JOHN LENNON

“I’m just sitting here

watching the wheels go round and round

I really love to watch them roll”

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

“C”

Main Decade:

70's

Main Ages:

The Grerat Transition (1970-1980+)

​Key Members:

Jonh Lennon: Plastic Ono Band, Solo

​​

Key Songs:

Imagine, Love, Working Class Hero, Jealous Guy, Watching The Wheels, Mother, God, Give Peace A Chance, (Just Like) Starting Over), Gimme Some Truth, I’m Losing You, How Do You Sleep, Woman, Power To The People, Mind Games, Instant Karma, #9 Dream, Beautiful Boy, Isolation, Stand By Me, Cold Turkey, Oh My Love, I’m Steppin’ Out, How, I Found Out, Nobody Told Me

 

​

I think you already know, John Lennon was always my favorite Beatle. I've worn round glasses in his honor since I was 16. As I mentioned in the epilogue about the ex-Beatles, John was caricatured from the beginning with the quartet as the intellectual, the sarcastic, the biting one. And well, those characteristics in the movies didn't come for nothing, Lennon was like that since he was a child and those traits became more accentuated over the years, and increasingly filtered into his compositions, both with the band and in his solo stage. He was the first one from whom I got a solo album, he's the only one about whom I read a couple of very good books about his youth that I found in the high school library: John Lennon my brother, by Julia Baird (his half-sister), and Young Lennon by Jordi Sierra, the first rock biographies I read. My wife got me the first one again recently and I'm still looking for the second one. These books were the first to make me realize a reality: rock stars are human. They breathe, eat, sleep, and go to the bathroom just like the rest of us. They were children and young adults, they suffered and had difficulties. Most of the time, they were NOT wrapped up in their rock star roles; they have other priorities: girlfriends, friends, family, which become more important as time goes on. They are not gods who are in the studio, on tour, or partying 100% of the time. They are people just like us, except they had enormous talent and were able to find the means to exploit it.

​

 

I don't want to go too deep into his time with the Beatles, because we've already covered it in detail in the reviews, but I think it's worth going back to John's youth, since what he experienced was crucial to understanding his work, or at least part of it, although I think most of us know that story.

 

John Lennon was born on October 9, 1940, in the midst of a Nazi bombing raid on Liverpool. His mother, Julia Stanley, the fourth of five daughters from a traditional northern family, was the "rebel" of the family, the most talkative, carefree, musical, and fun-loving. She left with a sailor named Alfred after becoming pregnant, but because of the war, he returned to the Navy, missing the birth of his son and spending most of his time away, although he did send money to Julia, who returned to her parents' home. The checks stopped arriving in 1944, when Alfred was arrested for leaving without leave, and Julia presumed him dead after not hearing from him. However, he returned in 1945, after the war, to find Julia already married to another man, Bobby Dykins, and expecting his first child. It was during this time that Julia left little John with his sister Mimi Smith, who would be a key figure for young Lennon.

​

​

In July 1946, Alfred returned and convinced Mimi that he would take John to Julia, although his plan was to run away to New Zealand with his son. Julia managed to catch up and caught up with them in Blackpool, where they argued. Alfred finally convinced her that John, then a five-year-old, had to decide his future. Little John, attracted by the sailor stories his father had told him, decided on him, much to Julia's despair. However, as they were leaving, he let go of his father and ran back to his mother. Can you imagine the trauma this caused the boy? It would be 20 years before he would see Alfred again, who sought him out during the height of Beatlemania to ask for money. As if that weren't enough, Julia now had a new family: she was married with a newborn daughter, so John had to return to his aunt and uncle and settle for seeing his mother for a bit in the evenings. Mimí and her husband, George, were the ones who truly raised John, with her being quite strict, while he played the role of the good-natured father. During his childhood, Julia was always attentive and saw John at least once a day, but it was clear that her priority was her family. In addition to his first stepsister, also named Julia (born 1947), he had another named Jackie (born 1949). However, as time passed and John entered adolescence, they bonded, and he was the one who often went to his mother's house for meals and occasionally stayed overnight. He also had a close relationship with his sisters, who are given little attention in the story, as it is generally thought that he was an only child and grew up isolated. It was his mother who taught him to play an old banjo, and it is said that he got his biting humor from her.

