't even take a break when we sleep.
#8. "Working Class Hero" - This probably would have placed higher, but he just had to go and drop those F-bombs. It was pretty controversial at the time for him to do so. I guess I understand that he was very passionate about the things he was singing, and this was his way of punctuating it. Regardless of that, I think the song is great.
#7. "Mother" - Much like "Cold Turkey", this song has a foundation built on pure and very strong emotions. Each note makes you feel something and that is what a gifted songwriter is supposed to do for those of us who hear his music. John really makes us understand the life he had and didn't have with his parents. Being that honest takes some courage.
#6. "How Do You Sleep?" - Whoever said that women are the cattiest of all creatures probably never heard this song. Here we have some good firing back between former best friends, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. I say "former" in the technical sense. Clearly, at this time, they were mad at each other, but we do hurt the ones we love most. In my opinion, the fact that they were taking the time to have these musical arguments proves that they still cared. That's pretty much the reason why this song stands out.
#5. "Grow Old With Me" - I've heard this wild rumor that people used to get married and then stay married until they got old and died. Weird, I know. I guess John wanted to do that with Yoko. Now no matter what I or anyone else may feel about her or their relationship, this song he wrote about them was absolutely beautiful. The idea of it may seem dated by today's standards, and what life held for them makes the song a little sad, but it is still something for which some people strive.
#4. "Love" - There's not much to say about this song, and yet it places pretty high on this list. I think it is because of how simple it is. Sometimes love is simple and very straight forward. I have yet to find a song that expresses that idea so well.
#3. "Jealous Guy" - This one was actually begun during John's Beatle days during their time in India. The lyrics were different then, and the song was planned to be recorded a few times but never was. The music and the officially known lyrics were finally made into this song on 1971. See, this is why I try not to throw anything I write away.
#2. "How?" - I love when even the best of us can still have questions, and he had a lot of questions in this song. Whether or not any of them were answered, I have no idea. But knowing that he was in the same position as so many people was probably a comfort to them.
#1. "Watching the Wheels" - I decided a long time ago that I can't live my life to please other people in the world, just God and myself, in that order. That is why this song speaks to me so much. I know that John was writing this to respond to people who said he should come out of his retirement and get back to making music, but it can really be the story of a lot of us. Myself included. More than any other.
I know that John Lennon was far from a saint, though some people like to put him in that category. I just think he was an ordinary man with extraordinary talents. He was flawed, but there were also great things about him. I think the great things were what he shared with us, his songs. And to me, these are the best of those.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
