Some new revelations are coming out about John Lennon's personal views on life. They are not what we would expect. From BigHollywood:
When it was pointed out that a Beatles reunion could possibly raise $200 million for a poverty-stricken country in South America, Lennon had no time for it. “You know, America has poured billions into places like that. It doesn’t mean a damn thing. After they’ve eaten that meal, then what? It lasts for only a day. After the $200,000,000 is gone, then what? It goes round and round in circles.”Even back in the sixties Lennon knew about Black Holes, at least the economic kind. But what is really telling were his views on wealth shortly before his death. He sounds more like Trump than Gandhi.
[..]“You can pour money in forever. After Peru, then Harlem, then Britain. There is no one concert. We would have to dedicate the rest of our lives to one world concert tour, and I’m not ready for it.”
I worked for money and I wanted to be rich. So what the hell—if that’s a paradox, then I’m a socialist. But I am not anything. What I used to be is guilty about money. … Because I thought money was equated with sin. I don’t know. I think I got over it, because I either have to put up or shut up, you know. If I’m going to be a monk with nothing, do it. Otherwise, if I am going to try and make money, make it.Look for millions of aging hippies to be standing in lines outside the door to their shrinks offices with their heads exploding.
Money itself isn’t the root of all evil.
Imagine no possessions? mheh
14 comments:
Think about it. He was an entertainer. It was a ruse, a nice disguise he CAREFULLY crafted. VERY carefully because it sold well. He lived in places only a very exclusive few could afford. He had money in the bank. And I won't begrudge any of it to him. He was an artist, he had a talent, and he worked for it. The most important part is: he WORKED for it.
And in the end, his fame killed him.
I'm not surprised about this revelation; it proves he's only human, not some Music God. He is revealed as being merely mortal.
BZ
He certainly was talented. Enjoyed listening to the music. God Bless him for being a good capitalist.
I remember seeing him in a film clip get all worked up because some tech at Abbey Road went for a tea break leaving the Beatles to await his return. How dare a mere worker leave the gods of pop music waiting while he had a break.
I am a long time Beatles fan but they were only a pop group and their musings political and philosophic were as important to humanity as what Paris Hilton had for breakfast.
Bono is another one who believes his own press - wanker.
I agree with Lennon. The Beatles were hounded constantly for money and gave in some number of cases.
The tune Revolution. The slow and fast versions.
You're either going to be Mother Teresa or reap the fruits of your efforts and give back when it feels right to do so.
I agree with the buying a man a fish analogy. You have people in Bangladesh where 90% of the land is just a couple feet above sea level. It's 2011. You have people who haven't developed the skills to create food or clean water after 2000 years. Maybe they shouldn't be here reproducing and bringing children into those environments.
I come from the point of view of having a brother who the more I helped him the worse he got.
The song Imagine is maximum hypocrisy in this context, but what the hey. U2 tries to preach with their music and they suck. I'm happy to separate the music from the politics.
Most musicians are flaming libs anyway.
Imagine no deductions...
Yeah, but...
One of my brothers, my oldest, is a "reformed" hippie. He became a social worker, then made it to the top of his department, moved on up to the top of even that, then to a bigger area as chief. He wrote a book, liberal of course, and was fired for messin' on the side with a woman he worked with. (She, a trained psychologist, didn't want to, of course, so for 20 years she just did it). So he got fired right before retirement. Bah! Or... too funny? The messes they make!
Oh, my point. He saw the inherent flaws in giving money away. He realized by giving everything, or even much, people merely wanted more, then demanded it. No gratitude, no will, simply a dive to the bottom (and this a pretty much all white with a small Mexican population, rural).
However, he never believed in God and still doesn't. He has no basis for right or wrong. A reformed atheist hippie who has become a "conservative" is... more evil than a lost confused hippie. At least a hippie HAS a belief, ill-formed as it might be. My brother is truly a retched man. He is hard to even consider loving, he loves (and hates) himself enough that there isn't room for "our concern". The rest of us are putzes to him. Oh, and he is a bully. He lost on that account last time we met. (So he sicked one of his LEO friends on me, trying to find me with an open carry pistol in my car, really.) Long story, some other time. I do pray for him but, I want nothing to do with the "man". Reformed means nothing to the damned.
BZ - I would like to think that Lennon started to grow out of it. All that fame, wealth and adoration surely went to his head. In any event it's hard to say.
Teresa - He certainly was. I was 14when they came to the US. There was nothing like them.
Artists have overweening egos, comes with the terrority whether they are drawing with chalk on a sidewalk or painting a chapel. PITA but they do make nice things to listen to or look at.
As an unreformed hippie, an atheist, a true believer in human liberty and the strength of family and community, who abhors abortion and the loss of national sovereignty, who recognizes the social futility of international aid, who wishes everyone well, who listens to the Beatles even now, I can say unequivocally that John Lennon was just another pop star.
Imagine if there's no... If You Can.
Lennon was a satirist, could see what most could not, or would not.
I always new he was conning the duped. I heard the grownups spout off about that song. They just did not get it.
Just Like Janis-Lord won't you buy me a...
It breaks my heart to hear people pray for--WHAT(TV Preachers). Wishing on a birthday cake before blowing out the lit candles.
It doesn't matter if the prayer is to Yahueh, or gaea/athena or the sun/moon god or who ever for a fad or whim of the moment.
Lennon was merely saying it in a song.
Everyone has demons to fight; some have the opportunity to let the whole world hear.
If your are young and not a lib- you have no heart. If you are older and not a conservative--you have no mind of your own.
Oh, BTW, I was a social worker for a very short time. Having recognised its insidious agenda I got outa that fast. My older brother was in the business as well. He stayed until he had a whopping pension and a golden handshake. He now lives the good life while commenting on the poor and down trodden.
My sister as well was in the (family?) business running homeless shelters in one of North America's largest cities. Her bleeding heart ran out of blood after a few years and she is now an apparatchick with the same metropolis making megabucks.
These examples are not the only ones from my family - it is large and I have many. My family's experience makes one thing clear to me - governments are not the answer, charities are not the answer, only families and community is the answer.
McGonagall,
Well, yes. You are the type of hippie my brother was till he fell out then sold out by continuing what he didn't believe in. If I don't think you have it all, you have the final product. Family and community is the schniztel. (based on those who like veal served that way:) As for kin, I have 41 foster, step, adopted, and half brothers and sisters with only slightly fewer "parents".
Look at McCartney. Thinks oblabber is a genius and Bush has little need for a 'library'.
Something simply must happen to the vast majority of people who acquire fame and fortune. They simply can't relate to reality anymore.
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