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John Lennon

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File:John Lennon Snapshot.jpg
John Lennon

John Winston Lennon, (aka John Ono Lennon and other pseudonyms throughout his career) (October 9, 1940 - December 8, 1980), rose to fame as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist for the legendary 1960s rock group, The Beatles. His creative career also included the roles of solo musician, political activist, artist and author. His first marriage was to his teenage sweetheart, Cynthia Powell, but he later left her for the Japanese artist Yoko Ono. He had always disliked his middle name and soon after his second marriage changed it to Ono . (His mother had named him after Winston Churchill.)

Early life

John Winston Lennon was born on the evening of 9 October 1940 during the height of Germany's Blitz on Britain. He inherited his mother's reddish-blonde hair and his father's slightly squinted eyes and prominent nose. Both of his parents had musical background and experience, though neither pursued it seriously. John Lennon's childhood years were tinged with tragedy. He lived with his parents in Liverpool until his father Fred Lennon, a merchant seaman, walked out on the family. His mother, Julia, then decided that she was unable to care for John as well as she should and so gave him to her sister, Mimi, who resided nearby at 251 Menlove Avenue. Roles were reversed as the socially class-concious, strict but loving Aunt Mimi became mother to John, while his true mother Julia acted more like a free-willed aunt who visited regularly and spoiled the lad.

Around adolescence, Lennon developed severe myopia, or shortsightedness, and was obliged to wear thick, horn-rimmed glasses in order to see clearly. But only grudgingly did he allow himself to be photographed bespectacled, even though one of his idols, Buddy Holly wore glasses. During his early Beatle career, Lennon wore contacts or prescription sunglasses, but later finally accepted his fate and donned his trademark, round "granny-glasses" in late 1966. Although John lived apart from his mother he still kept in contact with her through regular visits, and during this time Julia was responsible for introducing her son to a lifelong interest in music by teaching him how to play the banjo. John's life was to change dramatically soon after his 16th birthday when his mother was killed after she was struck by a car which was being driven by a drunken off-duty police officer. The young Lennon was unfortunate enough to witness this event, and it was a profound influence on many of his later songs, and was also one of the factors that cemented his friendhip with Paul McCartney, who lost his mother to breast cancer.

His Aunt Mimi was able to get him accepted into the Liverpool College of Art by showing them some of his drawings, and it was there that he met his future wife, Cynthia Powell. However, John steadily grew to hate the conformity of art school and like many young men of his age became increasingly interested in Rock 'n' Roll music and American singers like Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. Eventually, in the late 1950s, Lennon formed his own skiffle group called The Quarry Men, which later became The Silver Beatles (a tribute to Buddy Holly's Crickets) and soon afterwards was shortened to The Beatles.

Beatles career

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As a member of The Beatles, Lennon had a profound influence on rock and roll and in expanding the genre's boundries during the 1960's. He is widely considered, along with fellow-writing partner Paul McCartney, as the most influential singer-songwriter-musician of the 20th century. Of the two, Lennon is viewed as the better lyricist, while McCartney is seen as the more accomplished composer. Though overly simplistic, this view does have some truth as much of the songs credited to Lennon-McCartney, but actually inspired by Lennon himself are more developed, introspective pieces often in the first-person and dealing with more personal issues. Lennon's lyrics are also often the more lyrical, due to his love of word-play, double-meaning and strange words. His most surreal pieces of songwriting, Strawberry Fields Forever and I Am the Walrus are fine example of his unique style. Lennon's partnership in songwriting with McCartney many times involved him in complementing and counterbalancing McCartney's upbeat, positive outlook with the other side of the coin, as one of their songs, Getting Better demonstrates:

McCartney: I have to admit it's gettin' better, it's gettin' better all the time.

Lennon: It can't get no worse!

John Lennon often spoke his mind. On March 4, 1966, in an interview for the London Evening Standard with Maureen Cleave, he made the following statement:

"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now. I don't know which will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."

