Tuesday 05.04.2010 | 7:09 PM EDT

Elton or Lennon?

Friend Bradyspud took this iPhone photo on an East Village sidewalk and asked me whom I thought the stencil rendering was intended to depict.

Quite a riddle. It’s well known that John and Elton were mates (that’s “friends” to us Yanks). But Phil Spector gives Lennon some nasty ribbing during a recording session, implying that John + John were not merely “mates”, but perhaps actually, um, mates. That crazy Spector can be a razor-sharp bastard. Even more chilling is John’s prediction that he’ll live to be a “90-year old guru”

Phil Spector + John Lennon Studio Banter

Well, I didn’t peg Lennon, flambouyant as his late-60′s wardrobe may have been, as the feathered Fedora type.

Thankfully, we have the all-seeing, all-knowing Google to thank for confirming that, indeed, Mr. Hair Peace was at one time a feathered hat man. Lest we forget, it’s Sir Elton that actually wears a piece.