"Hello, I'm John"

Simon and.....

A lot of people are down on the Internet these days, for many good reasons. (Myself included, in this space.)

I have weaned myself from online Scrabble, at least, but when I see my 13-year-old daughter enmeshed in building her new Facebook page, in my head I start to hear the song "Cat's in the Cradle."

Tonight, however, after a long workweek, I came home to one of those wonderful free-association web experiences that led me to an amazing video, which, while hardly obscure -- it's closing in on a million views -- I had never seen before.

And which, more than all the produced tributes to John Lennon around the occasion of his birthday a few weeks ago, bracingly reminded me of the one-of-a-kind way he wore his icon-hood, like a shaggy bathrobe.


I found it thanks to a Facebook "friend" (i.e., someone I've never met) who posted a video from the recent autism benefit hosted by Jon Stewart.

In the clip [below], Chris Rock and a bewigged Tracy Morgan (who I keep calling Tracy Jordan -- I mean, at this point the line is pretty blurry) sit on stools, classic folksinger style, and start earnestly warbling ye olde English ballad "Scarborough Fair."

Then on to the stage wanders Paul Simon, who, of course, with the naturally bewigged Art Garfunkel, recorded the version everyone knows, back before Tracy was born. Simon shows his Saturday Night Live comedy chops, and they banter raucously as the younger comedians mangle the song.

Then Simon -- who turned 69 last week, folks -- segues into Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice." An inspiring mash-up.


When I clicked through to the YouTube posting of the video, there in the right-hand suggested column -- thank you Lord Google -- was a clip from the 1975 Grammys, the presentation of "Record of the Year."

It's an amazing artifact in many ways. Like the above clip, it deftly blends the old establishment with the new. But in the older clip, it's Simon who's the younger veteran -- 35 years younger, with vintage 70's grooming -- alongside a guy I never would have guessed participated in Grammy Awards -- John Lennon.

This was just before Lennon went into his recluse-daddy phase, and he is loose and ironic, but game, in that inimitable way the world had enjoyed for more than a decade.

Awards shows haven't evolved very far since then; the  overblown sets, the dated topical humor (Claudine Longet! [right] Perez Prado!). The self-deprecation and mutual needling. The celebrities not quite fully owning the cue-card writing, but going along with it as a hoot, and then actually enjoying it, despite themselves.

Most of all, of course, there's the timeless truism that, against enduring, classic nominated songs -- Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," Roberta Flack's "Feel Like Making Love," Joni Mitchell's "Help Me," Maria Muldaur's "Midnight at the Oasis"......the victor is Olivia Newton John's "I Honestly Love You," which these days is mostly listened to with irony, as it was in the summer-camp production of Xanadu in which my Facebooking 13-year-old performed.

But there's also a surprise guest who accepts the award.
It's worth the wait. Thanks, Facebook. Thanks, You Tube.
And thank you John.  You are missed.