By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions. We in turn value your personal details in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Please log in or register. Registered visitors get fewer ads.
not apologising for starting another music thread, especially as it concerns a true legend.
today, 9 october, marks what would have been john lennon's 75th birthday.
can't post the video link thingy, but here are some poignant words the man wrote:
As soon as you're born they make you feel small By giving you no time instead of it all 'Til the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be A working class hero is something to be
They hurt you at home and they hit you at school They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool 'Til you're so fukking crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be A working class hero is something to be
When they've tortured and scared you for 20 odd years Then they expect you to pick a career When you can't really function, you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be A working class hero is something to be
Keep you doped with religion, and sex, and T.V. And you think you're so clever and classless and free But you're still fukking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be A working class hero is something to be
There's room at the top they are telling you still But first you must learn how to smile as you kill If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be A working class hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero well just follow me If you want to be a hero well just follow me
any other offerings to remember a great man, singer, songwriter?
(stands back and waits for the john lennon haters to wake up, register and comment)
[Post edited 9 Oct 2015 9:50]
It's not what you've got; it's where you stick it.
I downvoted the original post by accident due to being clumsy. But you'll find nothing but respect for Lennon from me.
And always a good excuse for this
I will always remember a Q Magazine review of Revolver in some or other Best Albums ever and then when they came to Tomorrow Never Knows they wrote something along the lines of "After 3m 42secs the entire Western World said what the fcuk was that?"
To me this track is like Peter Gabriel asking Liam and Noel to contribute to one of new songs!
Number 9 Dream = Charlie gets 65 goals this season.
As John Lennon said " 'Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé, Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé, Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé,Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé, Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé" and he never said a truer word.
Why does it feel like R'SWiPe is still on the books? Yer Couldn't Make It Up.Well Done Me!
Let me take you down Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields Nothing is real And nothing to get hung about Strawberry Fields forever
Living is easy with eyes closed Misunderstanding all you see It's getting hard to be someone But it all works out It doesn't matter much to me
Let me take you down Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields Nothing is real And nothing to get hung about Strawberry Fields forever
No one I think is in my tree I mean it must be high or low That is you can't, you know, tune in But it's all right That is I think it's not too bad
Let me take you down Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields Nothing is real And nothing to get hung about Strawberry Fields forever
Always, no sometimes, think it's me But you know I know when it's a dream I think I know I mean a yes But it's all wrong That is I think I disagree
Let me take you down Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields Nothing is real And nothing to get hung about Strawberry Fields forever Strawberry Fields forever Strawberry Fields forever
Here are some comments I made about that interview:
'A very interesting interview.
Lennon was anti-authority, anti-the British establishment, and anti-war:
'It’s pretty basic when you’re brought up, like I was, to hate and fear the police as a natural enemy and to despise the army as something that takes everybody away and leaves them dead somewhere.' A far cry from today's belief that the British army is in Afghanistan to help Afghan women to get an education.
However, he is troubled by the conservatism of the British working class. Why do they not seek to overthrow the establishment? The workers like:
a) tellies b) Engelbert Humperdinck
and frankly, that can't be good. Therefore the workers need to be 'woken up' by students (the students were formerly under suspicion for having big scarves and liking folk songs, but now they seem to have come good).
He's also pretty naive about Mao 'keeping the ball rolling'.
I do feel the interview is a little misleading because it's 'guided' in a certain direction by Blackburn and Ali, and even under the hegemony of those two luminaries of the International Marxist Group it goes in circles on certain issues (such as violence).
I am therefore wary of recruiting Lennon into the ranks of revolutionary socialism. My impression is rather that Lennon believed in 'Revolution in the Head'. This is why he was drawn towards therapy and eastern mysticism, and the Beatles drifted from guru to guru. Just as he had thrown off his own ideas about religion, so he seemed to believe that revolution consisted of other people throwing off *their* wrong ideas (such as attachment to tellies and Engelbert Humperdinck). I think for him revolution is something 'within', so what need is there for change in the external world once the head of the individual has been cleared? At least that other great individualist Oscar Wilde got straight to the heart of the matter by tracing the ills of the system to the institution of private property: http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/wilde-oscar/soul-man/
For what it's worth I believe that any system that aspires to replace capitalism has to be both more efficient and more productive than capitalism. Because love is not all you need.'
