“Round about the caldron go; In the poison’d entrails throw.“
“TOAD, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot.”
“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and Cauldron bubble.”
“Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake:
Eye of newt, and toe of FROG,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”
“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.“
Pics taken by Resa – August25, 2025
Toronto, Canada
The Artist: Not sure. Searches came up with several names, none checked out.
END NOTES
For those who may not know, the words in this post are from Act IV – Scene I – in William Shakespeare’s tragedy- MacBeth (written 1606-07); a tale of achieving ultimate power through treachery and murder, and the personal madness that ensues.
I did research toads and frogs. Frogs have bigger back legs for jumping. Toads have bumpy skin and frogs have smooth skin. There are green toads. I believe this is a Froad or a Trog.
John Lennon rocks my socks. When I found this street art, Trent raced to mind.
We did 2 joint Lennon posts just over a year ago. We both have an abundance of respect and love for him.Trent wrote a song for John and everything.
Resa – I knew you were taking some voice lessons, but I had no idea you were studying a song, let alone Imagine. Did you pick Imagine right away, or did that come later? Why did you pick Imagine?
Trent – My instructor picks the songs for me, mostly late 60s, early 70s songs. He plays them on his guitar and I sing along. He chooses the key that he feels is best for me. Imagine was a relatively early pick, so it has been at least 8 months and maybe close to a year. I think I had played my song about John for him which is why he chose it.
Trent’s Cover of Imagine
Not only do I love Trent’s cover of Imagine, I adore his drawing of John.
Resa – There are many John Lennon quotes. Some are profound, Some are hilarious. Two of my faves (of many) are – “Time wounds all heels” & “One thing you can’t hide is when you’re crippled inside”
What are a few of yours?
Trent – John was pretty witty, but I can’t think of quotes right off the top.
Trent – I just looked up “John Lennon Quotes”, and there are so many to choose from!
Perhaps – We all have Hitler in us, but we also have love and peace. So why not give peace a chance for once?” Of course, for me his song lyrics are worthy of quoting.
Resa – I completely agree!
“I’m Shot”
Were Lennon’s last words.
Resa – I was shattered when I heard the news that John had been shot and died. I honestly believed in his message of love and peace being a way forward for the world and its people. I felt that die with him. Do you have any memory of hearing the news? Do you understand why I felt the way I did?
Trent – I had pretty much just rediscovered the Beatles just a short time before he was murdered. When rediscovering the Beatles, I gravitated towards John and his message more than towards the others. Peace and Love, the brotherhood of Man. These were huge themes for me. I was pretty much devastated when I heard the news. I sat and listened to Beatles’ songs nonstop for two days.
Trent – Did I feel John’s message was killed with the messenger? Yes and no. I understood that we had entered a new era, but I tried to believe that his violent death would wake people up and that his message would grow. Well, Ronald Reagan and all that he stood for took over the culture so that even kids my age went total right wing. But the spark did remain.
Trent– Like many geniuses, John was a contradiction,
… and had a lot of bad qualities. He said he was violent when he was young, fighting with boys and hitting girls and that a lot of his peace and love was to keep those tendencies at bay, to conquer the violence within himself. He could be super petty and paranoid.
Resa – I love the insight!
Trent – One of the saddest things is that I think after dropping out of public life for all of those years he had finally made peace with himself and was just breaking out again, ready to take on the 80s. But all of that was nipped in the bud.
Favourite Songs
Resa – I think John Lennon is a brilliant songwriter.
My Fave John song from The Beatles’ days is Don’t Let Me Down.
John songs (excluding Imagine) are: Jealous Guy, Whatever Gets You Through the Night and Instant Karma.
So Trent, what are your favorite John Lennon songs?
Trent – With the Beatles I loved: Strawberry Fields, I am the Walrus and Across the Universe.
Solo?
Hmm, maybe: Imagine, Mind Games and Watching the Wheels“- had to put that last one in because I wanted something from Double Fantasy and that was by far the most popular song from that album – it sounds so much like his earlier works.
Resa – I absolutely love the album cover for Double Fantasy. Yoko Ono is an interesting person. I’ve only seen her art in photos. However, as a performance artist she is brilliant in the video for Instant Karma, knitting with a blindfold on, while the band plays. John’s love for her is wonderfully obvious. Do you see it?
Trent – I think there is a huge love story between John and Yoko and is often very apparent. So yes, I see it in the video you mentioned and also at the end of the one for Imagine where they are trying to keep straight faces but end up cracking each other up. I think it is awful how much hate she has received from the world, though I think it has mellowed a lot in the last couple of decades.
Resa – I agree!
About –Let’s All Join In & Trent’s cover of Imagine
Trent wrote on YouTube
Resa thought she saw Lennon’s face from a trolley but didn’t’ find it again until recently. When talking about it, some said we need Lennon’s vision today more than ever and others said there should be a song about seeing Lennon’s face from a trolley…So here it is, both ideas in one. Yes, I drew my own picture instead of using the real street art – how could I without asking the artist? And, of course, I manipulated the drawing in a thousand and one ways.
Click pic to see post with “Let’s All Join In”lyrics
IMAGINE
Here is Trent’s blurb from YouTube, slightly edited for this post.
Yep, a quick take on John Lennon’s classic “Imagine”. Though very close, this is not an exactly note-for-note transcription of John’s original arrangement. Besides a few different notes and different drum fills, I recorded in Bb instead of C. I didn’t even listen to the original string arrangement, I just played. I had a few reasons for recording this song. One is that I sing this in my voice lessons.
Another was that Resa had told me she had found some street art featuring Lennon’s “Imagine”. Since I had been singing the song, why not do a recording?
Many thanks to Trent for joining me here today!
Pics of John Lennon art taken by Resa – July 2, 2025
This reminds me of an antique coral & white cameo ring I have.
I like it in blue, too.
The profile is characteristic of a cameo carving.
The face, set in a circle, is cameo-like.
They were wildly popular with the Victorians, a renaissance from the Renaissance,
… in a Victorian garden.
Pics taken by Resa – June 27, 2025
Toronto, Canada
The Artist:
So, you might ask outside of the fact that the band’s name is Cameo and that there is a blue hue to much of the video, what it has to do with Victorian or Renaissance cameos?
Nothing, but it’s got a great beat you can dance to and Larry Blackmon’s red cod piece is outstandingly hilarious!
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