Lennon Was Human, Too
When it comes to John Lennon (as a solo artist), I run hot and cold. Some of his stuff is genius, of course. And some of it sounds like stuff that, had I written the song, I might have shelved it instead of recording it for the world to hear. The song "Borrowed Time", from the album Milk and Honey, is one of those songs I would have passed on (but then again, I ain’t John Lennon!)
OK, so why?
The lyrics are generously repetitious which, in a pop song, is a good thing! The rhyme scheme is sneaky: the first and third lines of each verse rhyme, but only because they are the exact same words. And the rather short, clipped lines leave lots of space in the song, again a nice feature in a pop composition.
But beyond that, the lyrics seem a tad uninspired. Here’s a sample:
When I was younger
Full of ideas and broken dreams (my friend)
When I was younger ah hah
Everything simple but not so clear
Now, you don’t have to use a bunch of high-falutin’, multisyllabic words to make a good lyric. But they at least should attempt to reach the listener on an emotional level. TBH, I don’t think these lyrics do that.
Like the lyrics, the melody is pedestrian. At least the chorus differentiates from the verses by altering the melody a bit. The rhythm is standard 4/4 with a Caribbean feel by the emphasis on the second beat of each measure, courtesy of a delightful echo-y electric guitar riff.
The song form is a standard pop type, three verses with choruses in between. [Songwriters take note of a very useful lyric technique: have them move through time. As in “when I was younger”, “now I am older”, etc.]
The arrangement is nothing special. Besides the electric guitar, there is acoustic guitar, drums and percussion, bass, and a whiff of keys used sparingly on the chorus. Beige.
What about the performance? Again, it’s not reaching this listener on an emotional level. I mean, there’s the quirky little lyric-speaking Lennon does towards the end of the song - having a conversation with himself, seemingly - which elicits a giggle or two. But otherwise, nothin’.
This isn’t a bad song, especially compared to some other songs of its era. But we music aficionados had grown to expect something magical from this ex-Beatle on each of his songs. Which I suppose is not fair. And we certainly shouldn’t hold ourselves to that kind of standard!