Mike Medina is a long time friend. We met over twenty years ago when we both worked at WPGU Radio in Champaign. We later also worked together at WLUP AM/FM. He was an integral part (some say the only funny part) of my show Ebony & Ivory. He also produced the Buzz Kilman show on that station. Mike has since gone on to study at the Second City improv school, and for the past nine years has been working as a design engineer. Mike has two kids, lives in the suburbs, hasn't had a single confirmed heart attack, and continues to dabble in his life-long passion: philosophy.Today I asked the philosophical provacateur to write a few words about someone who would have celebrated his 66th birthday this week...John Lennon.
JOHN LENNON: Genius or Very Intelligent Man?
By Mike Medina
A lot has been written about John Lennon, none of it by me. Now I now why. When Rick asked me to write something about Lennon for his blog I was tentative, but I thought, being a lifelong Beatles/Lennon fan I’ll be able to come up with something.
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Lennon was a sharp-tongued critic, a peacenik, a neglectful father, a loving father, a drunk and a househusband. But that’s not why he’s remains popular; if it were then I would be as popular as Lennon. The reason Lennon remains relevant – besides the fact that he was murdered, and was in the Beatles - is that he could write good rock songs.
When I was younger, so much younger than today, I didn’t pay much attention to the lyrics, mostly just the music. A song like “Help!” was just a catchy tune. It wasn’t something you could equate with, hypothetically of course, being depressed and moving back to your parents’ house and sleeping ‘til noon everyday. The song is a Trojan horse, sneaking in with the music and having the lyrics jump out fifteen years later.
Heard any great songs about someone’s dead-mother-that-was-never-really-their-mother-anyway lately? You can’t get much more raw and heartbreaking than “Mother” from Plastic Ono Band. “Mother don’t go, Daddy come home”, ouch! Listen to the album in its entirety and you can actually hear Lennon’s guts spilling out onto the floor.
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When I worked at Starbucks I was party to a lot of idle chatter among the regulars. One interesting discussion I remember was: “Hitler: Genius or just a Very Intelligent Man”. The crux of the conversation was whether being a genocidal dictator precludes one from being a genius. I don’t think it was decided one way or the other. Let’s take this fun game and apply it to John Lennon; it’s actually a fun game to play about anyone! Remember, the only two answers are Genius or Very Intelligent Man.
Knocking up your girlfriend and getting married just as your career as an international star is starting: Very Intelligent Man. Helping record your group’s first album in one day and closing the session with “Twist and Shout”: Genius.
Becoming acid-drenched and non-functional during the mid-sixties: Very Intelligent Man. Somehow managing to write and record songs such as “Tomorrow Never Knows”, “A Day In the Life” and “I Am the Walrus”: Genius.
Recording the album “Plastic Ono Band”: Genius. Saying the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus”: Genius. Taking the time to record and assemble “Revolution 9”: Very Intelligent Man.
Going on a west coast drinking binge and substituting your estranged Asian wife with an Asian girlfriend: Very Intelligent Man Genius. Having a child, staying home to raise him, and writing the song “Beautiful Boy” which contains the heartbreaking lyric “I can hardly wait, to see you come of age”: Genius. Making a career comeback with the album “Double Fantasy” which somehow manages to make Yoko songs listenable: Genius.
Overall rating: Genius. Next time we’ll get to the bottom of the Hitler debate
