Sunday, October 10, 2010

I Loved John Lennon, John Lennon Loved Cats..."Imagine"

October 9, 2011. This is an edited version of a post I did last year on what would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday. It was one of my highest rated blog posts and with today being John Lennon's birthday I decided to post it again.


Today, October 9th, 2011
Would Have Been 
John Lennon's 71st birthday....

"Imagine"....

I remember first seeing John (and the rest of the Beatles) on The Ed Sullivan Show back on February 9th, 1964. I was a little girl...7 to be exact...(yep, I am an old "Crazy Cat Lady", I am sure you are doing the  math by now).

I pointed to our rabbit-earred television and said "I like that one". I never changed my mind. John's music served as the back-drop for events in my life that are too numerous to mention.

I loved John's swagger, his "bad boy" persona, his genius, his sarcastic and sardonic sense of humor.

He marched to his own drummer.

He was independent. Like a cat.

What I didn't remember until recently was that John Lennon loved cats. Throughout his life he had numerous cats with names such as "Tich", "Tim", "Sam", "Elvis", "Mimi", "Baghari", "Major" and "Minor".

When I was 7 and began what would be a life-long love affair with John Lennon (which continues  even with his untimely death on December 8th, 1980), I had yet to fall in love with cats.

That didn't happen until I was 15.

When I was a little girl I always said I was going to meet John Lennon and marry him.

I thought we had a lot in common.

At age 7 I had yet to start my love affair with cats.

But I loved John Lennon....

I still do.

He loved cats, I loved him, we could have married and had a family of cats.

Ahhhhh  to what could have been.....


"Imagine"





51 comments:

  1. Very nice tribute-Here's to John on what would have been his 70th Birthday!

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  2. We love this video of Imagine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GAHFrLAxzM

    SO hard to believe he would have been 70!

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  3. I absolutely adore John. Did I tell you that my little buddy, Winston, is named after John?

    Great post, love. Fabulous tribute.

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  4. How sweet you are(both of you), fresh and feline. A nice story to read. Bb

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  5. @Bocci, thanks so much!! Can't believe he would have been 70...unreal

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  6. @Rabbit, OMG...I told you that we met for a reason! Other than your being a FABULOUS person!
    Yep "John Winston Lennon".....I LOVE that your kitty is named Winston!
    Thanks so much for your incredibly kind words!

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  7. @Yoda, I have seen that one before and LOVE IT! Too bad the embedded code was "removed by request"...I would have edited this and used it

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  8. Good grief! I live about 60 miles from where he was born and I never knew he loved cats!! Oh the shame :( great post though :>)

    Yesterday John's first wife Cynthia and son Julian unveiled a monument to him http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11507993

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  9. @Carolyn, I remembered reading that John loved cats at some point, then I had forgotten about it. I was reading about him and ran into the info about the cats and decided to do an impromptu post since I couldn't post one yesterday due to the low cost clinic posting that had to stay up yesterday because the shots were being offered yesterday. Thanks so much for the link, I am going to read it now!

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  10. Well, I learned something new again, as I always do reading your blog. I did not know John Lennon liked cats and had them. He sure was good at his music too.

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  11. @Mario thanks so much! I had known that John liked cats but frankly I had forgotten about it until I was reading about him today! I have everything he ever recorded! (or at least I think I do!)
    :)

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  12. Caren....I really love this tribute...I was in love with him and George Harrison...now I remember that he was a cat lover...thank you for this great article, Caren.

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  13. Yes, and it's also unreal that some no-talent pshyco took him away at the age of 40.
    Anyway...I looked under, "Blogs You Follow" and I didn't see Bocci's Beefs. I used to have a "Subscribe " button on my blog but took it off. The way I keep up is through the blogs I follow updates on my blogger dashboard...
    I have to admit, I'm not so good with the tech stuff.

    Thanks for your kind words about John and Bocci's blog!

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  14. Cat Lennon is going to make the cat nip album famous one day.

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  15. I think cats "imagine" more than dogs. That's what they do when they're sitting still and contemplating out of those little slits of eyes! :)

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  16. I knew John Lennon liked cats and I didn't even think about him being 70. My Dad saw him once but he was with a group with 3 other guys. Tells you how old my Dad is...not 70 though!

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  17. Mary Jo thanks so much for your kind comment! As mystical as George was one would think that I would have liked him but no....I liked his music but I was (and still am) a "John" girl through and through!

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  18. @Bocci, I know! Mark David Chapman...the sicko.
    About the "follow"....I am going to go back into your blog, I didn't see the blogger "follow" on the top left....if it isn't there please put it back! That is how they turn up on my blog list. If it isn't at the top left for me to click on it won't show up for me to read when you submit a new post and God knows with my "old" mind I can't keep track of them without it! xoxo

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  19. @Brian, watch out! I "resemble" that comment!!! lol. When you said your Dad is "old" but not 70!! lol. Your Dad actually "saw" Lennon in person? I would have died!

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  20. @Dawn I love that image. Yes cats are hugely contemplative and I think that is why I inherently relate to them more than I relate to dogs. Don't get me wrong, I adore dogs but there is just something mystical and magical about cats. They always seem so wise when they are deep in thought.

