Today, October 9, is the birthday of John Lennon, famed Beatles member, peace activist, poet, artist and musician who struck out on his own to create unforgettable songs. Lennon was born in 1940 in Liverpool, England. A brilliant lyricist known for his pungent wit as well as ability to tap into the deep emotions of his listeners, Lennon became a spokeperson for the peace movement of the Sixties and was a harsh critic of the Vietnam war. But most of all, we remember him for songs like "Hey Jude," which calls out to all of us to "make it better." Lennon was killed outside his apartment house in New York City on December 8, 1980.

Actually, it was Paul McCartney who wrote "Hey Jude" (it was written to Julian Lennon during John's affair with Yoko while still married to Cynthia). John was also not responsible for "Yesterday", "Let it Be" and many other Beatle songs.

You are right, and John's relationship with Julian was... well frankly pretty well documented as really bad. But his relationship with his second son (first with Yoko) was actually rather sweet, documented by "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" off of his posthumously released Double Fantasy. And we all know "Imagine" (off of the album of the same name,) but the entire record is gold, especially the really joyous "Oh, Yoko" (about... someone. I forget, he sometimes uses heavy metaphor.)

Of course, as a Beatle, he gave us tunes like "Help!" and "Dear, Prudence" and "Come Together." Not to mention so many of their earlier hits.