Close your eyes and listen to a song. Do the words paint a picture in your mind? John Lennon, born on October 9, 1940, in Liverpool, England, was one of the greatest songwriters of all time. He was a founding member of the Beatles, the most influential band in music history. But Lennon was more than a musician. He was a lyricist whose words changed how people thought about songs. Before Lennon and his partner Paul McCartney, most pop songs had simple lyrics about love and dancing. Lennon pushed songs to explore deeper themes. His song "Imagine" asks listeners to picture a world without war or hunger. The lyrics are short and clear, but their meaning is profound. Like a great poem, every word matters. Lennon also used figurative language in his writing. In "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," he created vivid images of a dream world with "newspaper taxis" and "marmalade skies." These creative word choices work exactly the way metaphors work in poetry. Lennon showed that song lyrics can be literature.