Posts

Showing posts with the label John Lennon

How bad was John Lennon's eyesight?

Image
John Lennon was very short-sighted but in his teens refused to wear spectacles in public.

Worst Lennon song?

Image
"one of the Beatles most dispensable items". [8] Run for Your Life’, I always hated ... because it was a song I just knocked off Lennon Remembers Few would argue with this assessment. Thomas Ward diplomatically suggests that it is one of the Beatles most dispensable items".[8] while Ian MacDonald is characteristically forthright ('a dismal track'). 'Run for Life' was the first song recorded for what would become Rubber Soul. It was 'knocked off' during a break between the filming of Help and their return to Abbey Road in October 1965. Words One reason Lennon was later embarrassed by the song was what MacDonald calls its 'lazily sexist lyric'. Even allowing for the different social climate, 'you better run for your life ... or that's the end' has an unpleasant menacing edge. The words and the sentiment came from the old Elvis song 'Baby, Let's Play House'. There was a line on it; I used to like specific lines from

Beatles song based on Beethoven?

Image
The Beatles cheerfully sang 'Roll Over Beethoven' in their pre-fame stage show. The Chuck Berry anthem also appears on their second album. But if Ludwig was not safely out of copyright, his legal team would most likely have a solid royalties claim. In one of his last interviews, John Lennon revealed how the great German composer provided direct inspiration: I was lying on the sofa in our house, listening to Yoko play Beethoven's - Moonlight Sonata, on the piano. Suddenly I said, 'can you play those chords backwards'. The Beatles version retains the key and key change, plus the pattern of arpeggios. Lennon also added some bass notes and of course and a lyric which he claimed was ' clear, no bullshit, no imagery, no obscure references.' You won't find that kind of language in Fidelio but there is arguably a similarity of intent across the centuries. .

When did The Beatles last play The Cavern?

Image

Was the Walrus really Paul?

Image
John Lennon teases clue seekers and his bandmate  Written days after the death of Brian Epstein, the lyrics of 'I am the Walrus' have confused everyone, including their author - read full story here In his 1971  Rolling Stone  interview, Lennon tries to explain the McCartney reference in Glass Onion:  Here's another clue for you all. The Walrus was Paul.  Is Lennon teasing his bandmate? Or having a pop at the rapidly growing army of conspiracy theorists? Interestingly, Glass Onion was a genuine collaboration between John and Paul. The theme (an attack on the 'pseuds' over-interpreting Beatles' lyrics) sounds typical of Lennon but in fact came from McCartney. Their relationship was fraying but here they come together in a howl of complaint about how Beatles' lyrics were avidly scoured for hidden messages.   Ian Macdonald disapproves. He suggests that the 'sour A minor melody' and snarling tone of the song express the intent of they lyric" - a 

Who gave John Lennon his first instrument?

Image
  "I played a lot of harmonica & mouth organ when I was a child. We used to take in students and one of them had a mouth organ and said he’d buy me one if I could learn a tune by the next morning. So I learnt two."  The standard story of John Lennon's musical education is that it started with his mother. Famously, she showed him how to play banjo chords. But her son had already mastered the basics of another instrument In 1947 Aunt Mimi began an arrangement with Liverpool University to take in students as lodger. One of these young men was Harold Phillips, who was resuming his studies after serving in the Royal Navy. The seven-year-old John was fascinated by a harmonica that Phillips possessed. Phillips was amused and offered the boy the chance to keep the 'mouth iron' - as it was known locally.  Harold Phillips kept his word - but Aunt Mimi made John wait until Christmas before taking possession of his first musical instrument. ‘I felt the stocking and there

Which Beatles song samples Shakespeare?

Image
On 29 September, I967, John Lennon worked with George Martin and the Abbey Road sound engineers on a potential new Beatles single.

Who was the tallest Beatle?

Image
'Evidence' of an alleged height disparity 

Who bossed The Beatles?

Image
Photo by  Nick Fewings  on  Unsplash Paul :   What I think… the main thing is this: You have always been boss. Now, I’ve been sort of secondary boss.” John :  Not always. Paul : No, listen. Listen. No, always. From the secretly recorded conversation in The Beatles: Get Back (2021) John Lennon began what became The Beatles - Paul and George joined his band when all three were teenagers. That is what Paul is referring to in the documentary. Whether John remained 'the boss' through to the end is a more open question.  Read more  (free)

Who was John Lennon named after? Why?

Image
Liverpool was heavily bombed in 1940 Contrary to Aunt Mimi’s later recollection, John Lennon was not born during an air-raid. The shadow of the Second World War was, however, very apparent at his birth. 

Did all The Beatles come from poor homes?

Image
I moved in with my auntie who lived in the suburbs in a nice semi-detached place with a small garden and doctors and lawyers and that ilk living around... not the poor slummy kind of image that was projected in all the Beatles stories. In the class system, it was about half a class higher than Paul, George and Ringo, who lived in government-subsidized housing. We owned our house and had a garden. They didn't have anything like that .  Playboy Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono: Published in January 1981  10 Admiral Grove where Ringo grew up - now owned by National Trust A slightly more accurate summary would point out that Ringo was at least  'half a class' lower than Paul and George and did not live in social housing or what the British call a council house. Dingle was one of the poorest areas of Liverpool and the Starkeys paid ten shillings (£0.50p) a week to a private landlord for 10 Admiral Grove, a terraced house without a bathroom or indoor toilet. It is also int

Which Beatles song was inspired by an advertising jingle?

