Re: Hey, Jude (was: Re: Can a christian be a Beatles fan...?

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2003 12:50:11 -0500
Newsgroups: alt.music.christian.rock
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"Peter T. Chattaway" <email-address-deleted> wrote in message
news:email-address-deleted...
> On 9 Jun 2003, David Brider wrote:
> : I was thinking of "The Ballad of John & Yoko", which includes the line
> : "Christ, you know it ain't easy". At least I *assume* it's meant to be
> : blasphemous rather than a prayerful use of the name...
>
> Listen to the entire lyric, though:
>
> Christ, you know it ain't easy
> You know how hard it can be
> The way things are going
> They're gonna crucify me
>
> If you listen to the first line on its own, yeah, it sounds like he's
> saying "Christ" in a purely blasphemous sort of way ... but then it turns
> out he might actually be *speaking* to Christ, and saying to him, "You
> know all that crap that you went through because you were the Prince of
> Peace and everything? Now *I'm* going through all that crap, too."
>
> It's still pretty ambivalent, though. Lennon says "you know" twice, and
> it's not quite clear whether he is speaking to Christ and saying, "You've
> been there already, so you know what I'm going through," or whether he is
> saying it in a more generic kind of way, a la "You people listening to
> this song probably have some kind of idea how hard this is."
>
> --- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- email-address-deleted ---
> Nothing tells memories from ordinary moments; only afterwards do they
> claim remembrance, on account of their scars. -- Chris Marker, La Jetee
>
This is an interesting discussion, and we all must admit that we can't know
what John fully meant by the lyrics. Even if he were alive to tell us, he
might not tell the truth. For years, Elton John claimed he wasn't gay, he
just wore the clothes because the normal rock outfits didn't fit him well.
Apparently, he didn't believe in his lifestyle enough to be crucified for
it. He came "out" when it was more acceptable.
Still, John Lennon appeared to be willing to stand up for his beliefs.
Shortly before writing the song in question, John was quoted (at the
Amsterdam "Bed-in for Peace") as saying, "I'm saying peace. We're not
pointing a finger at anybody. There are no-good guys and bad guys. The
struggle is in the mind. We must bury our own monsters and stop condemning
people. We are all Christ and Hitler. We want Christ to win. We're trying to
make Christ's message contemporary. What would he have done if he had
advertisements, records, films, TV and newspapers! Christ made miracles to
tell his message. Well, the miracle today is communications, so let's use
it."
Although John refers to Christ, I don't see a Savior view of Christ in his
words. Even if he were "speaking to Christ" in the song, I don't hear him
talking to Christ as a Savior. He's putting himself on the same level as
Christ, as a contemporary savior.
I've usually seen the lyrics written as "Christ! You know it ain't easy..."
And listening to the lyrics sounds more like an exclamation than a
conversational, "Christ, you know it ain't easy."
Finally, Peter does well to point to the entire lyric. As well, we could
expand our view to the whole of John's life. (Can we simply look at a lyric
for someone's intent without examining their life?) I see nothing in John's
life to indicate a Savior relationship with Christ, so I can only interpret
his lyric as blasphemy.