Love Me Do

John Lennon needs no introduction. He would have been 70 today, had he lived. I, like others, have trouble imagining that. I was a youngster when Lennon and his famed Beatles waded ashore to America. I was old enough to like music, but too young to understand or appreciate it. I only have hazy, disjointed memories of “Beatlemania” – a grainy television appearance here, a glossy magazine photo there – as the mop-haired lads from Liverpool seized the reigns of rock ‘n roll. I seem to recall my father – prepping for his future role on the traditionalist side of the “Generation Gap” – shaking his head in befuddlement, brows furrowed. It was 1964, so long ago.

To mark this day, some words from Lennon himself in his many guises (and who once said, “Reality leaves a lot to the imagination”):

Witty John Lennon: "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'."

John Lennon as Mark Twain: "As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot."

Controversial John Lennon: "We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock and roll or Christianity."

Cynic John Lennon: "Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground."

Haunting John Lennon: Guilt for ... thinking that perhaps love and peace isn't enough and you have to go and get shot or something.

‘Religulous’ John Lennon: "I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us."

Poet John Lennon: "Love is the answer, and you know that for sure; Love is a flower, you've got to let it grow."

Comedian John Lennon: "Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it."

Philosopher John Lennon: "The more I see the less I know for sure."

John Lennon as Donald Rumsfeld: "There's nothing you can know that isn't known."

John Winston Lennon. Born on October 9, 1940 in Liverpool, England. Murdered on December 8, 1980 in New York City. An English singer-songwriter. Rose to fame as a founding member of "The Beatles." Rest in peace, bro.