The statement was part of a two-page interview that went virtually unnoticed in Britain. In July of that year, Lennon's words were reprinted in the United States fan magazine Datebook, leading to a backlash by conservative religious groups mainly in the rural South and Midwest states. Radio stations banned the group's recordings, and their albums and other products were burned and destroyed. Spain and the Vatican denounced Lennon's words, and South Africa banned Beatles music from the radio. On August 11, 1966, Lennon held a press conference in Chicago in order to address the growing furor. He told reporters "I suppose if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I would have gotten away with it. I'm sorry I opened my mouth. I'm not anti-God, anti-Christ, or anti-religion. I wasn't knocking it or putting it down. I was just saying it as a fact and it's true more for England than here. I'm not saying that we're better or greater, or comparing us with Jesus Christ as a person or God as a thing or whatever it is. I just said what I said and it was wrong. Or it was taken wrong. And now it's all this."

On a sidenote, the Vatican accepted his apology.

Later in 1966, after their final tour ended and right after he had wrapped up filming a minor role in the film How I Won the War, Lennon met Yoko Ono at the Indica art gallery in London. They immediately made an impression of each other, and had a surreptitious affair for 18 months during the period of Sergeant Pepper and the "Summer of Love". Finally in the spring of 1968, after returning disenchanted from a transcendental meditation retreat in India, Lennon renewed his affair with Ono, and revealed the fact to his increasingly estranged wife Cynthia. Cythia Lennon filed for divorce later that year, while John and Yoko from then on were inseperable in public and private, as well as during Beatles recording sessions. This new developement led to obvious friction with the other members of the group, and heightened the tension during the 1968 "White Album" sessions. Though she may have played a part in the breakup of The Beatles, undue blame has been heavily place on Yoko Ono as the sole cause of the group's fracture, as they were already diverging shortly after the death of their manager, Brian Epstein in 1967.

During his last two years as member of The Beatles, Lennon remained as vocal as ever, spending much of his time with Yoko on public displays speaking out against the Vietnam War, and for peace. In March, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were married in Gibraltar, and spent their honeymoon in Amsterdam in a "bed-in" for peace. They were mainly patronized as a couple of eccentrics by the media, but still were important figures in the anti-war movement.

After being both injured in the summer of 1969 in a car accident in Scotland, Lennon arranged for Yoko to be constantly with him in the studio as he recorded his last album with The Beatles, Abbey Road. A fulled-sized bed was rolled into the studio so that Lennon would not be separated with Ono. Abbey Road was the last polished, united effort by the group, and after its release in the autumn of 1969, it seemed the four members had made a peaceful parting of ways. But with the acrimonious result of release of the rough, and over-orchestrated Let It Be album in May, 1970, bridges were burnt as an enraged McCartney left the group citing that his approval was not obtained when Phil Spector, (at Lennon and George Harrison's insistence) added overlush orchestration to several of McCartney's pieces. Though the split would only become legally final years later, Lennon and McCartney had come to a bitter end to their partnership.

Solo career

Of the four former Beatles, Lennon had perhaps the most varied recording career, often reflecting the vicissitudes of his personality. While he was still a Beatle, Lennon and Ono recorded three albums of experimental and difficult electronic music, Two Virgins, Life With The Lions, and Wedding Album. His first 'solo' album of popular music was Live Peace In Toronto, recorded in 1969 (prior to the breakup of the Beatles) at the Rock 'n' Roll Festival in Toronto with a Plastic Ono Band including Eric Clapton and Klaus Voormann. He also recorded three singles in his initial solo phase, the anti-war anthem "Give Peace a Chance", "Cold Turkey" (about his struggles with heroin) and "Instant Karma".

Following the Beatles' split in 1970, he released the Plastic Ono Band album, a raw, honest record, heavily influenced by Arthur Janov's Primal therapy, which Lennon had undergone previously. This was followed by Imagine , his most successful solo album, which dealt with some of the same themes. The title track is a lovely song which has become an anthem for world harmony, but Lennon himself was later dismissive of it, claiming he had "sugar coated" his message. Certainly there is irony in Lennon, a prodigious shopper, urging his fans to imagine life with "no possessions."