​

In 1952, his uncle George, the only father figure he had ever had, died, coinciding with the time he entered Quarry High School. All of this influenced John, who from a young age had the personality of a badass leader. Basically, a troublemaking bully who often got into trouble and challenged authority. John wasn't a very good student; he was lazy and "the class clown," but he had great talent for drawing and all art-related subjects. It was during this time that Julia taught him to play the banjo and ukulele. In 1955, rock & roll exploded, and the teenage Lennon became crazy about figures like Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. He had the advantage of being in Liverpool, England's connecting port with the USA, so he often went to the port to look for sailors bringing in the latest rock & roll records. Julia bought him his first guitar, a £5 Galltone acoustic, on the condition that it stay at her house and not Mimi's, knowing that she didn't appreciate John's musical enthusiasm. His aunt used to tell him, "The guitar's all very well, John, but you'll never make a living out of it." Already famous, John would continue to call his Aunt Mimi at least once a week, paying her expenses and visiting her frequently until he went into exile in New York. Mimi would continue to reproach him for not having a "real job" on almost every call. John began tuning and playing his new guitar using banjo chords, as his mother had taught him, and in 1956 he formed his first skiffle group, The Quarrymen, with high school friends, who essentially formed a gang. Instruments weren't necessary in skiffle; they were improvised from various household items. On July 6, 1957, he met Paul McCartney at a kermesse at St. Peter's Church in Woolton. Paul was younger, but he knew how to tune guitars by ear, which impressed John, so he soon joined the group, and they became close friends. In February 1958, Paul introduced George Harrison to John. Lennon thought he was too young to play in a band, but when he played "Raunchee" on the school bus, he passed the audition. Thus, the core of the band was formed. On July 15, his mother visited Mimi's house as usual. She was possibly the only one in the family who supported John's music and The Quarrymen's biggest fan. After saying goodbye, John stood outside the house as his mother disappeared from sight, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a drunken, off-duty police officer swerve and run over Julia. He died instantly. The death of his mother affected John deeply. He became more violent. Not exactly withdrawn, as he found it easy to make friends and was very social, but more sarcastic and hurtful. Paul would say it was his way of protecting himself in those moments of vulnerability, but the truth is he never grew out of that stage. John was always the most selfish and evasive Beatle, and he would form a shell to divert attention from his vulnerabilities. Unconsciously, his philosophy was "hurt before you are hurt."

​

Another important point was his first marriage. John began dating Cynthia Powell in 1958. In 1959, he dropped out of art school to devote himself fully to music, much to his aunt's horror. They formalized their careers as a group, making three long stops in Hamburg over the next two years where they would gain experience. In mid-1962, Cynthia became pregnant, with Please Please Me already released, the band achieving success in England, and just before the explosion of Beatlemania. They married on August 23, 1962, but on Brian Epstein's instructions, the marriage and their child, Julian, who was born on April 8, 1963, would remain a secret for a while. Needless to say, it wasn't too difficult for John. Following his father's lead, he spent most of his time away from home, on tour or in the studio.

​

 

We already know the next part, and I won't go into too much detail about his Beatle period. But I'd like to focus on one of the lines I liked most from his sister Julia's book, when she mentions that in 1964, they went to visit him at the mansion he had just bought and were left speechless: "Until then, we knew perfectly well that he was very famous, but we had never realized that he was rich. John was still the same when he visited us."