Here are some comments I made about that interview:
'A very interesting interview.
Lennon was anti-authority, anti-the British establishment, and anti-war:
'It’s pretty basic when you’re brought up, like I was, to hate and fear the police as a natural enemy and to despise the army as something that takes everybody away and leaves them dead somewhere.' A far cry from today's belief that the British army is in Afghanistan to help Afghan women to get an education.
However, he is troubled by the conservatism of the British working class. Why do they not seek to overthrow the establishment? The workers like:
a) tellies b) Engelbert Humperdinck
and frankly, that can't be good. Therefore the workers need to be 'woken up' by students (the students were formerly under suspicion for having big scarves and liking folk songs, but now they seem to have come good).
He's also pretty naive about Mao 'keeping the ball rolling'.
I do feel the interview is a little misleading because it's 'guided' in a certain direction by Blackburn and Ali, and even under the hegemony of those two luminaries of the International Marxist Group it goes in circles on certain issues (such as violence).
I am therefore wary of recruiting Lennon into the ranks of revolutionary socialism. My impression is rather that Lennon believed in 'Revolution in the Head'. This is why he was drawn towards therapy and eastern mysticism, and the Beatles drifted from guru to guru. Just as he had thrown off his own ideas about religion, so he seemed to believe that revolution consisted of other people throwing off *their* wrong ideas (such as attachment to tellies and Engelbert Humperdinck). I think for him revolution is something 'within', so what need is there for change in the external world once the head of the individual has been cleared? At least that other great individualist Oscar Wilde got straight to the heart of the matter by tracing the ills of the system to the institution of private property: http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/wilde-oscar/soul-man/
For what it's worth I believe that any system that aspires to replace capitalism has to be both more efficient and more productive than capitalism. Because love is not all you need.'
I don't think that Lennon was all that interesting politically. I've read quite a few books about him and the Beatles, and he seemed to stumble along from one fad to another. I think that LSD and the reduction in the ego which that drug supposedly brings about was responsible for his decline in the late 1960s. Apparently he did loads of the stuff and I think that the Apple business resulted from the belief that nobody was special and everyone had talent and should be given a chance which the big bad capitalist world wasn't offering to them. And the Beatles ended up skint although admittedly the taxman would have had it anyway.
Funnily they got the Apple money back in the end, as the name was worth a fortune, and Apple Computers kept coughing up for breaches of copyright agreements until they bought the name completely.
I think that 'peace' was Lennon's one ongoing theme, but his politics drifted around, just as they do for most people.
I don't think that Lennon was all that interesting politically. I've read quite a few books about him and the Beatles, and he seemed to stumble along from one fad to another. I think that LSD and the reduction in the ego which that drug supposedly brings about was responsible for his decline in the late 1960s. Apparently he did loads of the stuff and I think that the Apple business resulted from the belief that nobody was special and everyone had talent and should be given a chance which the big bad capitalist world wasn't offering to them. And the Beatles ended up skint although admittedly the taxman would have had it anyway.
Funnily they got the Apple money back in the end, as the name was worth a fortune, and Apple Computers kept coughing up for breaches of copyright agreements until they bought the name completely.
I think that 'peace' was Lennon's one ongoing theme, but his politics drifted around, just as they do for most people.
John Lennon seems a bit like Orwell in that people with different political outlooks want to claim him as one their own.
One of the funniest things in the Lennon interview is that the workers are suspect because they like Engelbert Humperdinck:
'Somehow the revolutionaries must approach the workers because the workers won’t approach them. But it’s difficult to know where to start; we’ve all got a finger in the dam. The problem for me is that as I have become more real, I’ve grown away from most working-class people — you know what they like is Engelbert Humperdinck.'
John Lennon seems a bit like Orwell in that people with different political outlooks want to claim him as one their own.
