An Open Letter To Paul McCartney Calling For His Public Endorsement of Obama

The title of this blog entry would seem to say it all. Yet I would like to throw a few things into the mix, things impossible to believe for some, things already known to others, things to think about for a certain number of people (how many people? I don’t think I will ever devise the method for figuring out precisely how many people should think about these things!).

1. Back in 1978-1979, when Robert Rickles and I worked for an environmental company called, WAPORA, I asked Rickles what had become of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It had been the longest period yet in Lennon’s “career” (to use the most simplistic term) without music from him, and Rickles seemed the person for me to ask. Rickles was a buddy of then-Speaker of the House of Reps Tip O’Neil; Rickles had been Bella Abzug’s right hand; Rickles hung with some very well known, very left liberals. No more than one week later John and Yoko took out a full page ad in the New York Times, “An Open Letter To Those Who Ask What Became Of John And Yoko”. I was extremely important in relation to John Lennon back then, even if it was through middle men.

2. Paul McCartney, I am and have been extremely important in relation to you. May I say, people sensing that you are the type who would support Obama is not the same as rendering it tangible. Palin doesn’t even believe global warming is man-made. You cannot pass on taking sides when the failure to do so could mean another eight years (McCain could drop dead any minute and Palin would then be president) of matters discussed in “An Inconvenient Truth” (to reference the nightmare facing the Earth in the most abbreviated manner).

3. When I came up with the words and ideas for Lennon that were then formed by him into the opening of the song “Starting Over”, my words and ideas touched on ideas contained in words from the old song, “Walking In The Sand”: “Whatever happened to the life I gave to you, what will I do with it now?” Though I never said those words, I spoke of all the people who existed as a group because of something precious that Lennon possessed, and that now he had to do something with “it”, what could he do with it now, the life they gave to him. Thus it was a thing, an it, that Lennon possessed in my way of putting it, a thing that he had to (or should, whatever that means or meant) do something with. Lennon put the “Walking In The Sand” phrase into an early version of “Free As A Bird”, and I recognized from past experience his keying in on the thought I expressed to a middle man. I also used the word “precious” a million times in my little speech, a reference to the opening track on “Walls and Bridges”. And here is where we find a fundamental, recurring difference between Lennon and yourself. In your “Beatle-ization” (excellent in almost every way) of “Free As A Bird”, you essentially made the “whatever happened to” into a bemoaning of the loss of a feeling that “always made me feel so free.” At some point in his life Lennon tried to give tangible substance and shape to the power given to The Beatles, a power beyond a feeling. You do this too, but to a lesser degree. I once worked for Howard Smith, who introduced Lennon to Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, and others of their socio-political orientation/disposition. This almost led to Lennon’s involvement in protests at the 1972 Republican Convention, but Lennon opted out, an action taken (or rather, an inaction taken) because of his not wanting to lose his fight for American citizenship. Now you took Lennon’s counterpoint to the idea of being “home and dry” in “Free As A Bird”, the countering undercurrent against just being a complacent animal, and you turned it into bemoaning the loss of an important feeling. An endorsement of Obama would, in my mind, help restore this thing of Lennon’s that you neutralized in making (that great Beatles song) “Free As A Bird”. We are not bemoaning the loss of an important feeling, we are needing a thing of tangible substance that can make a difference in people’s lives. We have empowered you - now use it.