Thursday, October 9, 2014

They Say It’s Your Birthday

As celebrations go, it’s not quite in the league of pony rides (in my estimation), but on the other hand it ain’t hay either. Forgive me my puckish sense of humor (a hockey homage dedicated to my brothers who bleed Rangers’ blue) but I suspect today I can dig a pony (saddle sold separately), to Sean Lennon who cannot be surprised at all the brouhaha attached to his Dad’s natal anniversary, but is probably really tired of hearing the song rendered as “Happy Birthday to you, too.”

I’m old now but when I was barely more than a child, The Beatles invented rock and roll; at least for me. I could type forever or until someone pried the keyboard from my cold, dead hands, and still not have run out of words to offer about each of them, all of them and life before and after they arrived on the American Scene and helped make rock and roll the music the whole world listened to.

If the murder of JFK and The Beatles’ landing at the airport honoring the slain US President marked the end of the Age of Post-War II Exuberance and Innocence, Lennon’s murder a little more than a quarter of a century later in the city he called The Capital of the World, shattered the soundtrack of every Baby Boomer who came of age while that whole movie was being made.

The digital releases are a great way to commemorate the music of the man who was John Winston Lennon. Listening to and attempting to live up to the intent of many of his lyrics as well as to those of The Beatles is a tremendous way to celebrate today and every day of the rest of our lives.

-bill kenny     

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