80
If John Lennon hadn’t been brutally murdered by a deranged mental case, he would have turned 80 yesterday.
His son, Sean, performed a song written by his father on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night.
It’s damn good.
It was also a brilliant choice by Sean to play. The lyrics are even more relevant today, than when they were first written.
People say we got it made
Don’t they know we’re so afraid?
Isolation
We’re afraid to be alone
Everybody got to have a home
Isolation
Just a boy and a little girl
Trying to change the whole wide world
Isolation
The world is just a little town
Everybody trying to put us down
Isolation
I don’t expect you to understand
After you’ve caused so much pain
But then again, you’re not to blame
You’re just a human, a victim of the insane
We’re afraid of everyone
Afraid of the sun
Isolation
The sun will never disappear
But the world may not have many years
Isolation
I like to look on the bright side - at least we live after John was alive.
I like to look on the bright side - at least we live after John was alive.
Or as George Harrison wrote, “Here comes the sun.”
Or as Amanda Gorman wrote: https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/amanda-gormans-inaugural-poem-is-a-stunning-vision-of-democracy?
To this day, his tragic murder affected me more than any other person’s death who I didn’t know personally. He should have had so many more years and songs.
But his music will live on, especially for those of us who grew up listening to him, in which his songs have place in the memories of our own lives.