JOHN LENNON

JOHN LENNON
20 GREATEST TRAX

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IMAGINE	.	1971	3	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "Dick Gregory gave Yoko and me a little kind of prayer book. It is in the Christian idiom, but you can apply it anywhere. It is the concept of positive prayer. If you want to get a car, get the car keys. Get it? Imagine is saying that. If you can imagine a world at peace, with no denominations of religion-not without religion but without this my-God-is-bigger-than-your-God thing-then it can be true. The song was originally inspired by Yoko's book "Grapefruit". In it are a lot of pieces saying, imagine this, imagine that. Yoko actually helped a lot with the lyrics, but I wasn't man enough to let her have credit for it. I was still selfish enough and unaware enough to sort of take her contribution without acknowledging it. I was still full of wanting my own space after being in a room with the guys all the time, having to share everything. So when Yoko would even wear the same color as me, I used to get madly upset: We are not the Beatles! We are not fucking Sonny and Cher!" (1980:Playboy) John Lennon: The concept of positive prayer ... If you can imagine a world at peace, with no denominations of religion not without religion but without this my God-is-bigger-than-your-God thing then it can be true ... the World Church called me once and asked, "Can we use the lyrics to 'Imagine' and just change it to 'Imagine one religion'?" That showed [me] they didn't understand it at all. It would defeat the whole purpose of the song, the whole idea. John Lennon: "'Imagine', which says: 'Imagine that there was no more religion, no more country, no more politics,' is virtually the Communist manifesto, even though I'm not particularly a Communist and I do not belong to any movement." KILL ME [I] John Lennon wrote "Imagine," his greatest musical gift to the world, one morning early in 1971 in his bedroom at Tittenhurst Park, his estate in Ascot, England. His wife, Yoko Ono, watched as Lennon sat at the white grand piano now known around the world from films and photographs of the sessions for his Imagine album and virtually completed the song: the serene melody; the pillowy chord progression; that beckoning, four-note figure; and nearly all of the lyrics, 22 lines of graceful, plain-spoken faith in the power of a world, united in purpose, to repair and change itself. (Rolling Stone) KILL ME [I] Lennon composed "Imagine" one morning in early 1971, on a Steinway piano, in a bedroom at his Tittenhurst Park estate in Ascot, Berkshire, England. Ono watched as he composed the melody, chord structure and almost all the lyrics, nearly completing the song in one brief writing session. "Imagine" is a piano ballad performed in the lite rock genre. Several poems from Yoko Ono's 1964 book Grapefruit inspired Lennon to write the lyrics for "Imagine" in particular, one which Capitol Records reproduced on the back cover of the original Imagine LP titled "Cloud Piece", reads: "Imagine the clouds dripping, dig a hole in your garden to put them in." Lennon later said the composition "should be credited as a Lennon/Ono song. A lot of it the lyric and the concept came from Yoko, but in those days I was a bit more selfish, a bit more macho, and I sort of omitted her contribution, but it was right out of Grapefruit." When asked about the song's meaning during a December 1980 interview with David Sheff for Playboy magazine, Lennon told Sheff that Dick Gregory had given Ono and him a Christian prayer book, which helped inspire in Lennon. With the combined influence of "Cloud Piece" and the prayer book given to him by Gregory, Lennon wrote what author John Blaney described as "a humanistic paean for the people." Blaney wrote, "Lennon contends that global harmony is within our reach, but only if we reject the mechanisms of social control that restrict human potential." In the opinion of Blaney, with "Imagine", Lennon attempted to raise people's awareness of their interaction with the institutions that affect their lives. Rolling Stone's David Fricke commented: "[Lennon] calls for a unity and equality built upon the complete elimination of modern social order: geopolitical borders, organised religion, [and] economic class." (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon lead vocals, piano Klaus Voormann bass Alan White drums The Flux Fiddlers strings Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector Engineered: Recorded at: Ascot Sound Studios, Lennon's home Tittenhurst Park, London, England, May Jul 1971 KILL ME W S
