Laurel and Hardy. That's John and Yoko, and we stand a better chance under that guise, because all the serious people, like Martin Luther King, and Kennedy, and Gandhi, got shot.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the safety found in humor and the risks faced by serious advocates for change.
In this quote, John Lennon draws an intriguing parallel between comedic duos like Laurel and Hardy and the serious figures of history who advocated for peace and justice, implying that perhaps adopting a lighter persona offers a semblance of protection in a world that often punishes those who challenge the status quo. The mention of iconic individuals such as Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, and Gandhi, all of whom were assassinated, highlights the peril that accompanies intense activism, suggesting that humor might be a safer path for bringing about change.
In practice
In a speech about peace, one might use this quote to emphasize the balance between seriousness and humor in activism.
When I get older losing my hair many years from now. Will you still be sending me a Valentine. Birthday greetings, bottle of wine? If I'd been out till quarter to three would you lock the door? Will you still need me, will you still feed me, When I'm sixty-four?
The writing of the Beatles, or John and Paul's contribution to the Beatles in the late sixties - had a kind of depth to it, a more mature, more intellectual approach. We were different people, we were older. We knew each other in all kinds of different ways than when we wrote together as teenagers and in our older twenties.
I put things down on sheets of paper and stuff them in my pockets. When I have enough, I have a book.
Guilt for being rich, and guilt thinking that perhaps love and peace isn't enough and you have to go and get shot or something.
I regret profoundly that I was not an American and not born in Greenwich Village. It might be dying, and there might be a lot of dirt in the air you breathe, but this is where it's happening.
I've been baking bread and looking after the baby...Everyone else who has asked me that question over the last few years says. 'But what else have you been doing?' To which I say, 'Are you kidding?' Because bread and babies, as every housewife knows, is a full-time job. After I made the loaves [of bread,] I felt like I had conquered something. But as I watched the bread being eaten, I thought, Well, Jesus, don't I get a gold record or knighted or nothing?
We are unraveling our navels so that we may ingest the sun. We are not afraid of the darkness. We trust that the moon shall guide us. We are determining the future at this very moment. We know that the heart is the philosopher's stone. Our music is our alchemy.
There may not be one Truth - there may be several truths - but saying that is not to say that reality doesn't exist.
I used to tell women graduate students, half-seriously, that the role of slightly rebellious daughter was one of the better roles for women living in patriarchy.
There is only one Christ, Jesus, one faith. All else is a dispute over trifles.
There's a victory, and defeat; the first and best of victories, the lowest and worst of defeats which each man gains or sustains at the hands not of another, but of himself.
You are living in a dream of your own creation. Let it be the dream of a lifetime, for that is exactly what it is.
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