The Never Ending Story of John Lennon's Legacy

The Beatles split in 1970, and John Lennon has been dead for 28 years, but still almost three decades after his death and nearly four after the group's dissolution, the artist or his image I better say, has somehow managed to remain center of lucrative actions. Another book has been published about the ex Beatle's life. The author, Philip Norman, an expert in Beatle history, who also wrote the band's bibliography Shout, has come up with a new book entitled, John Lennon: The Life, in which he tours from Lennon's childhood, through his Beatle years, his marriage with Yoko Ono, up to his established peace leader figure. Norman succeeds in primarily sticking to Lennon the person, the man behind the artist, his family and friends, without digging into his music.

In John Lennon: The Life, Norman reveals us that as a teenage Lennon occasionally napped with his mother, Julia, and the accidental touch of her breast one time triggered longings in him to have sex with her - longings, Lennon believed, that Julia might have been willing to satisfy. The "truth" of the story may be more psychological than literal - who knows what Julia would have done? - but it deepens our understanding of a complex artist and man.

According to Rolling Stone Magazine, Ono gave the author unprecedented access - discussing, among other things, the ups and downs of their own sex life. His rendering of Lennon's years in Liverpool is similarly nuanced. Extensive interviews with Lennon's friends and relatives cause him to view Lennon's father, typically seen as a ne'er-do-well who abandoned his son, in a softer light. He reveals Julia's sister, Mimi, who raised Lennon from boyhood, to have been a virgin throughout her marriage to Lennon's uncle - a suggestive idea, given her lifelong devotion to her nephew.

There is no doubt Lennon is among the most influential musicians of the 20th century and proof of this matter is that his persona is still cashing in big time. Whether it is one of his guitars being auctioned, the first draft of Imagine being revealed, or in this case a new book about his life, the ex Beatle is still present, and after 28 years, also active. The myth around the songwriter continues postmortem to attracting the attention of his fans.

Lennon, from six feet under or from way above in heaven, can still exploit the image he created and mastered in the short life span of 40 years that he enjoyed existence on this planet. This speaks out of two things: one, how huge and current his stamp and legacy still are, and two if we are so much chained to the past it also speaks out on how our present musical stereotypes have declined and keep declining.