WOMEN	.	1981	2	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "That's to Yoko and to all women, in a way. Because my history of relationships with women is a very poor one--very macho, very stupid, bery typical of a certain type of man, I suppose, which is very sensitive and insecure but acting aggressive and macho. You know, trying to cover up the feminine side, which I still have a tendency to do. But I'm learning to acknowledge that it's all right to be soft. Because that side of me is the comifortable side of me. It's like I tend to put my cowboy boots on when I'm insecure, whereas now I'm in sneakers and it's comfy. So 'Women' is pretty self explanatory." (1980:Playboy) John Lennon: "'Woman' came about because, one sunny afternoon in Bermuda, it suddenly hit me. I saw what women do for us. Not just what my Yoko does for me, although I was thinking in those personal terms. Any truth is universal. If we'd made our album in the third person and called it Freda and Ada or Tommy and had dressed up in clown suits with lipstick and created characters other than us, maybe a Ziggy Stardust, would it be more acceptable? It's not our style of art; our life is our art. . . . Anyway, in Bermuda, what suddenly dawned on me was everything I was taking for granted. Women really are the other half of the sky, as I whisper at the beginning of the song. And it just sort of hit me like a flood, and it came out like that. The song reminds me of a Beatles track, but I wasn't trying to make it sound like that. I did it as I did 'Girl' many years ago. So this is the grown-up version of 'Girl.'" (1980:Rolling Stone) KILL ME [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon - lead vocals, acoustic guitar Earl Slick - electric guitar Hugh McCracken - electric guitar Tony Levin - bass Andy Newmark - drums Arthur Jenkins - percussion George Small - piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano Michelle Simpson - backing vocals Cassandra Wooten - backing vocals Cheryl Mason Jacks - backing vocals Eric Troyer - backing vocals Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Jack Douglas Engineered: Lee DeCarlo Recorded: The Hit Factory, New York, New York, USA,Aug 8, Sep 15, 1980 KILL ME W S B
INSTANT KARMA!	.	1970	3	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "It just came to me. Everybody was going on abut karma, especially in the Sixties. But it occurred to me that karma is instant as well as it influences your past life or your future life. There really is a reaction to what you do now. That's what people ought to be concerned about. Also, I'm fascinated by commercials and promotion as an art form. I enjoy them. So the idea of instant karma was like the idea of instant coffee, presenting something in a new form. I just liked it" (1980:Playboy) John Lennon: "I wrote it for breakfast, recorded it for lunch, and we're putting it out for dinner." Klaus Voormann: [T]here was this little guy walking around with "PS" on his shirt, and I was thinking, "Who is this guy?" When he turned on the playback [after recording], it was just incredible. First, it was ridiculously loud, but also there was the ring of all these instruments and the way the song had such motion. As a first experience of the difference from the way you played it to the sound in the control room, it was overwhelming. And I knew immediately who he was Phil Spector. KILL ME [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon lead vocal, acoustic guitar, piano, vocals George Harrison electric guitar, piano, vocals Klaus Voormann bass guitar, electric piano, vocals Alan White drums, piano, vocals Billy Preston organ, vocals Mal Evans chimes, handclaps, vocals uncredited tambourine Yoko Ono backing vocal Allen Klein backing vocals London's Hatchett Club backing vocals Produced: Phil Spector Recorded: EMI's Abbey Road Studios, London, England, .................Jan. 27, 1970 KILL ME W S
(Just Like) STARTING OVER	.	1980	1	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "It's what it says. I wrote it when I was in Bermuda with Sean, while Yoko was attending to business. It just came out that way. All the other songs were finished and it and 'Cleanup Time' came out sort of like fun after the work was done. It has the Fiftiesish sound because I have never really written a song that sounded like that period, although that was my period, the music I identified with. So I just thought, Why the hell not? In the Beatle days, that would have been taken as a joke. One avoided clich s. But, of course, now those clich s are not clich s anymore. I nearly took out the words 'Spread our wings and fly' because I thought, Oh, God, they'll all be saying, 'What's that about Wings?' It has nothing to do with Wings." John Lennon: "All through the taping of 'Starting