Imagine

It is very unfair that the world was robbed of John Lennon 30 years ago tonight. It seems very strange to me that I have lived on a John Lennon-less world from birth. I missed him by a little less than 3 months. I tend to gravitate away from songs that get overplayed or seem like the "popular" songs by an artist. I think that so much of John Lennon's solo work is ignored by the masses in favor of "Imagine." And while "Imagine" is a very beautiful song, musically and lyrically, I am ashamed to admit that this is one of those songs that I will gravitate away from when I hear it. I cringe when I hear it being covered. This will certainly advance my status as a music snob. I could launch into a page-long diatribe on how music is a very personal thing to me and songs like "Imagine" get latched onto by the public as a whole and this is why I stay away from them. But I won't. Not tonight anyway. "Imagine" doesn't belong to me. Not today or any other day. And on this 30th anniversary of his senseless murder, "Imagine" is the song that sent me into the uncontrollable tears that inevitably come whenever I focus too hard on his death.

I have often wondered what John would be like today if he had never been killed. Would he be relevant? About a week ago, I watched a documentary on PBS about John's later years and his life in New York City. Today, as I remembered John and I thought about what life would be like if John were still alive, the one thing that kept popping up in my mind was 9/11. I guess it was because that documentary was so fresh on my mind. There was no denying that John fell in love with NYC. Today all I could imagine was what 9/11 would have been like through the eyes of John Lennon were he still alive and living in NYC. What a disappointing, heartbreaking day that would have been for him. Not that it wasn't those things already for so many people. How disappointing to know that all those years after you sang "Imagine," and you stood up and you spoke against the violence and hatred in the world. that these horrific things still happened. Would that make John angry? Sad? Is it even possible to imagine that he could have become accustomed to such acts of hatred? I don't think so.

Good night, John Lennon. I miss you. The world misses you.