Empty Garden

I spent today gardening. I'm not sure what it is about gardening, but it always reminds me of John Lennon.

I know that may seem like a bit of a stretch, but when I'm gardening, I'm usually doing two things:

• Weeding, (because I don't garden very often) and;
• Singing (because gardening tends to put me in a very zen like mood, and then my head fills up with music)

And because I'm weeding, I always seem to end up singing that Elton John song that was written for John -"Empty Garden" - particularly the line about "Weeded out the tears and grew a good crop"

Given that it's 25 years since John left the planet in such a tragic fashion, it seemed appropriate, so while I finished the weeding, I sang every one of John's songs I could think of - which is a lot.

As a kid growing up, John was one of my heroes. With my Dad being from Liverpool, and my Mom a big Beatles fan, I was steeped in John's music ever since I was a baby.

He was cool and honest and did whatever he wanted. He could make pretty music that made you cry, and awesome raw, sexy rock music that evoked all the primal grit that only rock music can do. He didn't really want to change the world, but he set out to do it anyway. And he did.

When I was 14 and struggling with cramped and cut fingers learning to play guitar I kept at it because I just wanted to be like John.

And you know, 17 years later, I still do.