"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" by John Lennon

Today marks two weeks until Christmas Eve, the traditional beginning of the Christmas season at the Pop Culture Institute; and what better way to usher in a festive and lovely time of year than a real downer of a carol by John Lennon?

Please - during this season of giving, remember the less fortunate: the poor, foreign orphans of various colours, and certain bloggers whose attempts to provide enlightertainment all year long have proven very expensive indeed...
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"Imagine" by John Lennon

Imagine was written and recorded by John Lennon in 1971, and was the first single from the album of the same name; it is the official anthem of all people who hope for a better world tomorrow than the one they knew yesterday.

Frequently criticized by the people it criticizes, the song has also suffered jibes from the cynical over the years; yet all the song asks of us is that we imagine, a task which is rendered impossible by cynicism, apparently.
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Pop History Moment: The Killing of John Lennon

Exactly what Mark David Chapman hoped to accomplish by killing John Lennon on this day in 1980 has never been made clear; obviously the product of disordered thinking, psychotic, and influenced by delusion, Chapman's violent murder of a person whose life was devoted to peace is one of the greatest tragedies of our time. Much of Chapman's 'excuse' for killing Lennon revolved around his fondness for the nihilistic novel The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger; that Chapman had hoped to model his life after the book's protagonist - a self-absorbed douchebag of epic proportions by the name of Holden Caulfield - goes a long way towards pointing at serious mental illness on Chapman's part.

Lennon was returning home to The Dakota from a recording session at Manhattan's Record Plant Studios at 10:50 PM when he passed Chapman - for whom he had signed an autograph only the day before - on the sidewalk outside the building. After calling out 'Mr. Lennon' Chapman fired five hollow point bullets at his supposed idol, hitting him with four of them, causing major damage to his internal organs, including a severed aorta which would eventually cause Lennon's death from hypovolemic shock.

As Lennon staggered into the building, Chapman withdrew his copy of the book, sat down, and began reading; when he was finally arrested he put up no fight. Lennon, meanwhile, was declared DOA at Roosevelt Hospital at 11:15 PM.

Although he was given no funeral, John Lennon has been given a memorial; Central Park's Strawberry Fields Memorial, situated across the street from where Lennon was killed, opened in October 1985. It is one of the most popular scenes of pilgrimage in New York City.

Despite the fact that Chapman had planned his crime for years, and even spoken about it to friends and family, he was charged with second degree murder; he has been denied parole six times, thanks as much to a grassroots effort by fans as it is to the efficacy of Yoko Ono's legal team.

Mark David Chapman is currently incarcerated in seclusion at Attica.
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"Working Class Hero" by John Lennon

I have no idea what the genesis of this video is, but I love the song, and the images correspond beautifully, so here it is...

John Lennon wrote Working Class Hero for inclusion on John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, his first solo album after leaving The Beatles; it was instantly controversial, since it contained the f-word, and the d-words who normally disapprove of such things are also too often the ones in charge. Still, since controversy guarantees longevity, the song has been frequently covered. Arguably the best of these was by Marianne Faithfull, whose version is the highlight of her 1979 album Broken English, although Green Day recently offered their own take for the 2007 charity album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.
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In Memoriam: John Lennon

In the normal course of events, the journey from scouse to secular saint ought to take a lot longer than the 40 years in which John Lennon managed it, beginning on this day in 1940. But then, Lennon was an exceptional man: not merely sensitively attuned to suffering, but capable of lyrical genius in service of relieving that suffering, and possessed of just enough faults so as not to make him insufferable.
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Now Showing - "The Ballad of John and Yoko"

Released by The Beatles in May 1969 - just two months after the marriage of its protagonists - The Ballad of John and Yoko tells the story of the affair and marriage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono leading up to and including their famous Bed-In at the Amsterdam Hilton during their honeymoon. Recorded without the benefit of George Harrison or Ringo Starr*, its pared down sound is the perfect showcase for Lennon's other important partnership at the time, namely the one he shared with Paul McCartney.

A true single, the song was released as such immediately before recording commenced on the band's legendary Abbey Road album; it was later released as part of the album Past Masters, Volume Two (1967-1970), as well as on the latter-day smash compilation 1.

*Harrison was on holiday and Starr was filming The Magic Christian.
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