Monday, October 02, 2006

God: Imagine...

John Lennon's Imagine is one of those songs that people think is wonderful, deep, and profound. Yet when you actually analyze the lyrics, it is utter crap. Paul Smith brought some recent Catholic bashing of the song to light.

I was flipping channels a while back and saw a Kathy Griffin standup routine on Bravo. Kathy recalled headlining a charity dinner being run by Sharon Stone. Stone started the night off by getting weepy while reading Imagine in all its profundity. Kathy responded by getting all weepy about Hound Dog by Elvis Presley. Various stars in the audience (among them Rosie O'Donnell) had put her up to it with pledges of large donations to the charity. I guess I was bound to agree with Rosie sometime.

In general Imagine reminds me of a scene in Three Men and a Baby. Tom Selleck is putting the baby to sleep by reading the paper to her. He's not reading the funnies though, he's reading the blow-by-blow account of a boxing match. But he does it in a soft and gentle tone of voice. "You see," he explains, "it's not about what you say, it's all about the tone you use." Oh how I wish that principle was just confined to infants.

Fortunately I like traditional booming organ hymns and guitar rock, so I am immune to Imagine's "charms."

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