​

 

The obligatory stop comes in 1966 when he met Yoko Ono, a Japanese conceptual artist who was holding an exhibition at the Indica Gallery. John was fascinated by a magnifying glass hanging from the ceiling. As he climbed up a ladder, he could read the word "Yes" written on the wall, using the magnifying glass. This unhinged John and his artistic spirit. He chatted with the author for a while, and things stayed that way, until a few months later, Yoko contacted him to ask for money. This came at a difficult time with Cynthia. John was never exactly faithful to her, let's say. He didn't have a close relationship with Julian, and he looked for any excuse to leave home. It must be said, Cynthia wasn't an intellectual challenge for him, and she didn't help, adopting a submissive attitude and turning a blind eye to John's idiocy. He was the most experimental, and the first to try new things, like amphetamines in Hamburg to last eight hours playing, the marijuana Dylan offered them, and LSD. The others had no choice but to follow him, until he started getting into harder things. On his trip to India, he hoped to find an answer to that rage in transcendental meditation, but his disappointment with the Maharishi (who tried to seduce Mia Farrow's sister) was such that he not only immediately returned to London, but also wrote the song "Sexy Sadie" for him. After the trip to India, John would leave Cynthia to begin his relationship with Yoko, whom he would eventually marry in 1968 in Gibraltar, because he didn't want a media circus like Paul and Linda's wedding. Instead, he made their honeymoon a circus, holding the famous Bed Ins in Toronto and Amsterdam. John had never exactly had a filter in his mouth. His views on Christianity had already caused problems for the group in 1966, and he would be the first to speak out about Vietnam, but since strengthening his relationship with Yoko, he basically wouldn't hesitate to say whatever was on his mind, becoming much more political. In 1968, he would release the Wedding Album and Unfinished Music I and II, labeled as experimental, but true sonic aberrations, recorded with Yoko, under the influence of heroin, to which they became slaves for a time.
 

​

It's with these albums that John's solo career truly begins, but they're too bad to even attempt a review. Maybe someday. The point is that, given John's musical genius, it's disconcerting that he was capable of producing some of the most filthy work in musical history. And it's worth noting: most of his albums will have some outlandish piece, to say the least. However, I must agree with Starostin that when Lennon sounds bad, it's because he does so on purpose.

 

Also on his own, between 1969 and 1970 he would release a few solo singles: "Give Peace a Chance," "Instant Karma," and "Cold Turkey," in which he recounts his four-month heroin detox in the early 1970s. After the bitter divorce from the Beatles, John was already on his way. He also rediscovered his love for big-name concerts, forming various bands with Clapton, Billy Preston, and Klaus Voorman, among others. The singles had worked for him, so his next album was more serious. The Plastic Ono Band would be of exquisite minimalist beauty, in which he opens his heart, possibly for the first time in his life, and releases songs like "Mother," "God," and "Love." This stemmed from therapy with Janov, where he was finally able to assimilate the traumas of his childhood and adolescence with his parents. Another influence must also be acknowledged, and that is Yoko. While she pushed him to make sonic monstrosities, we must also accept that she was the one who inspired him to become politically active, to take more risks with his lyrics, and to write many of his best songs. For better or worse, and even if it hurts us, the image we have of him would have been impossible without Ono. Cynthia was a kind of replacement for his mother that never worked, but Yoko truly challenged him to surpass himself and come up with ever more brilliant ideas.

​

 

In 1970 came Imagine and the now-famous dispute with Paul. George and Ringo would contribute some input to the album, which included a couple of songs in response to "Too Many People" from Paul's second album. The album is fierce at times, emotional at others, and epic in the title track, which would become one of the greatest antiwar anthems in history. John would later admit that much of the song's idea came from Yoko and that he was a coward for not crediting her. The fact is that John was a symbol of pacifism, he put "All You Need Is Love" on the lips of generations, he spoke of universal love, but he was still a stubbornly selfish and aggressive man. From this point on, his activism would grow, even supporting radical movements like the Black Panthers. The couple moved to New York in 1971, which is where "the action was," according to John.

​

In 1972, he released Some Time in New York City, his most political album, where he held nothing back on songs like "Woman is the Nigger of the World," "John Sinclair," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," and "The Luck of the Irish." On this album, Yoko collaborated more actively, as a co-writer or with her own songs, in addition to singing, making it a difficult album to digest, although it represented John's political vision and would begin to place him as the Bob Dylan of the 1970s, when he had already abandoned political themes. This caused him problems with the US immigration department, who denied him the permanent residence permit he sought for years, so he couldn't leave the country at the risk of being denied entry. As a result, he wouldn't see his sisters or his aunt Mimí again, and only sporadically saw Julian when his son came to visit.

