#26 "Bring On the Lucie (Freeda People)" by John Lennon

"Bring On the Lucie" is one of those great songs that you WON'T find if you're a Greatest Hits kind of guy. I know some people who live and die by those compilations. And sure, I have a few in my collection too. I have to admit... CCR's "Chronicles" is amazing! That being said though, you have to realize that if a band can string together that many hits, they HAVE to have made some other pretty good tunes too. That is certainly the case with John Lennon and his solo career.

Though we came to know Mr. Lennon from his work with The Beatles, his solo catalogue is pretty impressive too. Though he was not as gifted a musician or recording artist as Paul McCartney or George Harrison, who he admitted carried him to a degree, Lennon's songs were emotionally charged and extremely thoughtful, a combination that always makes for good music.

"Bring On the Lucie" is one of Lennon's protest songs from the 1970's. It's not as pointed as "John Sinclair," which he wrote about a specific man's legal harassments for marijuana possession, but it holds with "Power to the People" as an inspirational tune about the harmful powers governing us in America. Lines demanding that Nixon and friends "Stop the killing" evoke images of the Vietnam war and lines about the "blood that you spill" are on parr with a lot of what the anti-war movement was promoting at the time. Lennon was never afraid to share his point of view. It got him into quite a bit of trouble, as chronicled in the wonderful documentary "The People Vs John Lennon," but it also made him a hero.

John Lennon is just one of many artists who died young. We often wonder "what if" about so many of them. Lennon, to me, is one that really had so much to consider had he lived. Can you imagine his role in "We Are the World," Live Aid, or Amnesty International? Or how might he have responded when his beloved adopted home of NYC was shaken on 9/11? I don't think we can even begin to scratch the surface of Lennon's potential.

"Bring On the Lucie" is from the album "Mind Games." To hear the song, click on the icon in the widget jukebox along the side of the blog.