Yoko Loses Lawsuit
Yoko Ono has lost her bid to remove the song "Imagine" from the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. And at AtBC, Glen Davidson expressed my feelings when he said: "I can't say I really mind."
Neither do I. Copyright law is just nuts. (So is Yoko Ono, who is not a sympathetic character.) Plus, I have to admit, I'm curious to see the reception that Expelled will get in Canada.
But I'm also kind of wondering how Ono will go ballistic... You don't want to piss her off...
(I just wish I could never hear that song again.)
P.S. I prefer Elvis Costello. (“Was it a millionare who said ‘imagine no possessions.’?”)
Not that John Lennon really believed in any of that nonsense - even when he was running around in military fatigues and spouting stupid faux-revolutionary rhetoric. But it sounded good in a song lyric.
Pop songs appeal primarily to emotions, not reason or logic. The fact that a sentiment sounds good coming out of a singer's mouth, with swelling strings and a Phil Spector production doesn't mean that it has any validity whatsoever.
No, we do NOT need more of this kind of sentiment. It actively works against the difficult and often unpleasant but utterly necessary task of sorting reality from fantasy.
Yes, remember that “But when you talk about destruction/Don't you know that you can count me out? (In! In!)” Hypocrite. I always hated that song, too.
Ironically, it’s Ben Stein and his producers who takes the song seriously, in contrast to what Al Barger has written:
On the other hand, maybe we should just give peace a chance. If we just go to Kim Jong Il, lighting candles and singing this song, then maybe one day he'll join us, and the world will be as one.
Hey, I thought it was Josef Stalin! ;-)
Now, probably Lennon himself didn't think that much about it when he was writing it. He had a hook and a catch phrase, and developed a strong tune for it - though it is stiff, white English church music that sounds like you should be wearing a jacket and tie and sitting on a hard wooden bench while you listen. Still, it is admittedly a well crafted, pretty song [emphasis mine].
It is?
Neither do I. Copyright law is just nuts. (So is Yoko Ono, who is not a sympathetic character.) Plus, I have to admit, I'm curious to see the reception that Expelled will get in Canada.
But I'm also kind of wondering how Ono will go ballistic... You don't want to piss her off...
(I just wish I could never hear that song again.)
P.S. I prefer Elvis Costello. (“Was it a millionare who said ‘imagine no possessions.’?”)
Not that John Lennon really believed in any of that nonsense - even when he was running around in military fatigues and spouting stupid faux-revolutionary rhetoric. But it sounded good in a song lyric.
Pop songs appeal primarily to emotions, not reason or logic. The fact that a sentiment sounds good coming out of a singer's mouth, with swelling strings and a Phil Spector production doesn't mean that it has any validity whatsoever.
No, we do NOT need more of this kind of sentiment. It actively works against the difficult and often unpleasant but utterly necessary task of sorting reality from fantasy.
Yes, remember that “But when you talk about destruction/Don't you know that you can count me out? (In! In!)” Hypocrite. I always hated that song, too.
Ironically, it’s Ben Stein and his producers who takes the song seriously, in contrast to what Al Barger has written:
On the other hand, maybe we should just give peace a chance. If we just go to Kim Jong Il, lighting candles and singing this song, then maybe one day he'll join us, and the world will be as one.
Hey, I thought it was Josef Stalin! ;-)
Now, probably Lennon himself didn't think that much about it when he was writing it. He had a hook and a catch phrase, and developed a strong tune for it - though it is stiff, white English church music that sounds like you should be wearing a jacket and tie and sitting on a hard wooden bench while you listen. Still, it is admittedly a well crafted, pretty song [emphasis mine].
It is?
Labels: Ben Stein, Expelledgate, Yoko Ono
posted by Kristine | Monday, June 02, 2008
12 Comments:
I'm just sittin' here watchin' the wheels go 'round & 'round
I really love to watch 'em go
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go. . .
- J. Lennon
:)
Actually, I prefer the words of one Justin Hayward, "I'm just a singer in a rock & roll band!!"
Anyways, my 2c. :)
Well, I like John Lennon's Christmas song:
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
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
Better tune, too. Doesn't really go with, "Imagine no possessions."
This is the same guy who wrote "Run For Your Life". I know, Lennon disowned the song. Yet when I hear deluded sixties types take Lennon seriously as an ambassador of 'peace and love', I have to keep myself from yelling out the line, "I'd rather see you dead then in the arms of an other man."
John Lennon was a great song writer in spite of his combative personality. And selling him as a saint undercuts who he was; a lower class kid who fought his way to the top of the pop music scene.
I think Janine pretty much sums it up correctly. As for what Mr. Lennon himself thought about his role in the times that were, I think that the Ballad of John and Yoko pretty much says it all.
But I could be wrong. :)
Actually, I think 'Imagine' is a very decent song, but I can't stand the recording. The piano is jangly and mono-sounding, the drum kit all muffled and ridiculously tight, and the Spector string chart sounds as if it was compressed. Oh, and a little bit of the double-tracked, 'slapback' sound of Lennon's voice through a tube mic goes a long way.
Anyway, imagine that PZ Myers gave a speech. Imagine that it made you think. It was even inspiring. Just click on this link.
Imagine poor Scott Hatfield, begging you for blog traffic. You-hoo, ooo ooo ooo.
The Beatles - The group that went from "I want to hold your hand" to "Why don't we do it in the road".
Imagine that.
True. But before "I Want To Hold Your Hand", the Beatles were playing in the whore houses of Hamburg, playing all night for people scoring drugs, drinks and sex. With "Why Don't We Do It In The Road", they went back to their roots.
This is the same guy who wrote "Run For Your Life".
And wasn’t that lifted from an Elvis song, anyway? I don’t like Elvis. I agree with you about not lifting Lennon to sainthood.
There’s a funny scene in the movie 10 (remember that one?) about “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road.” Now, I like that song!
No offense, but I think that most of the people who are old enough to remember "Why Don't We Do It In the Road" are now too old to do it in the road, anyway. :)
I like both songs. I just take them as a pleasant fantasy, or an ideal to strive for. That doesn't mean I want to throw flowers on tanks as they're trying to run me over. As you say, I don't think Lennon thought of it that way, either.
"No offense, but I think that most of the people who are old enough to remember "Why Don't We Do It In the Road" are now too old to do it in the road, anyway. :)"
None taken. Too old and too wise. Now a nice meadow, or a trampoline, or a water park.... ;-)
As for the songs, I always favored Dylan. Less saccharin.
"You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows."
Actually, I think 'Imagine' is a very decent song, but I can't stand the recording. The piano is jangly and mono-sounding, the drum kit all muffled and ridiculously tight, and the Spector string chart sounds as if it was compressed.
Phil Spector messed it up big time. As usual. Nothing new there for Phil Spector!
Everybody compresses everything. They have to or the volumes would be too low. Some compress more than others though. That's for sure!
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