Over,' I was calling what I was doing 'Elvis Orbison': 'I want you I need only the lonely.' I'm a born-again rocker, I feel that refreshed, and I'm going right back to my roots. It's like Dylan doing Nashville Skyline, except I don't have any Nashville, you know, being from Liverpool. So I go back to the records I know - Elvis and Roy Orbison and Gene Vincent and Jerry Lee Lewis. I occasionally get ripped off into 'Walruses' or 'Revolution 9,' but my far-out side has been completely encompassed by Yoko." (1980:Rolling Stone) KILL ME [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon - lead vocals, electric guitar Earl Slick - electric guitar Hugh McCracken - electric guitar Tony Levin - bass Andy Newmark - drums Arthur Jenkins - percussion George Small - keyboards Michelle Simpson - backing vocals Cassandra Wooten - backing vocals Cheryl Mason Jacks - backing vocals Eric Troyer - backing vocals Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Jack Douglas Engineered: Lee DeCarlo Recorded: The Hit Factory, New York, New York, USA, Aug 6, Sep 15, 1980 KILL ME W S B
GIVE PEACE A CHANCE	(Plastic Ono Band)	1969	14	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "All we were saying was give peace a chance. I don't even know why his name was on it. It's there because I kind of felt guilty because I'd made the separate single -- the first -- and I was really breaking away from the Beatles." (1980:Playboy) John Lennon: (Regreted being) "guilty enough to give McCartney credit as co-writer on my first independent single instead of giving it to Yoko, who had actually written it with me." KILL ME [I] The song was written during Lennon's 'Bed-In' honeymoon in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. When asked by a reporter what he was trying to achieve by staying in bed, Lennon answered spontaneously "Just give peace a chance". He went on to say this several times during the Bed-In. Finally, on 1 June 1969, in Room 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Andr Perry recorded it using a simple setup of four microphones and a four-track tape recorder rented from a local recording studio. The recording session was attended by dozens of journalists and various celebrities, including Timothy Leary, Rabbi Abraham Feinberg, Joseph Schwartz, Rosemary Woodruff Leary, Petula Clark, Dick Gregory, Allen Ginsberg, Roger Scott, Murray the K and Derek Taylor, many of whom are mentioned in the lyrics. When released in 1969, the song was credited to Lennon McCartney. On some later releases, only Lennon is credited. The song quickly became the anthem of the anti Vietnam-war and counterculture movements, and was sung by half a million demonstrators in Washington, D.C. at the Vietnam Moratorium Day, on 15 November 1969. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) John Lennon lead vocals, acoustic guitar Tommy Smothers acoustic guitar Yoko Ono handclaps, tambourine, backing vocals Andr Perry percussion Timothy Leary backing vocals Petula Clark backing vocals (others) handclaps, tambourine, backing vocals Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono Engineered: ?? Recorded: Room 1742, Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Jun 1, 1969 KILL ME W S
MIND GAMES	.	1973	18	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "It was originally called 'Make Love, Not War', but that was such a cliche, that you couldn't say it anymore. So I wrote the same message in an obscure way--mind games, mind guerrillas. It's the same as Imagine or anything else. It's a nice track; I've always liked the sound of it. The words are just expressing the same thing we were saying in the Sixties: love and peace, without using the words love and peace. Love and peace became a joke." (1980:Playboy) John Lennon: "It was originally called Make Love Not War, but that was such a clich that you couldn't say it anymore, so I wrote it obscurely, but it's all the same story. How many times can you say the same thing over and over? When this came out, in the early Seventies, everybody was starting to say the Sixties was a joke, it didn't mean anything, those love-and-peaceniks were idiots. [Sarcastically] "We all have to face the reality of being nasty human beings who are born evil and everything's gonna be lousy and rotten so boo-hoo-hoo..." "We had fun in the Sixties," they said, "but the others took it away from us and spoiled it all for us." And I was trying to say: "No, just keep doin' it."" (1980:All We Are Saying) John Lennon: "The seeming orchestra on it is just me playing three notes on a slide guitar. And the middle eight is reggae. Trying to explain to American musicians what reggae was in 1973 was pretty hard, but it's