Elizabeth+Romano

=John Winston Ono Lennon: A Symbol of Peace (1940-1980)= By: Elizabeth Romano

Biography:
John Lennon is arguably one of the most inspiration artists of his time, Incorporating peace and anti-war messages into his music, he gave the world a tranquil message. Lennon was born on October 9, 1940 in Liverpool, Merseyside, NW England, UK. His parents separated at the early age of four. His father was never around and his mother, Julia, who taught him how to play the piano and banjo and bought his first guitar, died in 1958. John went to live with his aunt Mimi, and her husband George, when his parents separated. His aunt and uncle died when he was seventeen. //([|http://www.biography.com)]//. In 1963, he was part of the number one pop-rock group, The Beatles, who reached the U.S. However, once The Beatles broke up in 1970, he moved onto a solo career where he wrote songs that reflect his feelings about the Vietnam War (1961-1975) and used his music to send messages of peace and love to the world, not war. He was a peace activist. He married an artist named Yoko Ono. John and Yoko shared common beliefs about politics, art, and the world, but when his son, Sean, was born, his family became his focus. (//[|http://www.johnlennon.com]).// On September 8, 1980, Lennon was shot outside the apartment building in New York where he and his family lived. He died later that day at Roosevelt Hospital. //([|http://www.biography.com]).// The importance of his work was that it truly reflects his feelings and beliefs. It reflected how he saw the world and what he believed was right. Centering his music on peace, he has influenced many and his inspiration still lives inside many people today. //([|http://www.johnlennon.com]).//

Analysis - Messages Through Music:
The song //Imagine//, from the album //Imagine// (1971), illustrates Lennon’s peaceful side. It brings up several different topics about how one should live peacefully.

It starts off by saying “Imagine here’s no heaven…no hell below us…” These lines quickly tell the listener that religion is not important. One believes in heaven or hell when they believe in a higher power or some sort of religion. Lennon immediately tells the listener to forget about, even just for a minute, to imagine that “above us only sky.” Lennon also sings, “Imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do.” This line is important to how one should view other people. Lennon thinks one should see people for the person they are and to not judge based on ethnicity and race because he feels it isn’t important. The world in the 1970s, and even today, struggled with ethnicity and race problems. Lennon says those problems are not important and tells the listener that it shouldn’t even be considered when you view people. Tying into his ideas about religion, he thinks life should be “nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too”. This means that one should live for the fact they are alive. In many religions, people kill because they believe their god wants them too. Other people who believe in higher powers die for their god because that is what they believe to do. However, this line signifies that one should live their life because they are living things and it is their purpose to live, not to die or to do harm to others because one believes it is right. The point Lennon is trying to get across with the beginning of the song is that religion shouldn’t be one’s instructions on how to live or die. People should see people for who they are and not where they came from. If we are all human beings, why should we treat others differently and why should there be violence between them, specifically based on religion?

The song continues by saying, “imagine all the people living in peace. Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can…”. This is Lennon inferring that possessions are not important. One can interpret that Lennon believes that love, peace, and happiness is what should be important to a person. In Lennon’s book, //Imagine,// illustrated by Lynn Lancaster and Poh and Tilman Reitzle, there is an illustration for this line. There is a man in color sweeping away grey objects, which represent the possessions. These possessions include bikes, clocks, computers, spare change, beauty products, baseball gloves, an iron, a grenade, a gun, and a knife. This means that everyday material possessions, technology, money, and weapons are not vital for one to live peacefully. One doesn’t need a lot of things to be happy. Lennon feels that living together happily is what is important.

Lennon felt that there was “…no need for greed or hunger…” ad expressed that in his song. This means that a peaceful world should be where no one has a motive to be greedy and there shouldn’t be reasons for why people a poorer than others because everyone is a person. There should be “a brotherhood of man.” The song continues by saying “imagine all the people sharing the world…” Lennon’s is trying to illustrate that everyone sharing is good. If everyone shared, then people would live happily together, as opposed to separate. No one should be alone.

Lennon’s chorus is, “you may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will live as one.” This is Lennon referring to himself and the rest of the world directly. The line “you may say I’m a dreamer” means that others who think about how Lennon views the world see him as a dreamer because they think that his ideas are farfetched. However, the rest of the line says that Lennon knows there are other people living in the world who think the same as him. He urges //you// to think like him because he thinks it is the right way to live. Thus, everyone will live as one because they all think the same way. If everyone thinks that peace is how to make the world better, then Lennon’s message won’t be a dream and it will be real, which is what Lennon wants.

The sound of the song carries a mellow tone. It isn't rock and roll or upbeat. It is relatively slow and very harmonious. The sound plays into the theme of peace. When one thinks of peace, they don't think of heavy sounds or loud tones. That is more if one is angry. The fact that the tempo is slow gets the message across even more. Lennon's voice is very relaxed which adds a pleasant vibe to the song.

