Imagine

John Lennon’s peace anthem, Imagine must have ridden the radio and Internet waves today. It would have been the slain Beatle’s 66th birthday. Imagine is one of my all-time favourite songs and is Lennon’s musical vision of a world free of war and poverty.

John was absolute anarchic with the Beatles. He made the British laugh and at the same time, he was a rebel too. He was the unsettling force. He possesses the great ability to charm and equally to offend. While Paul would smile for the cameras, John would pull a monkey face. It probably reflects his flat refusal to bow to the masses’ dictates.

He may have been gone for around 26 years, did we realise how important that his death had robbed the world of an obvious honest and perceptive talent? To me, Johnny was one of the finest songwriters of our time and as a Beatle, he was a great part of the phenomenon.

His murder back in 8 December 1980, was a personal bereavement for those, me included, who found in his music a sense of freedom and an articulation of our hopes and fears.

In reality, the late great John Lennon mattered very, very much!