basically a reggae middle eight if you listen to it." KILL ME [I] This song, which was begun in 1969 and can be heard in the Beatles' Let It Be sessions, was originally titled "Make Love, Not War", a popular hippie slogan at that time. Another song, "I Promise", contains the melody that would later be featured on "Mind Games". The original Lennon demos for "Make Love, Not War" and "I Promise", recorded in 1970, are available on the John Lennon Anthology. Lennon finished writing the song after reading the book Mind Games: The Guide to Inner Space by Robert Masters and Jean Houston (1972). Lennon later encountered Masters in a restaurant and told him, "I am one of your fans. You wrote Mind Games." In keeping with the original theme, the lyrics advocate unity, love, and a positive outlook. The lyric "YES is the answer" is a nod to his wife Yoko Ono's art piece that brought them together originally. The song was recorded as Lennon split with her for his 18-month "lost weekend" with May Pang. KILL ME [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon: lead vocals, guitar, slide guitar, clavichord David Spinozza: guitar Gordon Edwards: bass Jim Keltner: drums Ken Ascher: mellotron Produced: John Lennon Engineered: Roy Cicala, Dan Barbiero Recorded at: Record Plant Studios, New York, New York, USA, 1973 KILL ME W S B
OH MY LOVE	.	1971	--	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "You hear Yoko's classical influence. She was trained as a classical musician all her life, and she only went mad, avant garde, later in life, you know, (laughter) like a lot of people do. And she..... But this song, you can hear the classical influence of Yoko . . . has influenced me on this. And this is 80% her lyric and 50% her tune on this, and it really influenced me. You can hear a Japanese influence. " (Mike Douglas Show.) Yoko Ono: "In most love songs you're making people feel hot or whatever about each other. But instead of that, he's saying, "I see it clearly for the first time." It's not so much about sexual interest or "I miss you" - it's more to do with true love." (2010:Rolling Stone) [I] The song was originally written and demoed in 1968 after sessions for the album The Beatles. This demo was released on many Beatles bootleg albums. (Wikipedia) [P] (John Lennon, Yoko Ono) John Lennon: vocals, piano George Harrison: electric guitar Klaus Voormann: bass Nicky Hopkins: RMI Electra Piano Alan White: Tibetan cymbals Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Phil Spector Engineered: ?? Recorded at: Ascot Sound Studios, Lennon's home Tittenhurst Park, London, England, Jun 13-Jul 5, 1971 W S B
WHATEVER GETS YOU THROUGH THE NIGHT	.	1974	1	VIDEO	[Q] May Pang: At night, he loved to channel-surf, and he would pick up phrases from all the shows. One time, he was watching Reverend Ike, a famous black evangelist, who was saying, Let me tell you guys, it doesn t matter, it s whatever gets you through the night. John loved it and said, I ve got to write it down or I ll forget it. He always kept a pad and pen by the bed. That was the beginning of Whatever Gets You Thru The Night . (2005:Radio Times) John Lennon: I was fiddling about one night and Elton John walked in with Tony King of Apple you know, we're all good friends and the next minute Elton said, 'Say, can I put a bit of piano on that?' I said, 'Sure, love it!' He zapped in. I was amazed at his ability: I knew him, but I'd never seen him play. A fine musician, great piano player. I was really pleasantly surprised at the way he could get in on such a loose track and add to it and keep up with the rhythm changes obviously, 'cause it doesn't keep the same rhythm... And then he sang with me. We had a great time. (1974) KILL ME [I] The music was inspired by the number one single at the time, "Rock Your Baby" by George McCrae. Although the released track bears little resemblance, the inspiration is more apparent on the alternative version released on John Lennon Anthology. Unsure of which track should be the album's lead single, Lennon enlisted the help of Al Coury, vice-president of marketing for Capitol. Lennon had been impressed with the "magic" that Coury displayed in the success of McCartney's Band on the Run album. Coury chose "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" as the first single. During the recording of "Whatever Gets You thru the Night", Elton John bet Lennon that it would top the charts. Never believing it would, Lennon agreed to perform live with John if it did. Having lost the wager, Lennon appeared at John's Madison Square Garden show on 28 November, performing Lennon's current number 1 hit together as well as the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". This was Lennon's last major live performance. (Wikiedia) KILL ME [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon lead vocals, guitar Jesse Ed Davis electric guitar Eddie Mottau acoustic guitar Klaus Voormann bass Jim Keltner drums Arthur Jenkins percussion Elton John piano, harmony vocal Ken Ascher clavinet Bobby Keys saxophone Ron Aprea saxophone Produced: John Lennon Engineered: Shelly Yakus, Jimmy Iovine Recorded at: Record Plant East, New York City, New York, USA, 1974 KILL ME W S O B