Throughout the song, Lennon insists that the listener imagine all of the different ideas about how to live. Doing this actually forces the listener to think about these different ideas. Lennon never says “you should live this way and this should be like that”. All Lennon asks is that you imagine different ideas and think about if life was really like that, because he believes that if you think about it you will see that peace is what is needed for the world to live in happiness.

This idea of peace and the idea of anti-war was expressed in the single //Happy Christmas (War Is Over)// (1972). This is a song that shows Lennon’s feelings about how life is better without war. The message Lennon conveys is that Christmas is a happy time where there should be peace among people with no war or violence.

The song begins with “So this is Christmas, and what have you done, another year over, and a new one just begun. And so this is Christmas, I hope you have fun, the near and the dear one, the old and the young.” The song tells us that a new year is coming, implying to live it better. Lennon makes this implication by saying its Christmas, the end of the year, and look back on what you did this past year. Now a new year is right around the corner. So what can you do this New Year? Perhaps better things than last year? So I hope you enjoyed it because now is the time for one’s loved one’s and people of all ages to be together because a new year is approaching.

Lennon makes clear that people are people, no matter what struggles they face or who they are. Lennon wrote, “And so this is Christmas, for weak and for strong, for rich and the poor ones, the world is so wrong.” Lennon is still stressing the point that everyone should be together, no matter if you are rich, poor, weak, or strong. He continues with “…for black and for white, for yellow and red ones, let's stop all the fight.” This means that people of different race and ethnicity should also be together without fighting. This is similar to Lennon’s song //Imagine// where it isn’t what the person is that makes them important, it is who they are. Lennon believes that everyone should be together peacefully.

Lennon’s continues the song by wishing his audience a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and saying, “let's hope it's a good one without any fear.” This song was written during the Vietnam War. Lennon wishes that this New Year is better where no one has to live in fear. Lennon believes that war brings fear and that there shouldn’t be a war. This line implies that the war should be over and only bad things result from war. Lennon says these few lines three times in the song, stressing the fact that people should not be living in fear and that hopefully this New Year won’t continue with war so people won’t be scared and they can live in more peace.

The end of the song backs up the argument that Lennon believes that war brings fear and that it shouldn’t be happening. The song ends with the lines, “War is over, if you want it, war is over, now…” Lennon tries to get the point across that war can be over if the world tries. Who is responsible for the war? The people of the world; it isn’t a force of nature. This shows Lennon’s views on how he thinks the war operates and that the people of the world need to stop. He even goes as far as saying it can be over now. If the world ends war, the New Year can be “a good one without any fear.” This was Lennon’s main point of the song, urging everyone not to wage war and to live peacefully. Christmas time is a time where people celebrate together the birth of Jesus Christ because without Jesus, people wouldn’t be living now. They are celebrating life, so why not hope for the next year to be a better one where people aren’t overseas dying? Because Lennon believes that religion is not important, people who do not believe in Christmas or have different views on it can still interpret that the holiday season as a time of people being together. Why should people be worried about war? There shouldn’t be worried, which is what Lennon believes is the Vietnam War’s fault, and people should be together enjoying each other, happily and peacefully.

The sound of this song is like any Christmas song. It has an upbeat jingling sound. It works effectively on getting people ready for Christmas. The kids singing "war is over, if you want it" reaches out to people because it is common to think that if kids are speaking out, it must be important. It is upbeat because Lennon really wants to get his message across. Lennon, like his song //Imagine//, uses a pleasant toned voice, incorperating a peaceful vibe to the song.

Lennon’s subjects in his songs reflected that the best way to live is peacefully. Being a peace activist, it is obvious that the purpose of his songs were to spread peace and to not wage war. However, at this time, many people didn’t agree with Lennon. As a result, he created music to raise awareness. The fact that he was part of one of the number pop-rock group of his time made it easier for people to listen to his music because they already liked his work with The Beatles. This allowed more people listen to his music and understand the messages that Lennon was trying to convey. His message did get across to many people and artists today are inspired by Lennon’s work.

Bibliography:
Biography: 1.) "John Lennon Biography". Biography.com. 12 Oct 2009. <[|http://www.biography.com/articles/John-Lennon-9379045#]>. 2.) "John Lennon - Biography". John Lennon - Official Site. 12 Oct 2009. <[]>.

Lyrics: 1.) "JOHN LENNON Lyrics - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)". OldiesLyrics.com. 25 Oct 2009. [|. 2.) "JOHN LENNON Lyrics - Imagine". OldiesLyrics.com. 25 Oct 2009. .

Photographs: 1.) "John Lennon.": Google. 18 Oct 2009. <[]>. 2.) "Yoko Ono & John Lennon": Google. 18 Oct 2009. <[]>. 3.) "'Imagine.'": Google. 20 Oct 2009. <[].> 4.) "Still image from 'Imagine' video.": Google. 20 Oct 2009. <[]>. 5.) "'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)' cd cover.": Google. 20 Oct 2009. <[]>. 6.) "'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)' billboards, posted around the world.": Google. 18 Oct 2009. <[]>.