Today markes the 29th anniversary of John Lennon’s death. I have spent almost my entire life living on the Upper West Side and take a daily walk through Strawberry Fields so December 8th always feels significant.
Regular readers of this blog know that my mother slipped and fell on Thanksgiving, breaking her hip in three places. She is slowly recovering (baby steps… literally) but I have found myself often sitting in Strawberry Fields to clear my head and think clearly.
A few days ago, while sitting there, watching the tourists snap pictures and the singers strum their guitars, I noticed a discarded magazine lying on the bench next to me. It was an issue of New York magazine opened to an interview with Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon. The fact that I was in Strawberry Fields and the issue was slightly outdated made it seem all the more amazing.
The article focused on a series of duets that Yoko and Sean had recently recorded and I was immediately reminded of the song “La Vie En Rose” because my own mother had taught it to me as a child.
As an exercise:
Imagine your main character and their mother must sing a duet. What song would they choose? What kind of song is it? A ballad? A punk song? A rap? Why that song? What do the lyrics say about their relationship? Would they enjoy the process or hate having to rehearse together?
