Wednesday, October 29, 2008

I'm Only Sleeping

Please don't wake me, no
don't shake me
Leave me where I am
I'm only sleeping


That's exactly what came to mind as I saw this fellow sleeping, only a few feet from the Imagine mosaic, a memorial to John Lennon in Central Park.

Beatles fans will recognize those lines as the end of the first verse of I'm Only Sleeping, which is track 3 on the Revolver album.

It's a strange and wonderful Lennon composition, featuring beautifully oxymornic lyrics ("Close my eyse, float upstream...") and a transfixing backwards-guitar solo. If you're musically inclined, you'll find these notes by Alan W. Pollack interesting.

No comments: