Midnight Confessions - I'm a

Midnight Confessions - I'm a fairly normal guy. I work a job, raise a couple of kids - in short, nothing unusual.

But I harbor a shameful secret - one so deep and dark and awful, I am loathe to broach the subject in polite company.

And it would stay that way - secret, unbroached - had I not found support out there in the blogosphere. There is one other person with the guts to shine a light on this...thing , to get it out of its dark, shameful corner.

Atomizer, from Fraters Libertas, says it:

Since the Elder has brought up the subject of John Lennon songs that are painful to listen to, let me add the utterly atrocious "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" to the list.

Thank you, Atom.

But in all honesty, I have to say it goes further for me. I can not think of anything John Lennon ever did after the Beatles that I would ever voluntarily listen to twice.

Oh, put it back in the scabbards, all you Lennon zealots out there. He and McCartney did a lot of great stuff with the Fab Four. And while I'm not the world's biggest Beatles' fan (I prefer the Who and the Kinks among Brit Invasion bands), they were a great band - and I like a lot of, say, George Harrison's post-Beatles work.

But Lennon? His whole solo oeuvre sums up like this: A bunch of session guys standing around playing drowsy, self-indulgent, depressing music that sounds like it's being done after too much NyQuil.

And as far as Lennon himself - Ray Davies made bitter, cynical alienation fun. Lennon made it tortuous.

Imagine? Vision of a Sartreian hell. Merry Christmas, War Is Over? "White Christmas" for the "Paxil as lifestyle accesory" set. Double Fantasy - as in, every single song on both disks? Call it Double Miasma, and I might buy it on grounds of pure honesty alone.

I'm with Atomizer - it's Christmas; you can play your Bach, your Irving Berlin, or your Joey Ramone for all I care; any of them can suggest some shred of what this holiday is about.

Save Lennon for the classic rock rotation - the one I never tune in, if you please.

Posted by Mitch at December 10, 2003 06:07 AM