Stand By Us. He Did

“When the night has come and the land is dark and the moon is the only light we’ll see/ Still I won’t be afraid, no I won’t be afraid/ just as long as you stand, stand by me…”Elizabeth Edwards is gone and it feels like she’s gone; but the man singing this old classic doesn't FEEL gone. I just spent an hour watching clips and listening to his music. And I looked up December 8 1980 in my diary and there was the killing, raw as a fresh wound.His spiritual brother Paul is gifted too of course but John had that bass-note of darkness and he didn’t care at all what they thought of his wife. I still smile when I think of how they found a way to embody that truism that love beats war with their two "bed-ins.” He had a great talent and he grew it and he shared it all around; what more does God want of us than this?[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4_ghOG9JQM&feature=related]

McCartney at Fenway Park

He walked out on the stage and the crowd roared. The guy on my left said “I paid $240 for my ticket but what is he, like 70? I mean this could be it!” The guy on my right said “My God he’s playing that same Hofner bass he played with the Beatles in those clubs in Hamburg in the early 60's!” Then I think I lost hold of normal day-to-day consciousness as the man began to play - over 30 songs right in a row, no break, hardly any sweat especially after he took of his sleek snug jacket to play in his white Oxford style shirt with the red suspenders.

Paul McCartney isn’t 70 of course, though he isn't 28 like in this picture. He’s only 67, with a perfectly flat stomach and no love handles whatsoever. His hair is the color of a fine Canadian whiskey and just a wee bit thin at the crown which you can see when he bows deep. Only his jowls and pouches at the mouth show the years. “Wonder why he doesn’t get a face lift,” said the guy on my right but if he did I think he'd look SO young that his tributes to his two dead mates might not have the same effect: his tribute to George with the photo montage of Harrison as a boy, as a handsome bearded man, as the talented elder still making music until his recent death; and of course his tribute to John, his writing partner, who he loved and was furious with and split from and loved just the same until that bullet in 1980 took him at only 40. The song he wrote his first best friend says it all. It’s called 'Here Today' and let me stop here and we can see him sing it with the the lyrics under it, a testimony if ever there was one:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3anmTfa5OPw]

And if I say I really knew you wellWhat would your answer be.If you were here today.Ooh- ooh- ooh- here to - day.Well knowing you,You’d probably laugh and say that we were worlds apart.If you were here today.Ooh- ooh- ooh- here to - day.But as for me,I still remember how it was before.And I am holding back the tears no more.Ooh- ooh- ooh- I love you, ooh-What about the time we met,Well I suppose that you could say that we were playing hard to get.Didn’t understand a thing.But we could always sing.What about the night we cried,Because there wasn’t any reason left to keep it all inside.Never understood a word.But you were always there with a smile.And if I say I really loved youAnd was glad you came along.If you were here today.Ooh- ooh- ooh- for you were in my song. Ooh- ooh- ooh- here today.