As any biographer (or journalist) will tell you, people are all things at once. And are usually jumbled bunches of contradiction. Am I reflexive in my Beatle worhsip? Sure. And do I accord Lennon a special place in my heart? Absolutely. But having read enough about the man over the years, it's clear that he could be kind, generous and giving. And he could be grumpy, bitter and cruel. He also abused drugs. Had disasters in his personal life. And then found his way, in his middle age, to peace and contentment. The only difference between Lennon and the rest of us is a surplus of talent in a particular area that left an indelible mark on the culture. Otherwise, he had the same contradictions and insecurities that the rest of us humans carry around with us. If anything, that makes him more relatable as a human being. john micek ----- Original Message ----- From: To: ; Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 1:51 PM Subject: Re: Interesting Lennon Interview I think sometimes that John Lennon's myth completely clouds the reality of the matter. OK, he sang songs about peace, love and understanding, but too many people seem to leap to the conclusion that because of those songs he's some kind of saint.... which he was not. Is that knees jerking I hear out there? No, he wasn't a devil either he was just a human being. He could be a huge asshole... he could also be very kind, but he was no saint, that's for sure. ...and frankly I would recommend taking fairly large grains of salt when you read his post-Beatles interviews... he lashed out at pretty much everyone including George Martin... Later he recanted much of what he said. Lennon, I think, should be seen as very mercurial, temperamental often lashing out in the heat of the moment.... Not that everything he said was necessarily untrue, but I don't think he controlled his emotions very well and often was unfair in what he said and did. Seems to me a lot of people thought he was "Speaking the truth" simply because often what he said was harsh and unkind as if that in itself was some criteria for truth. I love Lennon's music. but I don't confuse him as having some deeper insight into things like love, peace politics or religion or whatever simply because he made sounds I like to put in my ear-hole...... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marty Rudnick" To: audities@smoe.org, audities@smoe.org Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 9:52:25 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: Re: Interesting Lennon Interview Really great interview! It was interesting to note that as much as John groused endlessly about Paul -- Paul never once groused about John. The same Paul that (according to legend) lives relatively modestly, drove his kids to public school, and consoled Julian when John ran off with Yoko. It seems to further the view (from afar) that Paul is one decent human being.