​

In 1973, he released Mind Games. Due to an attempted deportation by the government, he left politics aside on this album. Around this time, John and Yoko separated, during what he would call his "Lost Weekend," during which he traveled around the country with Yoko's secretary, May Pang. Despite being lovers openly, Pang would occasionally report to Yoko on how things were going and how her husband was feeling. Mind Games is, therefore, a more personal album, where John touches on the subject of separation and how Yoko changed his life on several tracks. The separation would last a year and a half, but John would say it was like the weekend of partying before a wedding, the relaxation just before taking life responsibly for the first time. Here, he would also begin a Dylanesque turn, learning not to go for the US government's jugular, but instead, he explored some more socially charged themes.

​

That year, he would collaborate with Ringo on his eponymous album, like the other ex-Beatles, and along with his estrangement from Yoko, rumors of a possible reunion would be fueled. He spent the rest of the year traveling with Harry Nilson, with whom he became close friends, constantly getting into trouble, including the infamous episode in which he put a sanitary pad on his forehead and argued with a waitress. At some point, he decided to produce Nilson's next album, and they moved to Los Angeles, renting a house where all kinds of Rolling Stone excesses abounded, but unlike the Beatles, they weren't able to make music amidst all the revelry. Fed up, he returned with Pang to New York to begin recording Walls and Bridges, in 1974. It was his second self-produced album, after falling out with Phil Spector. However, John learned the tricks well to continue adding the Wall of Sound, with lots of echo, deep bass, gospel-like choirs, and sax and brass that crushed everything. Surprisingly, "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" would be the only #1 hit John would see in his lifetime. John didn't see any commercial potential in the song, which featured Elton John on piano. That year, he collaborated on another Ringo album, Goodnight Vienna, and in November, he repaid his debt to Elton John by playing with him at Madison Square Garden. Without missing a beat, in early 1975, he co-wrote and recorded the song "Fame" with David Bowie.

​

 

Shortly after, he recorded "Rock & Roll," a cover of classics that had influenced his life, highlighting the tremendous version of "Stand By Me." For this album, he worked again with Phil Spector on production, but they clashed again in their ego struggle, to the point that Spector threatened him with a gun while Lennon barricaded himself in the recording studio, only to then run off with the masters and end up producing them himself. This incident would affect him so much that he called Yoko to vent, which would lead to a reconciliation. Such a deep one, Yoko became pregnant…

 

Sean Lennon was born on October 9, 1975, the day his father turned 35. It was a high-risk pregnancy due to Yoko's age, so from the start John abandoned everything to take care of his wife and became a stay-at-home dad. This period would last five years. "My father abandoned me, I abandoned Julian. I didn't want to repeat the same mistake, so I decided to dedicate myself to my son fully during his first five years." He learned to cook, bake cakes, clean, and change diapers. It also helped him strengthen his bond with Julian by seeing him more frequently. Little is said about this period of John's life, as he evidently lost the spotlight, but I'm convinced that those five years were what helped him finally find himself, discover the real John, reconcile with his past, and finally let go of all the anger he'd been carrying around. Having an American son, but above all, no longer being a threat, the government finally granted him permanent residency.

​

 

Legend has it that around that time, Paul showed up one day with his guitar, trying to rekindle their friendship. John slammed the door in his face, saying, "Paul, you can't just show up like this at this time of night without even warning me." Well, he obviously hadn't made peace with everyone, although rumor has it they chatted on the phone from time to time.

