Come together in harmony, song

“Come Together” was released as the opening track of The Beatles album, Abbey Road, on October 6, 1969, in the U.S. and was on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 16 weeks.

John Lennon wrote the lyrics of “Come Together” with a knowledge that the ambiguous lyrics would mean something vividly different to many different types of people.

To refresh the memory of the lyrics to this iconic song, here’s an indulgence:

Here come old flat top
He come groovin’ up slowly
He got ju ju eyeballs
He one holy roller
He got hair down to his knee
Got to be a joker
He just do what he please

He wear no shoeshine
He got toe jam football
He got monkey finger
He shoot Coca-Cola
He say I know you, you know me
One thing I can tell you is
You got to be free

Come together, right now
Over me

He bad production
He got walrus gumboot
He got Ono sideboard
He one spinal cracker
He got feet down below his knee
Hold you in his armchair
You can feel his disease

Come together, right now
Over me

He roller coaster
He got early warning
He got muddy water
He one Mojo filter
He say one and one and one is three
Got to be good looking
‘Cause he’s so hard to see

Come together right now
Over me

The lyrics at first read, and without the popular musical track to support them, are quite an abstract departure from the story-telling songs that made the Beatles famous. However, the song gained a strong community around it as it hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Friday nights in Fountain Park have a similar response.

Community is defined as a body of persons having a common social interest.  In this case, that common social interest is music. No matter if Van Wert County is home or not, once in Fountain Park, it is one big family and we become one big community soaking in the sights and sounds that have become a hallmark of our historic downtown.

No doubt the artists this summer on the Fountain Park stage and their musical style will change from week to week — some of them sharing songs of great popular appeal and others presenting musical talents that may be lesser known or “abstract.” But because our Friday nights are about community, all people from different walks, background, and beliefs — in and out of Van Wert County — will come together, brought into harmony by a song.

‘”Let’s slow it down with a swampy bass-and-drums vibe’. I came up with a bass line, and it all flowed from there,” quipped John Lennon of the song “Come Together”.