It was 25 years ago today...

It's very probably escaped the attention of most of you, but today it's 25 years since John Lennon was killed. The reason you probably didn't notice this is that you, unlike me, are not a very geeky Beatles fan. However, at this point I must ask a simple question: why not? The Beatles were, and in many ways still are, the most inventive, creative and exciting band that you will ever listen to. I can think of no other band that has influenced so many others, no other band that continually evolved their sound song by song and album by album. Listen to 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' or 'She Loves you', then listen to 'In My Life' or 'Drive my Car', then listen to 'Strawberry fields forever', 'Penny Lane' or 'A Day in the Life', then listen to 'Come Together' or the the last three tracks of Abbey Road ('Golden Slumbers', 'Carry that Weight' and 'the End'). If you listen to them, you'll be able to tell it's the same band, but the stylistic changes from Rock and Roll to Rock/Pop music as actual art that the Beatles pioneered through the 60's will become completely clear and the importance of their music obvious. Of course, John Lennon was only technically a quarter of the Beatles, although artistically it was mainly him and Paul McCartney that moved the Beatles from a group of teenagers playing music they loved, to a group that was arguably the most powerful artistic force of the last century.

When someone of John Lennon's influence dies young, like with Kurt Cobain, they become in some ways bigger and more precious than maybe they ever were. People talk about what might have been, and in the case of Kurt Cobain that is completely understandable. When you listen to Nirvana's MTV unplugged and some of the demo's that have been released since his death you hear that he was still developing, still writing exciting music. With John Lennon, it's harder to think that. The Beatles had ceased to exist as a band 10 years before John was shot, in that time John wrote some great songs, 'Imagine' obviously being the one that stands out for most people, but personally, there's very little of John Lennon's solo work that equals what he created with the Beatles. If you look at what his friend and writing partner Paul McCartney has released since 1980 there are some wonderful songs ('Maybe I'm Amazed', 'The Songs We Were Singing') but there's also, as much as I hate to say it, some really bad, bored sounding stuff. Lennon and McCartney's writing partnership was probably not much of a partnership in terms of them writing songs together, but they drove each other on and pulled each other away from their more unwise choices, John would always bring Paul's too saccharine side towards the cynical and Paul would drag John's cynicism towards something more uplifting. Of course that's incredibly simplistic, you only have to listen to 'In my life' to know that John was as capable as anyone of writing a beautiful, sweet song and Paul was just as capable of writing darker, stranger music ('Elanor Rigby', 'Revolution 9) but my favourite story of them working together illustrates the point. Paul was sat at the piano playing a new song, 'getting better' to George and Ringo. He hadn't realised it, but as he was playing John had walked into the room. As he came to the chorus for the second time and sang "I have to admit it's getting better, a little better all the time", John joined in from the back of the room "It couldn't get much worse".

To write John Lennon off as a cynical, sarcastic man though is to miss the point, although he was at times both those things. In the late 60's and 70's, as crazy as some of his actions, like tying himself in a bag or lying in bed for days for peace might have been strange and slightly non-sensical, he was a man who believed love and peace were things worth talking, shouting, singing and lying in bed for. It maybe sounds quite hippy like, but it also sounds, even 25 years later, like maybe he had a point. John Lennon, along with the rest of the Beatles, has always been, to some extent, one of my heroes. He was an imperfect man that created great music and deep down believed that maybe if we were all just nice to each other and got on with each other for a change, then maybe the world would be a better place. If you look on TV tonight, the only thing you'll find that has anything to do with John Lennon is a documentary about his killer and the day he was shot. I think it's more important to remember a man that believed in peace and love and created some of the most wonderful music you will ever listen to.

The Constant Gardner

Last night I went to see the Constant Gardner with Liz. What an incredible film. Directed by Fernando Meirelles (who also made the amazing City of God), based on a book by John La Carre (there should be an accent over the final e but can't be bothered to do that)and starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz.

Lizzy said it was a disturbing film, and in many ways that's very true. It highlights in a very real way the level of injustice that the west forces onto the third world. The central story, which I won't ruin since there's an element of a whodunit to it, involves a British Diplomat whose wife has begun to investigate the use of an experimental drug in Kenya, where much of the film is set. It's a challenging film to watch as you are forced to realise that we, or at least I, live with a huge level of ignorance of what goes on with the permission of our country.

Whilst all these things are disturbing, part of the beauty of this film is that it's also a love story. It's a love story between the diplomat and his wife but it's also a story that's in love with Africa. The cinematography really brings out the beauty of the country and the way the African characters, although generally they are the lesser characters, show resilience, patience and above all respect and love for the people they come into contact with. With that though comes an acknowledgment of the reality of life in Africa and the tough choices that they have to make to survive. This film refuses to see things in black and white and shows the world in true gradients of grey, with flashes of beauty and true humanity shining through it.

One problem with the film though was that there was in no way any constant gardening, but then that would have been a much less interesting film.