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  21. @Sean, OMG I nearly passed out. Saw your name and thought you were Sean Lennon!!! lmao!! You got me on that one! So nice to meet you and thank you!!!!!! (even if you are NOT Sean Lennon!) lol
    Hope you will stop by again!

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  22. I love John Lennon too. His IMAGINE is my favourite! Love the music and the lyrics. He's such an genius.

    I didn't know he loved cats!

    Great tribute!!!

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  23. Aunty Caren,
    From now on, purrrlease call me Brad John-Lennon Pitt. har har har *evil laughs*

    Brad, shoo! Get off my blog. Oooops....purrrlease forgive us. Brad is always trying to steal the limelight. We love John's music too...Mama would be singing (out of tune, mostly) Imagine whenever we misbehave. Hinting that we should imagine life on the streets... purrrr....meow! Angelina

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  24. I'm 50, I looked at the kitty in glasses & saw John Lennon. I didn't see Harry... Ummm Who

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  25. I love this post, Caren. I recently learned about John's cat love and it made me adore him even more. What a cool guy he was...what a loss for the world...

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  26. @Priscilla thank you! "Imagine" was one of my favorites too! But...I love so many of John's songs that it is impossible to pick one favorite. The world truly lost a genius when we lost John

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  27. @Cat In Sydney LOL!! No problem! You will hate me but since I don't care for Brad Pitt AT ALL it will be easy to keep him off of the page! lol.
    But I still like YOU!

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  28. @Tony...I am 54 (almost 55) I saw John Lennon too :)
    Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope to see you again!

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  29. @Angie, thank you sooo very much! I am glad I could share John's love of cats (even if it was just a little bit). Yes the world lost sooo much, I often think of what music could have been had he lived :(

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  30. Clarissa's mom here: I don't remember the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, but I do have vague memories of the cartoon show. I'm 50, so the Beatles were on the verge of splitting when I was just becoming aware of them. My crush was on Paul McCartney, but I admired John Lennon and my term paper in English 102 was on John Lennon. I think I got a "B" on it. lol

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  31. I share a birthday with John Lennon! Except I just turned 14. John Lennon's son was born on October 9th too!

    ~JON
    lifeofakidnamedjon.blogspot.com
    Comment, Follow, Enjoy!

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  32. Clarissa Hi!
    I remember that cartoon show too (I hated it lol)...ohhh everyone loved Paul...I was one of the only ones who didn't. I liked him but didn't "love" him.
    Wooo hooo about the "B" on your John Lennon paper!

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  33. @Jonathan, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!! How special are YOU being born on OCTOBER 9!! Wooo hoooo! And your name may be Jonathan but it is almost "John!" I knew about Sean being born the same day as his Dad (and you) too!
    Thanks so much for stopping by my blog, I will have to check out yours as well!

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  34. I love John Lennon - how can you not? I never knew he was a cat lover though.... WOW. Thanks for sharing. As an aside, as I was reading, Alex decided to MARCH accross my laptop. My display is all haywired now! UGH! He is lucky he is cute!

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  35. Hilary sooo true! I didn't remember until I was researching more about him. Ugh just noticed I am not signed in to Blogger, drives me crazy! It is ME though! lol
    Hmmm I think Alex wanted to read about John Lennon's cats or if nothing else he wanted to say hi to ME! Give him a kiss from me please!

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  36. Such a nice tribute, Caren. Funny, my Aunt is the biggest Beatles and John Lennon fan, too. AND she loves cats, too! Go figure. :)

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  37. @meowmeowmans thankyou!! Nope, not funny (about your Aunt) it is GENETIC! lol

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  38. Ahhh John Lennon. The world hasn't been the same since. Its hard to imagine exactly what the world would be like if John was still with us, but I bet it wouldn't take itself so seriously. It would definitely have better tunes.

    Cheers,
    Neyland D. Catt

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  39. @Neyland...sooo true "the world hasn't been the same since"...your comment so struck a chord with me. "It would definitely have better tunes"...yes, it would. Thanks for a wonderful comment!

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  40. Hi Caren,
    Actually Oct 9 is also my birthday!
    Some cat people did not know John Lennon loved cats. Our Cat Network put together that video I mentioned before with 3 parts. The first one talks about history of black cats. The second shows all the celebrities with their black cats including John Lennon... Enjoy! Christine from Miami

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  41. Hi Christine!
    No wonder I like you so much! By the way, saw your photos you gorgeous lady!
    Your video is featured on CAT CHAT today!
    Thank you for your contribution! AND BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!
    Mine is next week! Aren't we October people just the BEST??!! lol

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  42. I'm totally behind on my blog reading, but I'm so glad I found this wonderful post. I never knew John Lennon was a cat lover.

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  43. @Ingrid thank you! Ohhhh do I ever know what you mean about being behind on blog reading! I am only good at keeping up with the ones that are on Blog Spot because they show up when I am here....the ones I have RSS feeds to I never get to look at, I am also pretty good about the ones I subscribe to via email. I am the type that needs it in my face to remember to read them!
    I had known about John Lennon being a cat lover, then I later forgot about it and was just reminded when I was looking up things about him by his birthday. Those lucky cats! :)

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  44. Wonderful tribute. I love John Lennon and the Beatles. I didn't know John loved cats, though. But really pleased that he did!

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