There is no one quite like John Lennon

There was no one quite like John Lennon. Having been in The Beatles, he had a prominence that few others had, but he also had a rebellious nature. He was clever but insecure and very unpredictable. 

It is difficult to know what would have happened if he had not been shot in December 1980.

He was just reviving his music career with the release of the album Double Fantasy and was already working on future albums. The electronic keyboards of the time would have been fascinating to him. 

He would have been amazed by the politics of the 80s and no doubt campaigned against the policies of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

He would have wanted to be involved with Live Aid which would have provided an obvious opportunity for a Beatles reunion, although John would probably have been happy just to play his own music.

The rivalry with Paul McCartney would have continued but it would have lead them both to produce better music and it is likely they would have collaborated together at some point.

There is no one quite like John Lennon. Paul is conventional in comparison, He does have his rebellious moments but he wants to be liked too much to be as outrageous as John.

Other rock and pop stars have adopted causes, such as Bob Geldof, Bono and Sting, but they have not been as anarchic as John. Punk Rock seems tame in relation to the political movements in which John got involved.

To have that success and yet to be so rebellious seems to make him different from the rest. Who knows what would have happened if he had lived but you can not help wishibg that he had lived longer. All we can do is imagine.

Rose Royce

So why is a group represented by a picture of a carwash?


The group was originally formed under the name Total Concept Unlimited by Kenny Copeland (vocals and trumpet) and Henry Garner (drums) while graduating from high school. They were hired as backing band by Edwin Starr They then became involved with ex-Motown producer and songwriter Norman Whitfield and signed with his Whitfield Records label. They was renamed Magic Wand and performed as backing musicians with several different artists such asYvonne Fair, the Undisputed Truth, and the Temptations.


During a tour stop in Miami, Undisputed Truth leader Joe Harris came upon a singer Gwen Dickey, a member of a local group called The Jewels. Dickey was flown to Los Angeles to audition for Whitfield.  He gave her the stage name Rose Norwalt and she was added to Magic Wand who now prepared their debut album.


Film director Michael Schultz offered Whitfield the opportunity to score his next picture Car Wash. Whitfield saw the film as an opportunity to launch his new group and the music for the soundtrack was written as the picture was been filmed. The band's name was also changed to Rose Royce to  reflect the movie's car theme, but also the name of the new singer.


On the back of the release of the film, the single Car Wash made the top 10 in the UK. Since the band were still in the US, the band were represented on the Top of the Pops countdown by the picture above of a car wash.

Self-Reflexive Songs

Self-Reflexive Songs are songs whose lyrics refer to the song itself as though it was a separate entity.


Examples are:


Carly Simon's "You're so Vain" with the lyrics "You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you."


Elton John's "Your Song" with "And you can tell everybody this is your song It may be quite simple, but now that it's done."


The Beautiful South's "Song for Whoever" with "I wrote this song for you".


David Bowie's "Five Years" with "I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour, drinking milk shakes cold and long; Smiling and waving and looking so fine, don't think you knew you were in this song,"


Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" with "Here is a little song I wrote. You might want to sing it note for note."


Spamalot's "The Song that Goes Like This" with amongst almost completely self-reflexive lyrics "For this is the song that goes like this. Yes it is. Yes it is!"


The Song That Never Ends with "This is the song that goes on forever, Cause it never ever ends"


It is not the same as self-relection where the writer refers to themselves but where the writer refers to the song itself. Often the lyrics are self-reflexive in a knowing, humourous way so as to emphasise the artifice in the song.


Note: There use to be a list of Self-Reflexive Songs on Wikipedia. A copy of that list can be found here.

Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes

I keep on hearing on the radio the song Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. The song originally came out in 2009 on the album Up from Below. It is about time the song was a hit.


I saw the band play an acoustic set in Victoria Park, East London, in August 2009. They have a really good sound and some very catchy songs, especially Home.





Video of the song Home on YouTube.