I wasn't a big fan of The Beatles early years, but when the Later albums came out, with songs like " Revolution ", " Hey Jude", " Yesterday " and "Maxwells Silver Hammer", I was hooked.
The Beatles split up, John took off with Yoko, and I, along with the rest of the sane world, wondered what the heck is this guy thinking?
Then he came out with " Working Class Hero" and " Imagine", and I knew he still had it....
I tried listening to Yoko's music.
I really did...
And I wondered again, what he saw, heard and loved about her...
Then came "Double Fantasy".
"Woman", " Starting Over" and "Watching the Wheels" became some my favorite songs , and as I listened , I experienced something very different in what I was hearing. I heard in them something that was always missing in the rest of all his other compilations...
Peace.
Happiness.
Contentment with life...
It seems that what one of our all time greatest lyricists had always needed was something so simple and ordinary as just to be a dad...
Rocking his son to sleep and being with the woman he loved was what ultimately made him happy...
Not much different than the rest of us...
I listen to " Beautiful Boy" and I know we could have had coffee together at the local McDonalds, sitting near the play land , laughing as our kids got lost in the ball pit.
And I realize what he must have seen in Yoko...
Not exactly, I'm sure, but I know the feeling he must have had for her, because I know what I myself feel for my Wonderful Wife.
Laughingly, I see rather clearly that I am the Wonderful Wife's " Yoko".
People look at her and think in their heads " What is this woman thinking?!?"
I know this because they tell me.
Some actually come up and ask me outright, just what went on in her head that day, the day that she said "yes"... Most of you reading this blog for any amount of time have probably already wondered that, quietly in your own minds ,once or twice.
I am her Yoko...
In the end, it really doesn't matter. It doesn't matter now for the same reason it didn't matter then.
I love her and inexplicably, she loves me...
We may have a few extra McMonkeys than them, but we have found together, with these children, the same peace, the same happiness and contentment as that same famous and mismatched couple...
No one can really explain it, but if your in it, you know exactly what I'm talking about....
And what his last few songs were about...
I am sad that he died so young.
Not because the world lost an amazing talent and amazing songwriter...
That saddens me, but it's not the reason.
I am sad that a man missed the chance to grow with his sons, to see them grow into the men they would become and know that he played some part in them getting there.
I am sad for the boys, not far in age from where mine are now, and have been in the recent past. Missing a dad they love...
I am sad for the wife who people hated for breaking up a group of amazingly talented individuals and allowed her husband to simply be who he was born to be...
A loving dad, husband...
That is how I remember John Lennon today.
And I'm glad he found Yoko.....
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