One of the funniest things in the Lennon interview is that the workers are suspect because they like Engelbert Humperdinck:
'Somehow the revolutionaries must approach the workers because the workers won’t approach them. But it’s difficult to know where to start; we’ve all got a finger in the dam. The problem for me is that as I have become more real, I’ve grown away from most working-class people — you know what they like is Engelbert Humperdinck.'
I don't think that Lennon ever forgave Engelbert for preventing 'Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane' from getting to number 1 - their best ever single arguably.
I've never really got to the bottom of this one. Release Me definitely sold more copies than Strawberry/Penny but it seems as if the chart compilers halved the returns for the Beatles, as it was a double A side. But whether that stopped them getting to number 1 in say the first week for instance, I don't know. It's a confusing story.
Here are some comments I made about that interview:
'A very interesting interview.
Lennon was anti-authority, anti-the British establishment, and anti-war:
'It’s pretty basic when you’re brought up, like I was, to hate and fear the police as a natural enemy and to despise the army as something that takes everybody away and leaves them dead somewhere.' A far cry from today's belief that the British army is in Afghanistan to help Afghan women to get an education.
However, he is troubled by the conservatism of the British working class. Why do they not seek to overthrow the establishment? The workers like:
a) tellies b) Engelbert Humperdinck
and frankly, that can't be good. Therefore the workers need to be 'woken up' by students (the students were formerly under suspicion for having big scarves and liking folk songs, but now they seem to have come good).
He's also pretty naive about Mao 'keeping the ball rolling'.
I do feel the interview is a little misleading because it's 'guided' in a certain direction by Blackburn and Ali, and even under the hegemony of those two luminaries of the International Marxist Group it goes in circles on certain issues (such as violence).
I am therefore wary of recruiting Lennon into the ranks of revolutionary socialism. My impression is rather that Lennon believed in 'Revolution in the Head'. This is why he was drawn towards therapy and eastern mysticism, and the Beatles drifted from guru to guru. Just as he had thrown off his own ideas about religion, so he seemed to believe that revolution consisted of other people throwing off *their* wrong ideas (such as attachment to tellies and Engelbert Humperdinck). I think for him revolution is something 'within', so what need is there for change in the external world once the head of the individual has been cleared? At least that other great individualist Oscar Wilde got straight to the heart of the matter by tracing the ills of the system to the institution of private property: http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/wilde-oscar/soul-man/
For what it's worth I believe that any system that aspires to replace capitalism has to be both more efficient and more productive than capitalism. Because love is not all you need.'
Tactical said "any system that aspires to replace capitalism has to be both more efficient and more productive than capitalism". I think that is a fair expectation and probably one of the better arguments against socialism in practice.
The agrarian revolution of Pol Pot killed a fair chunk of Cambodia's intelligentsia, professionals and educated people, and turned the rest into farm manual labourers. It never had a hope of being more efficient or productive than a reasonably functioning capitalist economy.
Furthermore, Tactical did not say that efficiency and productivity were the ONLY criteria to judge a system. It might satisfy both of those criteria to euthanase retirees and redistribute their wealth but no-one is advocating that.
Tactical said "any system that aspires to replace capitalism has to be both more efficient and more productive than capitalism". I think that is a fair expectation and probably one of the better arguments against socialism in practice.
The agrarian revolution of Pol Pot killed a fair chunk of Cambodia's intelligentsia, professionals and educated people, and turned the rest into farm manual labourers. It never had a hope of being more efficient or productive than a reasonably functioning capitalist economy.
Furthermore, Tactical did not say that efficiency and productivity were the ONLY criteria to judge a system. It might satisfy both of those criteria to euthanase retirees and redistribute their wealth but no-one is advocating that.
It depends on your reading of "has to be"..."is bound to be" or "will have to be proven to be". I read it as the former, not the latter. I apologise to TR if I got the wrong interpretation, but it was ambiguous, and it was unclear if the quote was Wilde's or TR's. Has a skim read through the Wilde piece and didn't find it; it would have been interesting if Wilde had had a chance to reappraise it after a few years if he had lived longer.
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