WATCHING THE WHEELS	.	1981	10	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "That's a kind of song version of the love letter from John and Yoko [which appeared in The New York Times]. I've been doing this--watching the wheels. People have been saying I'm lazy, dreaming my life away, all my life. Pop stars were getting indignant in the press that I wasn't making records. I couldn't believe it; they were acting like mothers-in-law. I don't know whether it was Mick or who. What's it got to do with them if I never do another record in my life?" (1980:All We Are Saying) John Lennon: "Watching the wheels? The whole universe is a wheel, right? Wheels go round and round. They're my own wheels, mainly. But, you know, watching meself is like watching everybody else. And I watch meself through my child, too. Then, in a way, nothing is real, if you break the word down. As the Hindus or Buddhists say, it's an illusion, meaning all matter is floating atoms, right? It's Rashomon. We all see it, but the agreed-upon illusion is what we live in. And the hardest thing is facing yourself. It's easier to shout 'Revolution' and 'Power to the people' than it is to look at yourself and try to find out what's real inside you and what isn't, when you're pulling the wool over your own eyes. That's the hardest one. " (1980:Rolling Stone) [I] In "Watching the Wheels" Lennon addresses those who were confounded by his "househusband" years, 1975 1980, during which he retired from the music industry to concentrate on raising his son Sean with Ono. "Watching the Wheels" is a single by John Lennon released posthumously in 1981, after his murder. (Wikiedia) [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon - lead vocals, keyboards Earl Slick - lead guitar Hugh McCracken - lead guitar Tony Levin - bass Andy Newmark - drums Arthur Jenkins - percussion Matthew Cunningham - hammer dulcimer George Small - keyboards Michelle Simpson - backing vocals Cassandra Wooten - backing vocals Cheryl Mason Jacks - backing vocals Eric Troyer - backing vocals Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Jack Douglas Engineered: Lee DeCarlo Recorded at: The Hit Factory, New York, New York, USA, Aug 6, Oct 13, 1980 W S B
COLD TURKEY	(Plastic Ono Band)	1969	30	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "The song is self-explanatory. The song got banned, even though it's antidrug. They're so stupid about drugs, you know. They're not looking at the cause of the drug problem: Why do people take drugs? To escape from what? Is life so terrible? Are we living in such a terrible situation that we can't do anything without reinforcement of alcohol, tobacco? Aspirins, sleeping pills, uppers, downers, never mind the heroin and cocaine -- they're just the outer fringes of Librium and speed." (1980:Playboy) John Lennon: "Cold Turkey is self-explanatory. It was banned again all over the American radio, so it never got off the ground. They were thinking I was promoting heroin, but instead... They're so stupid about drugs! They're always arresting smugglers or kids with a few joints in their pocket. They never face the reality. They're not looking at the cause of the drug problem. Why is everybody taking drugs? To escape from what? Is life so terrible? Do we live in such a terrible situation that we can't do anything about it without reinforcement from alcohol or tobacco or sleeping pills? I'm not preaching about 'em. I'm just saying a drug is a drug, you know. Why we take them is important, not who's selling it to whom on the corner." (1980:All We Are Saying) [I] According to Peter Brown in his book The Love You Make, the song was written in a "creative outburst" following Lennon and Yoko Ono going "cold turkey" from their brief heroin addictions. However Lennon's personal assistant in the late 1970s Fred Seaman claimed otherwise, stating that Lennon confided in him that the song was actually about a severe case of food poisoning suffered by John and Yoko after eating Christmas leftovers "cold turkey". Lennon thought people would laugh at him if they knew the truth about the song's origin, so he said it was inspired by his recent heroin withdrawal. Brown states that Lennon presented the song to Paul McCartney as a potential single by The Beatles, as they were finishing recording for their Abbey Road album, but was refused and released it as a Plastic Ono Band single with sole writing credits to him. (Wikipedia) [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon lead and harmony vocals, rhythm guitar Eric Clapton lead guitar Klaus Voormann bass Ringo Starr drums Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono Recorded At: Abbey Road Studio 2, London, England, ................Sep. 30, 1969 W S B
