Presenting: John Lennon, with Ronald Reagan Sitting In

How about John Lennon sitting on the right?

The right on politics and war.

The right on culture?

The right on religion?

To the right hand of God in --uh, heaven?

Imagine.

How about this for a Heavenly Magical Mystery Tour? John Lennon cracking jokes with an old actor.

Lennon and Reagan sitting on a cloud looking down, having a pint, and one upping each other with one funny story after another, forgetting for a moment that both were shot at by madmen.

Now 27 years after John Lennon was shot by Mark David Chapman, it's time to take a quick look back through some mature Strawberry Fields.

I grew up with John Lennon screaming at me. When I was young I thought he was the best of the Beatles. The others at the time I just couldn't identify with. Paul, too cutie pie. George, to solemn. Ringo... too ringo. Pete Best (Okay, I didn't know Pete, but I wouldn't have liked him either).

Yeah, Lennon you could tell had something eating away at him. He was more like me and the kids I grew up with. No silver spoons. No greased skids, most of us. He had some bitches and complaints. A lot of walls and few bridges. And some problems with the establishment (the man), organized religion and life in general.

So, as they said back then, I kind of dug the guy. Even though I more liked the Rolling Stones and Eric Burden and the Animals.

Lennon once gave an interview where he described the Beatles as being more popular than Jesus in England at the moment. The Beatles had a number of chart toppers in the UK at the time. He was probably right. Today, the Anglican Church in England is God's waiting room, pew after pew of gray hair.

He got in trouble months later in the US when the contents of that interview started to circulate.

Finally, in Chicago, my hometown, he had to offer up an apology of sorts. Lennon said he was sorry he said what they thought he said, if that will make them feel better.

I remember that interview.

My parents were not convinced.

My sister didn't care. Paul was her Beatle.

My sister was in the majority.

Lennon protested the Vietnam war. He thought it was immoral. It wasn't. It was just fought that way by Washington DC. It was America's first politically correct war. We've had a few since. John Lennon was born during the Luftwaffe's bombing of Britain, in 1940. He saw the first light of day in the tube, as the Nazi Luffwaffe poured bombs on the city above.

Looking back, Lennon was right about wanting this type of war to end. It was senseless. The United States wasn't fighting to win, due to the politicians, and the victory was as cloudy as a Number 9 Dream.

Reagan and Lennon would no doubt be comparing wispy heavenly notes about the love of family and the love of a woman. Both made mistakes early on in relationships and in rearing kids. Lennon was absent as a father for Julien, and of course Patty Davis is well remembered, along with twitty Ron Reagan, of beating up their dad for being distant or harsh... or something.

Reagan had Nancy, his wife, in the White House consulting with fortune tellers regarding national policy and being accused of being the next thing to a she witch. Reagan defended her by never stooping so low as to be bothered or acknowledge the slander. Lennon had Yoko's hospital bed wheeled into a recording studio so she could be with him, much to the displeasure of the other Beatles. She was not "yuk-o Ono" to him. He loved her. Reagan has been gone now several years but recently a book of his love letters to Nancy were published. Love letters, not because they contained so much mush, but warm letters written the old fashioned way (on paper) almost daily to her whenever he was away.

I think both are tipping that pint to families and their value.

On religion? Well, aside from the Beatles being more popular than Jesus thing, Lennon hardly missed a chance to stick a spear in the collective sides of organized religion. The last interview he did before being murdered he talked about just thanking God that the United States had survived the Vietnam era and Watergate.

What about the song, "Imagine"? .."...imagine there's no heaven...no religion too..." Well, Jesus, the sixth Beatle, might find common ground here. Imagine if we turned back the clock to Adam and Eve's Garden? Was there heaven then? What church did they attend? You can look at the meaning and sentiment a number of different ways.

One good thing about Heaven is that there is no closing time. You do have a lot of time on your hands, as you are there for eternity, so you do things. Tonight, the Gipper is sitting in with Lennon. Reagan has become a great bass player in the last few years. It will be a small set. They are opening with "Stand by Me" and closing with musical nod to the drummer: "Hey Judas". Yes, Judas. There's room in heaven for everyone.

Imagine?