Mind Games. Forever.

            I suppose many of you are surprised that my utter obsession with the Beatles has not yet prompted me to write a blog post about them. But since today is the thirty-third anniversary of John Lennon’s death, I think the moment is now.

            On December 8, 1980, with a single gunshot, Mark David Chapman took the life of the man whose willingness to experiment in the studio and enlightened, literarily aware lyrics made him a giant on whose shoulders future recording artists would indefinitely stand. His death was a supernova, a brilliant, explosive flash of light, a star disappearing instantly into darkness forever…

            Of all Lennon songs, “Mind Games” is one of my favorites. I just love how its powerful, electrically charged chords and weighty message of seeking true peace, love, and enlightenment in lieu of human pettiness is juxtaposed with a funny, quirky music video.

            And like pretty much anything if we put in enough effort, we can relate the lyrics of “Mind Games” to The Great Gatsby.

            With his ability to play others as well as hypnotize himself into believing certain half-truths, Gatsby is a master of what Lennon describes as mind games.

            Lennon proclaims, “Yeah, we’re playing those mind games… projecting our images in space and time,” which recalls how the poor farm boy James Gatz becomes a platonic conception, the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby. With his craftiness, brilliant ambition, and cool charisma, Gatsby is—as Lennon puts it—“pushing the barriers, planting seeds” so that Nick will want to facilitate his affair with Daisy and Daisy will see that he is powerful and wealthy, the man she (thinks) she deserves.

            But Gatsby’s goal of claiming Daisy for his own is ultimately quenched and becomes an impossible “search for the Grail” (Lennon), a quest for “the king’s daughter, the golden girl,” “high in a white palace” (Fitzgerald 120) because he is not truly in love with her.

 Gatsby sees Daisy as merely an object to be possessed, a fancy addition to the household with a voice “full of money” (Fitzgerald 120). His false belief that he actually loves her pushes him to “play mind games” with Tom Buchanan; Gatsby’s only goal is to triumph psychologically over Buchanan by making Daisy say she never loved him.

            Throughout “Mind Games,” Lennon makes several allusions to Eastern and pagan religions because he wants us to seek spiritual enlightenment, “lift the veil” of the illusions that others’ and our own mind games create, and push ourselves to find true peace and love rather than the petty need to win over others in worldly ways. If Gatsby really wanted true satisfaction with his life, he should have followed Lennon’s advice to “make [true] love, not war [against Tom].” If he weren't so focused on winning wealth that didn’t matter to him and learned to “surrender” and “let it go,” perhaps Gatsby could have discovered enlightenment and the “love [that] is a flower” and not ended up dead in a pool he never used (Lennon).
Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/johnlennon/mindgames.html

Music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dHUfy_YBps