"Most Peculiar, Mama"

John Lennon is considered by many to be one of the greatest performers and songwriters in our modern era. His work will live on for generations for it's creative and inspired lyrics and imaginative progressions. I was listening to a compilation of his songs this morning on the way to work in my car and something struck me as....odd. John Lennon seems to be able to say almost anything in his lyrics and get away with it, even if it sounds, well, not like a real song lyric.

Let's review lyrics from some of Lennon's most popular songs;

"Instant Karma's gonna get you"

"When they've tortured and scared you for 20 odd years,

then they expect you to pick a career"
"Yoo Hoo!"

"O' sanity, o' sanity, What am I to do with you"

"Rocky Raccoon, fell back in his room"

"When you get to the bottom you go back to the top of the slide"

"We all live in a Yellow Submarine"

"Ob-la-di, Ob-li-da life goes on"

Lennon and the Beatles created music that spoke to a world of listeners on a visceral level and this is evidenced by some of the strange music they produced and made wildly popular. As I listened on the way to work this morning I found myself thinking that the music and the arrangements were so well constructed that poor old John could have sung the lyrics to 'Do You Know the Muffin Man' backwards and it probably would have sounded really snappy.

I often think that John was playing his little joke on us mere mortals and it must have amused him to create great music and then populate the tunes with really strange lyrics. He would smile and put on his round dark glasses and stand in the back of a music festival and listen to thousands of young people sing out with all their hearts, holding hands together, eyes closed and tears streaming down their faces;

"Happiness is a warm gun...bang bang, shoot shoot..."

If I were to try and write a memorable lyric it might be something that I could sing to my wife on our 60th wedding anniversary. Lyrics that I could be proud of. My song (dedicated to my wife) would go something like this;

"Grow old along with me

Whatever fate decrees

We will see it through

For our love is true

God bless our love

God bless our love"

(Oops, these lyrics were also written by Lennon. Damn!)