Remember The 5th of November

Did you celebrate Guy Fawkes Night yesterday?

What, no? How can you expect me to respect you?

I celebrated in rollicking good humor.

Guy was a member of a group of English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. This as part of a plan to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne.

The conspirators stockpiled gunpowder beneath the House of Lords; Fawkes was the guy in charge of protecting the gunpowder hidden there.

Through an anonymous letter the authorities caught wind of the plot and searched Westminster Palace ( meeting place for The House of Commons and The House of Lords) early in the morning on November 5. They found Guy Fawkes guarding the explosives.

Over the next few days he was interrogated and tortured. Finally he broke and gave it all up.

Just prior to his execution on January 31, Guy jumped from the scaffold and broke his neck. He was wise to do this. The custom at the time for people convicted of high treason was to hang them almost to the point of death, then emasculate, disembowel, behead and quarter them. Their remains were often displayed in prominent places, like London Bridge.

A broken neck seems a trifle by way of comparison.

By the way, lest you think English society at that time was barbarous -  for reasons of public decency, women convicted of high treason were burned at the stake.

The celebration of Guy Fawkes Day on November 5 is actually a celebration of the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. On this day the British burn effigies of Guy Fawkes on bonfires and combine this with a fireworks display.

Joe, why should I care? How the hell do you even know this?

John Lennon, baby. John Lennon.

On John's first official solo release in 1970, "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band", is a song titled "Remember."

At the very end of the song, Lennon sings "Remember the 5th of November". These words are followed by an explosion and that is how the song ends.

I always wondered what the hell that was about. After hearing it a few times as a tender 16 year old, I did some research.

And learned about Guy Fawkes.

Rock 'N Roll, baby. Exposing you to the depth and breadth of this sick and twisted world.

And you can dance to it.