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Wed, 19 Aug 1998 21:41:18 -0500
>This is mostly in answer to the guy who likened U2's "Sunday
>Bloody Sunday" to John Lennon's.
Er, he didn't "liken" the two songs at all. He said he was reading a book
about Lennon & discovered John had written a song called Sunday Bloody
Sunday & did anyone know if Bono was aware of this when he wrote his. He
didn't compare them in anyway, he just asked if anyone had any thoughts. I
for one had never heard of this song, because while I like John Lennon, I
actually haven't heard the better part of his solo work. So I went to a
website to find out which album the song came from; I really appreciate
that Chris pointed this out, because I had no idea John Lennon had any
interest in what was going on in Ireland at all, much less that he'd
written a song about it.
>Much as I like the Beatles, this is a crass
>disgusting and historically inaccurate piece of early seventies, New
>York radical chic rabble rousing. Lennon knew nothing of his
>subject matter. How many people would understand references to
>Stormont in Greenwich Village?!
What does it matter whether someone in Greenwich Village knows anything
about Stormont? Evidently John Lennon knew. I don't know where or what or
who the heck Stormont is or was, but that doesn't negate the power of the
emotion in Lennon's words. This is one thing I always liked about John
Lennon; he didn't back away from strong emotions or strong words, & even if
he put his foot in his mouth (repeatedly), you knew his heart was in the
right place. Sound like anyone we know? (By the way, someone else pointed
out that it was 14 martyrs, not 13 as in Lennon's song---but wasn't it 13
who died that day, & then one more several months later? Perhaps Lennon
wrote his song before that 14th man died.)
Bottom line Stephen, I don't really have any problem w/the other stuff you
said; I don't see where it's my place, as I'm woefully uninformed & don't
qualify as Irish-American by anyone's standards (that I know of). I just
didn't like the way you used Chris' innocent & informative post as a
springing off point. And I obviously have a soft spot in my heart for John
Lennon. If you would like to explain a little more in-depth the specific
"historical inaccuracies" in Lennon's song, or just what it is about his
version that offends you so much, I'd be very interested.
Statch
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