There are emotional moments in life that stay with us over time. Something seemingly insignificant, an object, a word, a song will remind us of a person that we loved deeply who is no longer sharing our lives. I suppose I will never forget the scene in a restaurant during the Christmas season when I was having a wonderful time with a group of teachers with whom I worked. We were in a festive mood in the room filled with the sights and sounds of the season. Favorite Christmas carols hummed in the background of our joy and laughter when quite abruptly a member of our group began crying as she rushed from the table.
I immediately volunteered to follow her to determine what had upset her so. I found her standing outside sobbing while attempting to compose herself. I gave her a hug without prying and she admitted that she was missing her mother who had died in that moment. She spoke of her mother’s love of Christmas and most of all Christmas music. She weakly smiled through her tears and confessed that the scene of joy around the table with her mother’s favorite song playing in the background had suddenly released beautiful memories of times spent with her mom that overcame her.
I understood what my colleague and friend had been attempting to convey. I, like most of us, am often move by music. There is something so incredibly powerful about the messages that certain songs and symphonies send directly to our hearts. As John Lennon once said in an interview, “Talking is the slowest form of communication.” For him music was a much better way to speak honestly to the world, and he did that so very well. The messages contained in his compositions of melodies and lyrics are not just poetic, they are powerful expressions of his very soul.
I have taken moments again and again to listen to the latest Beatle song that was released last week. After decades the Fab Four are together again thanks to the marvels of technology with a lyrical song called Now and Then that was recorded by John Lennon on a cassette tape as he sat at his piano in the Dakota apartment that he share with his wife, Yoko Ono.
According to those who knew him well John was content in the days before he died. He had a young son, Sean, whom he loved as deeply as any father ever has. He and his boyhood friend, Paul McCartney, had made peace with one another after Paul and his wife, Linda, came to visit. As McCartney was leaving John told him to “think of me now and then old friend.” It was as though both men had overcome any difficulties that had caused a rift in both their friendship and their musical collaboration.
Neither of them knew in that moment of reconciliation that John would soon be dead, a victim of violence. It had to be quite profound for Paul McCartney when Yoko Ono sent him a tape labeled Now and Then on which John Lennon seemed to be expressing his feelings in ways that talking had never worked for him. It was both an apology and an assurance that John had always loved Paul. He had not forgotten his boyhood friend.
The tape was so poorly done that it seemed almost worthless even as Paul and the three remaining Beatles attempted to make a go of turning it into a recording. It would take decades before artificial intelligence made it possible to separate John’s voice from the dominance of the piano. What evolved is a beautiful song about the endurance of friendship. In many ways it was John Lennon’s last message of how much that connection had always meant to him. It is so beautiful that I cry every time I listen to it.
The world has endured very trying times in the last few years. We pulled together for a time but then our emotions were highjacked by political forces. New alliances were formed, not based on our shared memories, but on making our beliefs seem counter to one another. It suddenly became anathema to have differing views about how to solve problems. We became so divided that families and friendships that had endured through entire lifetimes were sometimes shattered. It was heartbreaking to watch because deep in our hearts we knew how much we still loved one another. Somehow the words we used to mend the hurts seemed only to make things worse. We were left wondering if those whose love we had lost ever thought of us now and then the way we always thought of them.
The song Now and Then is a masterpiece in my mind. It conveys the kind of longing that we have to convey the depth of our feelings. We miss the people who somehow seem to have misunderstood how much we loved them. Somehow they took hurtful words uttered in a thoughtless moment to heart and did not understand that our feelings for them were so strong and pure that we felt that nothing would ever tear us apart, not even a few sentences spoken without considering the consequences.
John Lennon was my favorite Beatle. His songs were pure poetry. His words conveyed a thousand emotions. Now his dear friend, Paul, has shared one of his last gifts with all of us. It is a message of love that all of us can understand.
Go find the video. Listen to the lyrics. You will cry.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 