a reflection on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Lennon, Laspro # 11
Anniversaries are always a 'excellent opportunity for the showbiz : published books, unpublished allegations, books, films, is a matter of no small importance in a period rather feeble, where even the majors reeling because of their non prudent policies, rather than for download wild or piracy.
this logic does not escape some John Lennon, who in a few months of anniversaries celebrated even has two: last October the seventieth anniversary of his birth on December 8, the thirtieth of his tragic death. The double anniversary is an occasion so tempting to reprint his records (the initiative Gimme Some Truth , supervised by Yoko Ono, includes eight classic albums of John Lennon's solo career and other records relevant remastered from the original mixes) and Scartabelli the archives to give unpublished prints (they are arriving a disc of rare and unreleased tracks and an EP with the single never been recorded on the album), as to tell his epic for the big screen ( Nowhere Boy, directed by newcomer London Sam Taylor-Wood, arrives in our cinemas in January). Of course there are also interesting productions, such as the docu-film Give Peace a Chance-The U.S. vs. John Lennon , presented recently at the Film Festival in Venice, with many unpublished photographs depicts the conspiracy theory & stars strips to remove the singer: theory for which he was the U.S. government to arm the hand of Mark Chapman in December that 8 of thirty years ago in front of the Dakota Building in Central Park.
There were many celebrations around the world, from its Liverpool city on the Mersey has organized a vigil for the anniversary of the murder that took place at the European Peace Monument in front of the sculpture inaugurated on 9 October by Julian and Cynthia Lennon . And always at Liverpool, Dec. 9 was held Lennon Remembered - The 9 Faces of John , a concert at the Echo Arena, whose proceeds went to three local charities. No lack of vigils in his memory even in Italy: Genoa, for example, have sung his songs in the Palazzo Ducale and Rome had been prepared a calendar of interesting initiatives on the former Beatle.
Lennon is a true icon of the past century, the hype and notoriety which goes far beyond the realm of music. It's not just the Fab Four's favorite, is not only a symbol of protest. Nor, least of all, a matter that can be explained simply go through the records of the Liverpool quartet or his solo work. Lennon is much more, and perhaps even more. Why be born poor and live as a child (abandoned at a very early age by parents), write some of the most important songs of the century, becoming a symbol - perhaps reluctantly - to something greater than itself, then murderer just die at the hands of forty, it seems really plot a fourth-rate novel. And even the Assassin's biography helps to magnify the myth obsessed with Lennon as Holden Caulfield, shortly after Mark Chapman shot him say " a part of me knew that he knew where the ducks go in winter, and I had need to know. "
What's more, Lennon is unfortunately one of the artists most banal of all time, whose message size and composition have always been popularized in terms of a short circuit that vicious hit often big stars, not only in music. In fact it is almost possible to speak ill of him: the criticism is silent in the face of little discs made and managed, so that even when faced with real flashes of genius, the same criticism for using a meter too feel-good grasp contradictions and insights. For example, to date records of its most significant post-Beatles, as John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band and Walls and Bridges , are treated with the same sufficiency of his most "reactionary" as the cover of '50s rock and roll produced by Phil Spector or the slowly Mind Games. Similarly, Lennon is the most referred to as the fetish of a sweetened pacifism and weak, despite the last ten years of life are certainly not geared towards a commitment of convenience. And it is much easier to categorize and pigeonhole the Lennon Stand By Me sung Happy Xmas or not what he writes an angry Working Class Hero . About that song, rightly considered one of the most artistic heights of his solo career, it is interesting to note that Lennon wrote it with the intention of providing workers with a new anthem, like what had been the year first Give Peace a Chance for the peace movement. Surely an error of assessment, given the gloom el'incedere acoustic ballad, but that speaks volumes about the intent that Lennon had in the early 70s. However, just because a verse contained in that piece, " according to my way of thinking are still fucking slobs ", the song was censored by U.S. radio stations and in some countries was to be published without the offending.
Moreover, the short circuit of the above is even more evident for the famous Imagine: how else to explain the fact that the ' pacifist anthem par excellence of the last century contains verses that portray a world without religion or private property ? Not by chance the same Lennon, years later, he said that the song " is nothing more than the Communist Manifesto .
In short, the figure has been manipulated to Lennon's music to create a myth that could be good for anyone, not a word about his heroin addiction, just on that piece of road that Nixon had delivered to him in '72 and Yoko, something the picturesque bed-in, very little about his relationship with the American revolutionary left and the resulting problems with the CIA. Just as little is said of the perception of danger that Lennon felt for his life: threatening phone calls, anonymous letters, threats, assorted. This in effect makes it difficult to build a perfect image of a cross between consumer marketing and a pacifist populism good for all seasons as Lennon became post mortem : white dress, with long hair and glasses that history will, here is defused one of the most complex, fragile and contradictory of short century.
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