God

Hope you had a restful 4th of July... I relaxed on my day off. :)

Today's song has a pretty heavy title--"God". It's suitable though, really, because this is a heavy song. It feels like the music by itself could serve as a replacement theme for "The Wonder Years", while the lyrics are no doubt still pissing off some fundamentalist Christians somewhere. But before I get too gleeful, let's examine the words verse by verse.

"God is a concept / by which we measure / our pain." That line is so powerful that John decided to "say it again". He wasn't shy about redefining traditional concepts--like taking the Personal Jesus and turning it into a more rational idea, in this case a measure for pain.

The next verse is a list of all the things John Lennon doesn't believe in. I did a bit of a double-take when I heard him sing, "I don't believe in Zimmerman". He was referring to Bob Dylan, but of course I immediately thought of the Trayvon Martin case which is currently shaking things up in this country. Coincidentally I happen to agree with John on both counts--I'm not a huge Dylan fan (maybe I just haven't heard enough of his music), and I'm not a George Zimmerman supporter, either. Lennon's a prophet!

The third and final verse is my favorite. It connects with the last line on his List of Disbelief, "I don't believe in Beatles", and takes it a few steps further.

The dream is over
What can I say?
The dream is over
Yesterday
I was the dream weaver
But now I'm reborn
I was the Walrus
But now I'm John
And so dear friends
You just have to carry on
The dream is over.

"Yesterday" and "I Am the Walrus" are of course references to Beatles songs. The line where he says he "was the dream weaver" remind me of songs like "Across the Universe", a song which feels like an ephemeral dream world made into music. Wikipedia adds a note on the repeated line, "The dream is over":  "The final line of the song, 'The dream is over' represents Lennon's stance that the myth 'the Beatles were God' had come to an end. 'If there is a God,' Lennon explained, 'we're all it.'"

Overall I would have to say that Lennon, who'd announced during the height of Beatlemania that The Beatles were "more popular than Jesus", created a great sequel to that claim in "God".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heard It Tally: 1

Songs Completed: 10