imagine bein' green

It has been said that songs are the poetry of our times. With the advent of radio, recorded music became available to the mass of humanity like never before. Poetry still lives, but the words which resonate most in the collective conscious are lyrics. While this is faintly troublesome at times ("gotta blame it on somethin', blame it on the rain..."), poetry itself is by no means dead. Sometimes it's even alive and well in a song. For myself, two songs stand above all others. When i heard "Bein' Green" as a child, i felt for the first time that i might not be alone in the world...

It's not easy bein' green
Having to spend each day
The color of the leaves
When I think it could be nicer
Bein' red or yellow or gold
Or something much more colorful like that
It's not easy bein' green
It seems you blend in
With so many other ordinary things
And people tend to pass you over
'Cause you're not standing out
Like flashy sparkles on the water
Or stars in the sky
But green's the color of spring
And green can be cool and friendly like
And green can be big like a mountain
Or important like a river or tall like a tree
When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why
But, why wonder, why wonder?
I'm green and it'll do fine
It's beautiful and I think it's what I want to be

And "Imagine", which i heard as a teen, still perhaps comes closer to being an anthem of my life than anything, including my own words.

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Thank you jim, joe, and john. No other songs have ever nestled into my spirit so securely.