Hey Jude!

 

It's Julian Lennon's birthday.

So, to that end, happy birthday to Julian as he turns 58. 

But this is perhaps only tangentially about Julian Lennon. Oh, sure, I like the music I've heard of his, particularly the songs that become hits. Some of it takes me back to high school and some pleasant times.

In reality, this is about the vibe I felt when I read it was Julian Lennon's birthday.

I messaged Susan when I saw it. We've had many deep conversations about music. She's made me appreciate Joni Mitchell more. We've shared a love of Billy Joel. I've probably helped her understand The Beatles a little better. I think I shocked her with my knowledge of The Monkees and that I didn't mock them.

And I know she likes Julian Lennon.

But I'm wildly digressing here. Oh, sure, I could do the "deep dive" on this whole subject but it has literally nothing to do with Julian Lennon or why I'm writing this in the first place.

Anyway, I messaged Susan to say it's Julian Lennon's birthday and, in my usual stupidly witty way, I included a song lyric to honor "Jules."

You know, "Jules," or in this case changed to "Jude" by Sir Paul McCartney.

"Hey Jude."

"...it's Julian Lennon's birthday," I wrote. "May he take a sad song and make it better."

And then it hit me.

What a profound thing that McCartney wrote. Incidentally, John Lennon thought the song was about him but also helped McCartney with the song, specifically on the line "The movement you need is on your shoulder." Macca was going to pull the line but it was John who told him it was great and to keep it. To most Beatles nuts (Hi!) that line strikes as very emotional.

But back to taking that sad song and making it better.

I mean, as we chat here in the year of 2021, isn't that literally what we have to do?

It hit me as I sent the message to Susan. It wasn't entirely a stupid, corny "Rob joke." It was more than that.

To explain, let's go to baseball. Consider the number of people complaining about the runner on second base rule in extra innings. Heck, my own gripe about the stupid Nike swoosh on the front of the uniforms, especially the Yankees?

No, I'm not going to stop, but my answer is that I simply won't buy any jerseys with that on it. Shame on MLB first and then shame on Nike. So it goes. They'll all survive.

In the case of the runner on second rule, it's not going anywhere for this year.

But.

If the alternative was that we wouldn't have baseball, what would you do?

And so, in the most labored metaphor in history, we're taking a sad song and making it better. The runner on second rule could go away after 2021. It was put in place for 2020 in part so that there could be a season. It was to avoid lengthy games unnecessarily. There was the notion it was for safety.

It is a theme of the "Years of COVID." 

I've finally come to grips with how much my own life has been a drag for over a year because I felt like I was in denial about some of it or something. I can't quite explain it.

So, to me, it feels like there are so many things where I have to take that sad song and make it better.

The overwhelming thought, as I typed that stupid joke to Susan this morning, was that there's often nothing we can do about certain things. Sure, we need to gripe. I need to get stuff off my chest. That's part of why I started writing nearly 15 years ago. To an extent, a longer point is that I've changed in that regard, to be honest. Oh, the stories I haven't told!

But, when life gives you lemons, make some damn lemonade. Throw some vodka in it if it helps. Do whatever you've got to do to move forward.

And thus "Take a sad song and make it better."

Happy birthday, Julian.