Image
 It’s a throwaway, a piece of garbage...from a Kellogg’s cereal commercial. I always had the TV on very low in the background when I was writing and it came over ...{ i n this } song .  During his Weybridge years, John Lennon was a British version of Benjamin Braddock in  The Graduate  (1967). Though extraordinarily privileged in material terms he felt alienated: a rich, successful young man angry at the suburban world he found himself in. This anger was largely expressed through petty acts of passive aggression against those surrounding him.   In the conventional Beatles narrative, John Lennon was the wild man, with an artistic bent and a taste for the avant garde.  Paul, in contrast, was the son-in-law choice: cute, sensible and with the common touch.  In reality, the roles were reversed. McCartney spent his Beatle downtime careering around  Swinging London in his Mini Cooper, the pop world's Toad of Toad Hall. He was a fixture of the hip clubs, fashionable parties and talked-abo

Who was the best man John and Yoko's wedding?

Image
In 1962 Brian Epstein was the best man hastily arranged wedding of John Lennon and Cynthia Powell in Liverpool. 

Which Beatle married first?

Image
  Mount Pleasant Registry Office, Liverpool. August 23rd 1962

Why did John & Yoko get married in Gibraltar?

Image
Wedding photo

How did John meet Paul?

Image
On Saturday the 6th July, 1957 St Peter's Church held it a annual summer fete in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton. After the usual stalls and games for children in the afternoon, a new skiffle group played in the church hall in the evening. They were named The Quarrymen, after the school the band-leader attended. His name was John Lennon. John with the Quarrymen a few hours before meeting Paul Paul McCartney was only just fifteen, eighteen months younger than Lennon. He lived a bus ride away and went to a different school. But he and Lennon shared a mutual friend, Ivan Vaughan. Vaughan invited McCartney to the fete, promising that there would be girls there. “You can meet my mate John, too,” he added. “He plays guitar like you…” Read full piece free on on Medium    3 min read with video The Beatles Teaching Pack  free download during pandemic BBC Witness (audio): The Band That Made The Beatles

Where did the title Tomorrow Never Knows come from?

Image
Tomorrow Never Knows took The Beatles into previously unexplored musical territory. Its use of tape loops, a mellotron, Tibetan chants and various Musique Concrete techniques were startling innovations for a mainstream pop record.  The title, however,  was inspired by a more homely source: I took one of Ringo's malapropisms as the title, to sort of take the edge off the heavy philosophical lyrics. Where did this  'heavy' philosophy come from? The Tibetan Book of the Dead via  The Psychedelic Experience by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (1964). Leary notoriously promoted the use of LSD as the key to what Huxley had termed the Doors of Perception.  Lennon discovered the  The Psychedelic Experience when browsing the shelves at the Indica Bookshop in London:  John began to scan the shelves. His eyes soon alighted upon a copy of The Psychedelic Experience, Dr Timothy Leary's psychedelic version of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.  John was delighted and settled down

Who was John Lennon's biological father?

Image
  Julia Stanley first met Alfred (aka Alf/Fred/Freddie) Lennon in 1929, when she was fifteen and he was two years older.   They met in Sefton Park, exchanging come banter from the start. Both worked in junior office jobs and superficially had similar temperaments. Julia was vivacious, fun loving, a natural rebel.  Alf was a popular with his peers, ‘a rascal. An  absolute  character’ said one pal. There was also a shared musicality. Julia loved singing and played banjo. Alf sang, specialising in comedy songs and comically mangling the words of standards. Like his brothers - and later his son - Alf played the harmonica - the 'mouth iron' as it was known in Liverpool. Too Common? The rebel meets rascal combination did not go down well with Julia’s family: the tight-knit Stanley clan. They saw Alf as ‘low’ - and they were not referring to his diminutive stature (he was 5.3”)   The Stanleys always believed they were several notches above the Lennons, claiming better breeding, educat

How did David Bowie and John Lennon become friends?

Image
We were first introduced in about 1974 by Elizabeth Taylor.  We were in LA, and one night she had a party to which both John and I had been invited.   David Bowie, 1999 In 1974 David Bowie went to New York to record his  'white soul' album  Young Americans .  In interviews, he gave the impression that his first meeting with Lennon was a chance encounter. Other accounts suggest that he in fact made several attempts to establish contact. What is clear that Bowie had always been an admirer of The Beatles. He had even tried to change label, from Decca to Apple, in 1968. According to May Pang, who was living with Lennon during his estrangement from Yoko, the two immediately men got on well. Other witnesses have reported that they drew caricatures of each other and drank cognac (hopefully in that order). Encouraged by this meeting,  and keen to get a Beatle on his new album - Bowie phoned Lennon to tell him that  he was recording a version of Across the Universe .  Lennon agreed

Was John Lennon born during an air-raid?

Image
Contrary to Aunt Mimi’s later recollection, John Lennon was not born during an air-raid. On October 9, 1940, Liverpool was experiencing a brief respite from the intense bombing that had begun in August and would continue until January. The city would suffer 4,000 deaths, the highest number of casualties outside London . John Winston Lennon was delivered without incident at Liverpool Maternity Hospital. The shadow of the war was, of course, present at the birth. It was even there in that middle name. Winston was his mother’s patriotic tribute to Winston Churchill, Britain’s new Prime Minister. Taken from   Why was John Lennon brought up by his Aunt Mimi? (5 minute read) Download: The Beatles Teaching Pack   Only £3.99