Perhaps in reaction, his next album, Sometime In New York City, was loud, raucous, and explicitly political, with songs about prison riots, racial and sexual relations, the British role in the sectarian troubles in Northern Ireland, and his own problems in obtaining a United States Green Card.

Throughout his solo career, he appeared on his own albums (as well as those of other artists like Elton John) under such pseudonyms as Dr. Winston O'Boogie, Mel Torrment, and The Reverend Fred Gherkin.

Two more albums of personal songs, Mind Games and Walls And Bridges, and one of cover versions of rock and roll songs of his youth, came before 1975 when, following a fourteen-month split from Ono during which he had an affair with Ono's former secretary May Pang, he retired to concentrate on his family life.

The retirement lasted until 1980, when he and Ono produced Double Fantasy, practically a concept album dealing with their relationship.

It was during his time in New York that Lennon purportedly engaged in sexual relationships with men, according to biographers Albert Goldman (The Lives of John Lennon) and Geoffrey Giuliano (Lennon in New York). Lennon's estate, however, has denied charges that he was bisexual.

Lennon's son with Cynthia, Julian Lennon, enjoys a notable recording career of his own, as does his son with Yoko, Sean Lennon.

Murder and memorial

In the morning of December 8, 1980, in New York City, a mentally deranged fan, Mark David Chapman of Honolulu, asked for an autograph from Lennon, which he received. Chapman remained in the vicinity of the Dakota Apartments for most of that day, probably sneaking into the carriage vestibule of the Dakota as a fireworks demonstration in central Park about 9pm distracted the doorman and most in the street that evening. Later that evening, at 10:50 p.m., Lennon and Ono were returning via limousine to their apartment building, The Dakota -- 72nd Street & Central Park West -- from recording a single by Ono, "Walking On Thin Ice", for their next album. Chapman was hiding in the carriage vestibule as Lennon and Ono got out of the car. As Lennon walked past him, Chapman called out from the darkness "Mr. Lennon!", then moving forward assumed what witnesses later called a "combat stance," a crouched position with gun in both hands, and fired five shots just as Lennon was turning around. Four of the bullets struck Lennon in the chest, back and arm, according to the earliest reports. He yelled "I'm shot, I'm shot," and ran a few steps towards the building before collapsing in the entranceway from the vestibule. A security guard immediately called 911; Lennon remained conscious as police from a nearby station in Central Park arrived within minutes, but already Lennon was in a dire state, bleeding to death on the floor. Unable to wait for an ambulance, two officers hastily carried Lennon to the back of their squad car, during which they reportedly could hear Lennon's bones cracking, and sped away to the nearest hospital. The two police officers rushed Lennon to Roosevelt Hospital. One of the officers, obviously trying to help Lennon maintain consciousness, asked the dying man if he knew who he was. Lennon's final words were reported to be "I'm John Lennon of the Beatles". As Lennon was choking on his own blood, it is more likely that the officers' initial reports are more correct and that Lennon simply said "Yeah" when asked if he was John Lennon. After arriving at the hospital, doctors worked frantically to revive the fading Lennon, resorting to massaging his heart, but to no avail. He died of cardiac arrest shortly past 11pm as a result of massive blood loss, nearly 80% of his blood volume. Reportedly, the song playing on the hospital tannoy at the moment of Lennon's death was a Beatles hit, "All My Loving". A crowd was already gathering in the Roosevelt Hospital courtyard, some of the people on their knees in prayer. A young man led the Rosary.

Chapman made no attempt to flee. He paced up and down the sidewalk reading The Catcher in the Rye until police arrived. He surrendered immediately and told the police he had acted alone. News reporters on New York's WABC interviewed one police officer who described Chapman "as a whacko, flatly." Other policemen referred to him as a "local screwball".

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Yoko Ono was the first to be told the news of Lennon's death, to which she reportedly remarked, "oh, no, no, no...tell me it isn't true." Later, in a press conference held in the Roosevelt Hospital courtyard, Dr. Stephan Lynn confirmed the news that John Lennon, founder of The Beatles, was dead. "Extensive resuscitative efforts were made," he said, "but in spite of transfusions and many procedures, he could not be resuscitated." Millions more would receive the sad news from Howard Cosell, commentator for ABC's Monday Night Football, as the match wrapped up that night.