​

At the end of 1979, John went on a trip to Bermuda, fulfilling his dream of learning to sail. There, he felt inspired, and the songs he'd been waiting for since '75 poured out. He spoke to Yoko, who had stayed in New York, and to his surprise, she'd also started writing songs, so he decided to put down his apron and return to what he did best. She booked a studio and producer Jack Douglas, and they agreed to call it Double Fantasy, after an exotic flower John had found on the islands. They recorded tons of songs, and enough outtakes remained for a second album, to be titled Milk and Honey. Double Fantasy was a joint album, with much more intimate songs from John, showing him more mature, and demonstrating his reconciliation with life. It's been accused of being Lennon's most commercial album, and perhaps that's true, but this doesn't diminish the quality of John's half. Even Yoko's half is considerably more acceptable than what we're used to.​

​

John Lennon seemed to have everything ahead of him. He had just signed with Geffen, released a beautiful, very melodic album, with "Starting Over" that put him back in the Top Ten, and for the first time seemed to have control of his life. We all know what came next. On December 8th, John and Yoko returned from the Record Plant to the Dakota at 5 p.m. Mark David Chapman, a schizophrenic who had been a Beatles fan and later became a religious fanatic, had been waiting for them almost all day, carrying a copy of Double Fantasy. The couple got out of the limo, and as they walked to the entrance of the building, Chapman extended his hand and gave him the copy of the album for him to sign. It would be John's last autograph, and the album would sell for over half a million dollars in 2003, making it the most expensive album in history. Chapman would say, “At that moment, my good side won out, and I wanted to go back to my hotel, but I couldn’t. I waited until he came back. He knew where the ducks go in the winter, and I wanted to know,” in a reference to the book The Catcher in the Rye, with which he was obsessed and of which he carried a copy. He didn’t. He waited patiently again, and the couple returned from the studio at 10:50, got out of the limo, and as they were about to enter the building, Chapman fired five shots with a .38-caliber revolver, hitting arteries and the left lung. He was pronounced dead of hemorrhage at 11:15 at St. Luke’s-Roosvelt Hospital.

 

I'm including here the climactic part of Julia Baird's book, about the early morning call she took from her neighbor Sylvia's house on December 9th, as she had just moved and didn't have a phone:

“As soon as I picked up the phone, Leila (John and Julia's cousin) said to me, ‘Have you seen the news? It's John, he's been shot.’”

“I can't remember what else Leila said, not even if she told me if John was dead. She didn't need to. I knew. My memory that morning is hazy after that. I was devastated and can't remember anything, but Sylvia must have gone to get my husband. She didn't know I was related to John, but she must have suspected the connection when she saw my face and I whispered his name into the receiver. I know I cried and cried. I couldn't believe it… I hadn't seen John in years, but his death was like having an arm cut off.”
 

Whether he was truly a lonely madman or a CIA plot, as many claim, we'll hardly know.

The world woke up in shock. I'm convinced there's a world during Lennon and one after him. Something broke, and it would never be the same again. I was born a few months later, into a post-Lennon world, grayer, with less hope…

 

John Lennon is one of my two greatest musical influences, but unlike Silvio Rodríguez, I know much more about his personal life, as there's so much more material available. He never cared what people said about his music or what he had to say; he just threw it out there. His aesthetic was much bolder and riskier than Paul's, but he achieved an unusual balance while they were together. Afterward, his epicenter would be Yoko, but he continued making music for himself and for her, not caring if the albums failed miserably or if he created intergenerational anthems. If he had something to say, he would do it, even if he felt some remorse afterward, like for the Mao line in "Revolution" or for "How Do You Sleep." With Spector, he achieved a very distinctive sound in the 1970s, which continued despite his breakup with him. He became a public figure, always in the spotlight for his political comments and scandals. He would become the ultimate icon of pacifism, and ironically, it would take him almost his entire life to find inner peace, dying absurdly, and leaving behind an incredible legacy, becoming immortal if he wasn't already...

 

My favorite Beatles songs are mostly John's. I always found them more interesting and original than Paul's, even before I delved into the details of their lives. But as I learned more about him, I realized that behind the undeniable genius he was, he's also the most human icon, a guy who was hurt a lot as a child, who put on a mask to endure fame, who had a ton of insecurities, and who, at a certain point, didn't give a damn about showing them and opening up to his millions of fans. A guy who spoke to the aunt who raised him almost daily and who baked cupcakes for his son. A guy who, aside from writing some of the best songs in rock history, was just like you or me...

 

Maybe it's more true than I think. The only difference is that five bullets couldn't kill him.

We are all Lennon: That's his legacy.
 

 

By Corvan

Jun/16/2017

​

​

​

​

​