Holding John Lennon Up To The Light

I just heard this song in a restaurant and it elicited the usual response from me.  A resounding "oh, cut the bullshit."

John Lennon was a good songwriter, I said "good" advisedly, but in every other way he was a bad person.  He was bad to his friends, bad to his band, bad to all of his wives and girlfriends, and bad to his children.  Very bad to Julian, and if he hadn't suddenly died he'd have been bad to Shaun as well.  It's not a difficult prediction, he was bad to everybody.  You wouldn't have wanted to meet him, he'd have mocked you severely and probably thrown up on you. 

And this "Peace" stuff was all total bullshit.  It's all conclusory, he presents only the conclusion that peace is where it's at and we should all just love each other!  Just like that!  Like it was simple!  Just take the advice of the genius, John Lennon, and decide right now to love your fellow man!  Wow, why didn't I think of that? Imagine all of the people involved in all of the world's conflicts in all of the world's countries suddenly striking a palm to their foreheads and saying, "Sweet God of mercy!  It's so easy!  I just need to love this person that I was trying to kill a minute ago!"  Oh, excuse me, no crying out to God, because religion has to go too.  And property.  Then we'll have peace! 

In his own mind he was much too great a genius for the persona of "rock star" to hold.  He started out wanting to be Elvis and ended up wanting to be Gandhi.  Gandhi on heroin. 

He was a good songwriter, and a fair guitar player and singer, and he performed well for a few years there in a good band.  Revolver, Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper's, and maybe even Imagine, were great albums.  But let's face it, in the final analysis, he was no Paul McCartney.