Mind Games
I begin each school day by asking my son to tell me the date. It's my way of trying to get him to pay more attention to the calendar. So far, his response is usually, "Ummm, I don't know." Sometimes he tries to guess, badly.
So I tell him the date and have him write it down. Today, as I announced, "It's October 9th," I realized it was John Lennon's birthday. Since my son is a Beatles fan like me, I announced that fact too.
He asked me, "How old would John Lennon have been today?" I quickly did the math and said, "Sixty-seven." Then I said, "No, wait, that can't be right." You see how much confidence I have in my mathematic abilities? It just didn't seem possible that John would've been that old today. But my calculations were correct. It really has been twenty-seven years since that terrible December day when a friend called me to say "Lennon is dead!"
We listened to a few Lennon and Beatles tunes to commemorate his birth. Even after all this time, many of his songs still sound fresh and vibrant. I love watching my kids discover all this great music from the past.
Children's musician Eric Herman has been thinking about John Lennon lately. He was recently honored as one of the finalists in the 2007 John Lennon Songwriting Contest for his classic "The Elephant Song." View the video here.
Congratulations, Eric, for writing such a great song and receiving such an amazing honor! I can just imagine that John would get a big kick out of your song. It has the kind of quirky humor he was famous for.
I highly recommend Eric's latest CD, Snail's Pace. You can read my review of it here.
So I tell him the date and have him write it down. Today, as I announced, "It's October 9th," I realized it was John Lennon's birthday. Since my son is a Beatles fan like me, I announced that fact too.
He asked me, "How old would John Lennon have been today?" I quickly did the math and said, "Sixty-seven." Then I said, "No, wait, that can't be right." You see how much confidence I have in my mathematic abilities? It just didn't seem possible that John would've been that old today. But my calculations were correct. It really has been twenty-seven years since that terrible December day when a friend called me to say "Lennon is dead!"We listened to a few Lennon and Beatles tunes to commemorate his birth. Even after all this time, many of his songs still sound fresh and vibrant. I love watching my kids discover all this great music from the past.
Children's musician Eric Herman has been thinking about John Lennon lately. He was recently honored as one of the finalists in the 2007 John Lennon Songwriting Contest for his classic "The Elephant Song." View the video here.
Congratulations, Eric, for writing such a great song and receiving such an amazing honor! I can just imagine that John would get a big kick out of your song. It has the kind of quirky humor he was famous for.
I highly recommend Eric's latest CD, Snail's Pace. You can read my review of it here.
Labels: Beatles, John Lennon, music
Permalink posted by Phil at 9:18 PM
4 Comments:
Happy birthday to the late Mr. Lennon, and kudos to passing on the Beatles to your kids.
Why haven't I been here before and how close are you to me? I'm in Sandpoint. You?
Hi, Phil...I commented on Lennon over in "Atmospheric Ruminations" this week. Every December 8th, I take out my copy of Lennon's "Shaved Fish" greatest hits album and play it. Of course I'm sad Lennon died, and I always will be. After George Harrison died, though, well, I just kinda felt numb. It's like the Beatles are fading into the distant past. That is, until I hear their music. Then, they're fresh and alive again.
You know how people always ask, "Are you a Beatles person or a Stones person?" That never fails to bug me.
I mean, they're like apples and oranges, you know? Equally yummy, but impossible to compare, let alone choose what's better.
Phil, I think what you're sharing with your son is awesome. My dad also turned me on to the classics when I was very young, and I am so grateful for him doing so. I am a classic rock lover to this day, and have even followed in his footsteps a bit further by becoming a somewhat decent rhythm guitarist/ singer/ songwriter.
And what were the first songs I learned? And still love to sing and play to this day? All the three-chord greats of the Beatles... 'Help', 'Yesterday', 'Hey Jude', to name a few.
Whether it's a three-minute pop ditty from the early days, or a long, spacy White Album ballad, the Beatles blow away 90% of the one-hit wonders out there these days. And though John Lennon & the boys may not be the music of my era, they're among the music in my heart.
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