Poem: Imagine

I talked to Alan White. You may or may not know
already that he is the drummer for a band called Yes.
He also did a bunch of sessions back in the day,
including playing with Joe Cocker, George Harrison
and John Lennon. That’s him playing drums on the
song Imagine. Can you imagine? I got to ask him
about that. He said that sometimes he would stop now
to think about it. You hear that song everywhere.
At the time it wasn’t much more than a job. But now
he thinks about it. How his life would have been
different without that. So very different.

John Lennon called him up, told him he liked his
drumming – had seen him play in a show. Asked him
to join his new band.

Alan White puts down the phone. Thinking it a prank.
Is well pleased when Lennon rings back. More so when
he finds out it’s the truth.

Just a job. Ringing up the musician and letting them tell
a part of their story they’ve told so often. But you’re there
hanging on every word – especially when it’s a good yarn
like that. Just a job. And the world’s worst paid one too.
But the benefits have sometimes been huge. When I casually
mentioned to a new friend last year that I’d actually
interviewed three of the members of the band Yes he nearly
spat his drink out. That thing you do will always mean
something more in the end. Whether you were the person
playing drums for John Lennon on one of the world’s
best-known songs. Or the guy in line to talk to him about it.