 |
 Born on
October 9, 1940, Liverpool, England, died December 8, 1980, New York
City, New York, USA. John Winston Ono Lennon has been exhumed in
print more than any other popular musical figure, including the late
Elvis Presley , of whom Lennon said that he "died when he went into
the army". Such was the cutting wit of a deeply loved and sadly
missed giant of the twentieth century. As a member of the world's
most successful group ever, he changed lives, mostly for the better.
Following the painful collapse of the Beatles, he came out a wiser
but angrier person. Together with his wife Yoko Ono , he attempted
to transform the world through nonmusical means. To many they
appeared as nave crackpots; Ono in particular has been victim of
some appalling insults in the press. One example shown in the film
Imagine depicts the cartoonist Al Capp being both hostile and
dangerously abusive. Their bed-in in Amsterdam and Montreal, their
black bag appearances on stage, their innocent flirting with
political activists and radicals, all received massive media
attention. These events were in search of world peace, which
regrettably was unachievable. What Lennon did achieve, however, was
to educate us all to the idea of world peace. During the Gulf War of
1991, time and time again various representatives of those countries
who were initially opposed to war (and then asked for a cease-fire),
unconsciously used Lennon's words; "Give Peace A Chance". The
importance of that lyric could never have been contemplated, when a
bunch of mostly stoned members of the Plastic Ono Band sat on the
floor of the Hotel La Reine and recorded "Give Peace A Chance", a
song that has grown in stature since its release in
1969.
 Lennon's solo career began a year
earlier with Unfinished Music No 1 - Two Virgins . The sleeve
depicted him and Ono standing naked, and the cover became better
known than the disjointed sound effects contained within. Three
months later Lennon continued his marvelous joke on us, with
Unfinished Music No 2 - Life With The Lions . One side consisted of
John and Yoko calling out to each other during her stay in a London
hospital while pregnant. Lennon camped by the side of her bed during
her confinement and subsequent miscarriage. Four months after "Give
Peace a Chance", "Cold Turkey" arrived via the Plastic Ono Band,
consisting of Lennon, Ono, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and drummer
Alan White. This raw rock song about heroin withdrawal was also a
hit, although it failed to make the UK Top 10. Again, Lennon's
incorrigible wit worked when he sent back his MBE to the Queen,
protesting about the Biafran war, Britain supporting the American
involvement in Vietnam and "Cold Turkey" slipping down the
charts.
 In February 1970, a freshly
cropped-headed Lennon was seen performing "Instant Karma" on the BBC
Television program Top Of The Pops ; this drastic action was another
antiwar protest. This Phil Spector - produced offering was his most
melodic post-Beatles song to date and was his biggest hit thus far
in the UK and the USA. The release of John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
in January 1971 was a shock to the system for most Beatles' fans.
This stark "primal scream" album was recorded following treatment
with Dr. Arthur Janov. It is as brilliant as it is disturbing.
Lennon poured out much of his bitterness from his childhood and
adolescence, neat and undiluted. The screaming "Mother" finds Lennon
grieving for her loss and begging for his father. Lennon's
Dylanesque "Working Class Hero" is another standout track; in less
vitriolic tone he croons: "A working class hero is something to be,
if you want to be a hero then just follow me". The irony is that
Lennon was textbook middle-class and his agony stemmed from the fact
that he wanted to be working-class. The work was a cathartic
exorcism for Lennon, most revealing on "God", in which he voiced the
heretical, "I don't believe in the Beatles...", before adding, "I
just believe in me, Yoko and me, and that's reality." More than any
other work in the Lennon canon, this was a farewell to the past. The
album was brilliant, and 20 or more years later, it is regarded as
his finest complete work.
 His most creative year was 1971.
Following the album Lennon released another strong single, "Power To
The People". After his move to New York, the follow-up Imagine was
released in October. Whilst the album immediately went to number 1
internationally, it was a patchy collection. The attack on Paul
McCartney in "How Do You Sleep?" was labored over in the press and
it took two decades before another track, "Jealous Guy", was
accepted as a classic, and only then after Bryan Ferry's masterly
cover became a number 1 hit. Lennon's resentment towards politicians
was superbly documented in "Gimme Some Truth" when he spat out, "I'm
sick and tired of hearing things from uptight, shortsighted,
narrow-minded hypocrites". The title track, however, remains as one
of his greatest songs. Musically "Imagine" is extraordinarily
simple, but the combination of that simplicity and the timeless
lyrics make it one of the finest songs of the century. A Christmas
single came in December, "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)", another
song destined for immortality and annual reissue. Again, an
embarrassingly simple message: "War is over if you want
it".
 The following year Sometime In New
York City was issued; this double set contained a number of
political songs, and was written during the peak of Lennon's
involvement with hippie-radical, Jerry Rubin. Lennon addresses
numerous problems with angry lyrics over deceptively melodic songs.
The lilting and seemingly innocent "Luck Of The Irish" is one
example of melody with scathing comment. The album's strongest track
is yet another song with one of Lennon's statement-like titles:
"Woman Is The Nigger Of The World". Once again he was ahead of the
game, making a bold plea for women's rights a decade before it
became fashionable. The following year he embarked on his struggle
against deportation and the fight for his famous "green card". At
the end of a comparatively quiet 1973, Lennon released Mind Games,
an album that highlighted problems between him and Yoko. Shortly
afterwards, Lennon left for his "lost weekend" and spent many months
in Los Angeles in a haze of drugs and alcohol. During a brief sober
moment he produced Nilsson's Pussycats. At the end of a dreadful
year, Lennon released Walls And Bridges , which contained more
marital material and a surprise US number 1, "Whatever Gets You
Through The Night", a powerful rocker with Lennon sounding in
complete control. That month (November 1974), he made his last ever
concert appearance when he appeared on-stage at Madison Square
Garden with Elton John. That night Lennon was reunited with Ono and,
in his words, "the separation failed".
 Rock 'N' Roll was released the next
year; it was a tight and energetic celebration of many of his
favorite songs, including "Slippin' And Slidin'", "Peggy Sue" and a
superb "Stand By Me". The critics and public loved it and it reached
number 6 on both sides of the Atlantic. Following the birth of their
son Sean, Lennon became a house husband, while Ono looked after
their not inconsiderable business interests. Five years later, a new
album was released to a relieved public and went straight to number
1 virtually worldwide. The following month, with fans still jubilant
at Lennon's return, he was suddenly brutally murdered by a gunman
outside his apartment building in Manhattan. Almost from the moment
that Lennon's heart stopped in the Roosevelt Hospital the whole
world reacted in unprecedented mourning, with scenes usually
reserved for royalty and world leaders. His records were re-released
and experienced similar sales and chart positions to that of the
Beatles' heyday. While all this happened, one could "imagine" Lennon
calmly looking down on us, watching the world's reaction, and having
a huge celestial laugh.
 Lennon had a brilliant sense of humor
and a deeply romantic heart. He could be cruel and unbelievably
kind; he could love you one minute and destroy you with his tongue a
few minutes later. Opinions as to his character are subjective. What
is undeniable, is that the body of songs he created with Paul
McCartney is the finest popular music catalogue ever known. His
composition "Imagine" was voted one of the songs of the millennium,
and for many of us has more power and meaning than any national
anthem.
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