Marx And Lennon [Paperback]

I never bought the Fireside Theater comedy album "How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?," but I was greatly impressed by the cover shot. It showed that particular gang of lunatics posing like they were standing on top of Lenin's tomb in Red Square in Moscow beneath posts of Groucho Marx and John Lennon (which the n's in Lennon's name backwards like they were Cyrillic letters). By the time I saw that album cover I already knew that I was a devout Marxist of the Brothers kind and the idea that John Lennon was more worthy of emulation than Vladimir Lenin was pretty much fully formed in my mind as well. Ever since the names of Marx and Lennon have been linked in my mind, and apparently Joey Green, best known as the inventor of wacky uses for brand-name products, is on the same wavelength as well.

"Marx & Lennon: The Parallel Sayings" juxtaposes sayings by Groucho Marx from his movies and assorted writings from those by John Lennon from his songs and assorted writings. For example, in "The Coconuts," Groucho said, "One for all and all for me and me for you and three for five and six for a quarter," while in "I Am the Walrus," Lennon sang, "I am me as you are he as you are me and we are all together."

Eerie, huh?

More than a Fireside Theater album cover what this book will remind you of those comparisons between Jesus and Elvis that pop up all over the place (You know, the ones that remind us Jesus said, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" while Elvis sang, "Don't be cruel"). Fortunately Green is treading on less sacred ground with this collection. Plus he comes up with about 400 of these parallel sayings, which range from the wistfully wry to the potentially profound. But mostly this book is fun and a timely reminder that pop culture icons speak more eloquently and more truthfully than politicians or pundits (the latter seem to be doing more talking than the former these days).

Yoko Ono provides an introduction to the book to give her blessing (Is this a counterpunch to Paul McCartney's attempt to have all of those Beatle songs now be listed as having been written by McCartney & Lennon rather than Lennon & McCartney? You decide), and then the first chapter, "Parallel Sayings, Parallel Lives" looks at the coincidental similarities between the two men, born 50 years apart, both in October, both the witty and sarcastic leaders of two of the most recognizable groups of the 20th century. The fact that they admired each other just makes it all that much more interesting. Besides, if I were still a student I would just be dying to find a way to use one of these sets of parallel sayings as the attention getting quotes at the start of a paper.

I bought this for a friend, but snuck a peek when it arrived at mine. As it turns out none of the saying are parallel in meaning, John and Grouch do however seem to know a lot of the same words. The selections seem to be based on quotes where both men use one or more of the same word(s) in a sentence. I think somebody got stoned and decided to write a book about their two favorite people. Nice for a good laugh, but probably not what you're expecting.

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