MOTHER	.	1970	43	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "Many, many people will not like Mother; it hurts them. The first thing that happens to you when you get the album is you can't take it. Everybody reacted exactly the same. They think, 'fuck!' That's how everybody is. And the second time, they start saying, 'Oh, well, there's a little...' so I can't lay Mother on them. It confirms the suspicions that something nasty's going on with that John Lennon and his broad again. I express myself best in rock, and I had a few ideas to do this with Mother and that with Mother, but the piano does it all for you. Your mind can do the rest of it. I think the backings on it are as complicated as the backings on any record you've ever heard. If you've got an ear, you can hear. Any musician will tell you, just play a note on a piano, it's not a lot of harmonics in it. So it got to that. What the hell, it didn't need anything else. I was watching TV as usual in California, and there was this old horror movie on. I just heard the bells, which sounded like that to me. But they were probably different 'cause those that I used on the album were actually other bells slowed down. I just thought, 'That's how to start Mother.' I knew Mother was going to be the first track. See, I keep thinking Mother is a commercial record, because all the time I was writing it, it was the one I was singing the most and it's the one that seemed to catch on in my head... I write singles. I write them all the same way. But Mother - you've got to take into account the lyrics, too. If I can capture more sales by singing about love than singing about my mother, I'll do it." (1970:Lennon Remembers) KILL ME [I] "Mother" is actually a cry to both his parents, who abandoned him in his childhood. His father, Alf, left the family when John was an infant. His mother, Julia, did not live with her son, although they had a good relationship; she was hit and killed in a car accident on 15 July 1958 by a drunk off-duty policeman named Eric Clague, when Lennon was 17. Lennon was inspired to write the song after undergoing primal therapy with Dr Arthur Janov, originally at their home at Tittenhurst Park and then at the Primal Institute, California, where they remained for four months. Lennon, who eventually derided Janov, initially described the therapy as "something more important to me than The Beatles." Although Lennon said that "Mother" was the song that "seemed to catch in my head", he had doubts about its commercial appeal and he considered issuing "Love" as a single instead. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon vocals, piano Klaus Voormann bass Ringo Starr drums Produced: Phil Spector, John Lennon and Yoko Ono Engineered: ?? Recorded at: EMI's Abbey Road Studios, London, England KILL ME W S B
WOMEN IS THE NIGGAR OF THE WORLD	.	1972	57	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "The next song is one of those many songs of ours that get banned. It's something Yoko said to me in 1968; it took me until 1970 to dig it." (Live In New York City) Yoko Ono: "When I went to London and got together with John that was the biggest macho scene imaginable. That's when I made the statement 'woman is the nigger of the world'." John Lennon: "Of course, Yoko was well into liberation before I met her. She'd had to fight her way through a man's world - the art world is completely dominated by men - so she was full of revolutionary zeal when we met. There was never any question about it: we had to have a 50-50 relationship or there was no relationship, I was quick to learn. She did an article about women in Nova more than two years back in which she said, 'Woman is the nigger of the world'. The women are very important too, we can't have a revolution that doesn't involve and liberate women. It's so subtle the way you're taught male superiority. It took me quite a long time to realise that my maleness was cutting off certain areas for Yoko. She's a red hot liberationist and was quick to show me where I was going wrong, even though it seemed to me that I was just acting naturally. That's why I'm always interested to know how people who