Hundreds, possibly thousands of people gathered in the street outside the Dakota that night. They lit candles, laid down flowers near the gate, and sang Lennon's best known songs. "He was a symbol of peace," one mourner said in an interview with WABC's Shelly Sonstein, "and the whole movement of realization." Back in the apartment, Yoko Ono was grateful to the people but sent word that their singing kept her awake; she asked that they disperse and re-convene in Central Park on the following Sunday, December 14, at 2 p.m. EST, for ten minutes' silent prayer. Her request for a silent gathering was honoured all over the world.

A special commemorative issue of Rolling Stone magazine released shortly after the murder featured as its cover a photo taken the very morning of the shooting by Annie Leibovitz. It showed a nude Lennon spooned in an embryonic pose next to a fully clothed Yoko Ono, and giving her a serene, seemingly farewell kiss as she lays on their bed. It symbolized one last time Lennon's attachement to Ono, his dependence on her, and his disregard for what others may say of their relationship. It is a poignant photograph considering the fate that would befall Lennon hours later.

Millions of Beatles fans had thought of John Lennon almost as a second father, an older brother, or a son. His murder touched off emotional outpourings of grief around the world - some fans reportedly committed suicide upon hearing the news and it ended the hopes of millions that The Beatles would someday reunite and stage one last world tour.

In a vicious kind of irony, the two Beatles most committed to pacifism were both brutally attacked; George Harrison was stabbed by an intruder in his home two decades later.

The Strawberry Fields Memorial was constructed in Central Park, across the street from the Dakota building in memory of Lennon. It has become something of a shrine to Lennon, all the Beatles, and the cultural memory of the 1960s.

In 1988, Warner Bros. produced a documentary film, Imagine: John Lennon (sanctioned in part by Yoko Ono). The movie was a biography of the former Beatle, featuring interviews, rarely seen musical material, and narration by Lennon himself (formed from interviews and tapes recorded by Lennon). It also introduced "Real Love", one of the last songs composed by Lennon, in an early raw demo (a later demo would form the basis for the version rehashed by The Beatles for The Beatles Anthology).

In 1990, specially selected radio stations aired a syndicated series called The Lost Lennon Tapes. Hosted by Lennon publicist Elliot Mintz, the show spotlighted raw sessions from throughout Lennon's career with and without The Beatles, including rare material never released to the public.

On September 21, 2001, Neil Young sang "Imagine" in a nationally televised spectacular called America: A Tribute to Heroes intended to raise money for the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, particularly the firefighters and their families. An avowed devotee of Lennon, Young's performance is considered one of the highlights of his lengthy career.

In March, 2002, his native city, Liverpool, honored his memory by renaming their airport "Liverpool John Lennon Airport", and adopting as its motto a line from his song "Imagine", "Above us only sky".

Lennon is included in the top 10 of the 2002 "100 Greatest Britons" poll sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public. The BBC History Magazine comments: "Generational influence is immense".

In 2004 Madonna paid tribute to Lennon by singing a cover of the song "Imagine" during her anti-war themed "Re-Invention World Tour".

Biographies and books

Numerous biographies of John Lennon have been published. Notable among these are The Lives of John Lennon by Albert Goldman and Lennon: The Definitive Biography by Ray Coleman.

John Lennon wrote three books himself: A Spaniard in the Works, John Lennon: In his own write, and Skywriting by Word of Mouth. A personal sketchbook with Lennon's familiar cartoons illustrating definitions of Japanese words, Ai, was published posthumously.

Well known songs

Some of John's most well known solo songs include:

  1. "Give Peace A Chance" - single, 1969
  2. "Instant Karma!" - single, 1970
  3. "Imagine" - Imagine, 1971
  4. "Jealous Guy" - Imagine, 1971
  5. "Woman Is The Nigger Of The World" - Sometime In New York City, 1972
  6. "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" - single, 1972
  7. "Mind Games" - Mind Games, 1973
  8. "Woman" - Double Fantasy, 1980

Discography

 
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