Jesus and John Lennon

Jesus and John Lennon.mp3

Couple quick things about this song. First, see the post before this for a few short remarks about the actual process of writing it. Second, I see this as an important song for me. Partly for reasons listed in the previous post, and partly because I think it's just a pretty good song (not that I expect everyone to like it). I found myself worrying a little about what listeners might think about this one. Perhaps this song will help me to let go of that feeling a bit and just let the songs come to life and breathe on their own.

Listeners may hear lots of different things and/or draw different meanings from it when they listen to this one. I'll let them sort that out in their own minds as they do. I'm sure you may find a meaning in this song that is completely unrelated to the one(s) I felt as I wrote and performed it. Regardless, I hope you enjoy Jesus and John Lennon. It comes from a good place, I think.

Thanks for taking the time,
J

Jesus and John Lennon
words and music by John Natiw

VERSE 1
Nineteen seventy three
On the way to the high school dance
Someone shouted to me
"All I'm sayin' is give peace a chance"

Saw an old man on a bench
His clothes were all covered in dirt
He smiled at me and looked away
Then he stood up and said "have you heard...

CHORUS 1
I saw Jesus and John Lennon spend the day
Hangin' out and talking 'bout that better way

Can you Imagine..."

VERSE 2
Word came through the telephone
A man killed a man with a gun
In a moment the dreamer was gone
But he wasn't the only one

Sad man on the radio
Said the world has just lost a great light
Closed the shades and then my eyes
And drifted off into the night

CHORUS 2
I saw Jesus and John Lennon take a walk
Through times square, strawberry fields and central park

Can you Imagine...

BRIDGE
Can you imagine, Standing side by side
Imagine, it's high time that we tried
Can you imagine, A brotherhood of man
Imagine, please tell me that you can...

[instrumental verse - harp]

CHORUS 3
I saw Jesus and John Lennon spend the day
Hangin' out and talking 'bout that better way

Can you Imagine...

Jesus and John Lennon.mp3

Who Wrote This? And Who Am I???

This is weird. I've been writing this song the past few days (that's not the weird part) and when I play it (or read the lyrics) it doesn't look/feel like I'm the one who wrote it.

This may take awhile to explain.

I started with a little chord progression on the guitar and started humming some stuff over it for a few days. Then came some passable, but not inspiring, lyrics. Then, last night, I had this "flash" of brilliance (I'll call it) and wrote a pretty good verse (or part of one). I wasn't able to run down what the song was about so I put off writing any chorus thoughts and went up to bed.

As I was laying there in the dark last night, I came up with a few chorus ideas. In the morning when I actually took time to really read what I'd written I was amazed/shocked. It was like it wasn't me. I actually wanted to NOT like it, but I knew it was good.

This is further support, by the way, for my theory that we do not "write" these songs. We "discover" them.

Tonight I kept running it down trying to focus the song in a bit. I even tried to change some things so it seemed more "me" (whatever that means). No dice. This song apparently just wants to piss me off. So now I've got a verse and a chorus for a song that no one who knows me will believe I wrote and I'm not sure I'll ever sing live or record.

Maybe there is a liberal inside me trying to get out.

I need to sleep on this one.
J