A long time reader wrote in recently. “Considering your recent ‘Beatles kick,’ I’m surprised you haven’t blasted JC Penney for their commercial that uses John’s ‘Real Love.’ I don’t know about you, but I’m angry about it.”
Well, to be honest, I hadn’t seen it. And what I’d heard about the commercial — a Christmas commercial for the JC Penney department store that uses a Lennon demo of “Real Love” as its soundtrack — was all second-hand and, truthfully, generally hostile toward the commercial.
Fortunately, I found a link to the commercial.
Sorry, long time reader, I have no problem with the commercial.
It’s cute. It’s not great. “Real Love” doesn’t actually fit the story the commercial tells — a little girl is tormented by bullies in her neighborhood — but the song does sound very good. Indeed, I wouldn’t mind an official release of that version of “Real Love” (as it’s different than the version on Imagine: John Lennon and the version Paul, George, and Ringo worked on over a decade ago).
It’s a good song. If Yoko Ono wants to sell it for a commercial, more power to her. If it gets people buying John Lennon and talking John Lennon, I fail to see how that’s a bad thing.
And, really. It’s a commercial. And it’s cute. And for me, that’s enough.
I must not be watching enough television…
-Wes
Not a problem, Hermey-own. For what it’s worth, I didn’t even know the commercial existed. Shows you how much television I watch. 😆