Behind the legend

Sorry if I don't join in as people canonize John Lennon as a man of peace and believer in justice. For all the beautiful and innovative music he created, he had a very dark side.

I still cringe when, at the close of the brilliant Rubber Soul album, Lennon snarls, "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man ... You'd better run for your life, little girl ... Catch you with another man, that's the end."

Earlier, in "Norwegian Wood," he tells the story of a one-night stand that ends on her terms - so he burns her place down. The man had a very disturbing streak of the kind that treats women as toys, objects. And he knew it, too - his whole first solo album is a primal scream as he tried to deal with his rage at the world. It's a fascinating study in near-insanity that makes you wonder if he was talking to himself when he sang "All we are saying is give peace a chance."

The saddest part about his death was that he finally seemed to have gotten those demons under control and started building a life with wife Yoko Ono and little son Sean - so our last view of him was of the gentle house-husband and doting father, not the fellow who didn't have the guts to tell his first wife it was over, and allowed her to find out by walking into her bedroom and finding him with Yoko.

I'll stand with you and applaud the great rock musician and those brilliant songs. Just don't try to fool me with what a great human being he was.