lennon

Okay, I'm half an hour late, but Lennon would've been 70 today.

Huge part of my life are the Beatles. A world without them seems inconceivable. I hate to say it, but the Beatles were a partnership of two men - John Lennon and Paul McCartney. George and Ringo were mere side-men in comparison.

I was hugely into Lennon, but time has been kind to McCartney and I'm a certified Paul fan now. Of the two of them he was definitely the edgy one, regardless of the way the "serious" rock press have tried to rewrite history in the past 30 years.

Lennon's held up as some kind of saint - which he may have been in small doses? His reputation in Liverpool reverberates through time - there are folk here who still despise him and his mouth.

Conversely, Paul's spent the last three decades trying to convince the media that what he does is worthwhile. He's produced some wonderful work - the best of it as a reaction to the supposed greatness of Lennon. But why should he have had to torture himself so much?

Some commentators wish Paul had died on 8th December 1980. How sick is that?

"Strawberry Fields Forever" is compelling evidence as to Lennon's genius, but I think his later work is so over-rated it's unreal. I wish people would give themselves a little distance when discussing Woolton's Finest......