claim to be radical treat women." (1971:Red Mole magazine) John Lennon: "" () KILL ME [I] The phrase "woman is the nigger of the world" was coined by Yoko Ono in an interview with Nova magazine in 1969 and was quoted on the magazine's cover. Literary analysts note that the phrase owes much to Zora Neale Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, in which the protagonist Janie Crawford says, "De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see." The song describes women's subservience to men and male chauvinism across all cultures. In a 1972 interview on The Dick Cavett Show, John Lennon stated that Irish revolutionary James Connolly was an inspiration for the song. Lennon cited Connolly's statement "the female worker is the slave of the slave" in explaining the pro-feminist inspiration behind the song. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (John Lennon, Yoko Ono) John Lennon vocals, guitar Gary Van Scyoc bass Wayne "Tex" Gabriel - guitar Richard Frank Jr. - drums, percussion Jim Keltner - drums Adam Ippolito piano, organ Stan Bronstein saxophone Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector Engineered: ?? Recorded at: Record Plant East, New York, New York, USA KILL ME W S B
NOBODY TOLD ME	.	1984	5	VIDEO	[I] The lyrics reference the yellow idol in J. Milton Hayes' poem, The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God. Another line in the song is "There's UFO's over New York and I ain't too surprised". In the liner notes to his 1974 album Walls and Bridges he said, "On the 23rd August 1974 at 9 o'clock I saw a U.F.O. - J.L.". The line "Nobody told me there'd be days like these...strange days indeed...most peculiar, mama" is in contrast to the old adage "My mother told me there'd be days like this." Recorded but left incomplete shortly before his death in 1980, the song was later completed by Lennon's widow Yoko Ono in 1983 and released as the first single from Lennon and Ono's album Milk and Honey in 1984. The song was later released in the UK in 1990, b/w "I'm Stepping Out". The song was originally written for Ringo Starr to include on his 1981 album Stop and Smell the Roses, but due to Lennon's passing, Ringo decided not to record the song. (Wikipedia) [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon - lead vocals, rhythm guitar Earl Slick - lead guitar Hugh McCracken - lead guitar Tony Levin - bass Andy Newmark - drums George Small - keyboards Arthur Jenkins - percussion Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono Engineered: ?? Recorded at: The Hit Factory, New York, New York, USA, 1980 W S B
POWER TO THE PEOPLE	.	1971	11	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "We'd got a bit of a reputation for hanging out with the Cambridge Graduate School of Revolutionaries in the UK. They made us feel so guilty about not hating everyone who wasn't poor that I even wrote and recorded the rather embarrassing Power To The People ten years too late (as the now-famous Hunter "Fear and Loathing for a Living" Thompson pointed out in his Vegas book). We kept the royalties, of course." (Skywriting By Word Of Mouth) John Lennon: "Well, that came from a talk with Tariq Ali, who was sort of a 'revolutionary' in England and edited a magazine called Red Mole. So I felt I ought to write a song about what he was saying. That's why it didn't really come off. I was not thinking clearly about it. It was written in the state of being asleep and wanting to be loved by Tariq Ali and his ilk, you see. I have to admit to that so I won't call it hypocrisy. I wouldn't write that today." (1980:All We Are Saying) John Lennon: ""(British Pakistani activist and writer) Tariq Ali kept coming round wanting money for Red Mole or some magazine or other. I was thinking, Well I'm working class and I am not one of them, but I am rich and therefore I have to. So any time anybody said something like that, I would fork out. He was hustling for whatever he was hustling for and I wrote Power To The People as a sort of guilt song. It's like a newspaper song, where you write about something instant that's going on right now. It's the news headlines with misprints and everything." (1980:BBC Radio 1) John Lennon: "I just felt inspired by what they said, although a lot of it is gobbledygook. So I wrote 'Power to the People' the same way I wrote 'Give Peace a Chance,' as something for the people to sing. I make singles like broadsheets. It was another quickie, done at Ascot." KILL ME [I] The song was written by Lennon in response to an interview he gave to Tariq Ali and Robin Blackburn, published in Red Mole (8 22 March 1971). A passionate political activist at the time, Lennon's perception of the song changed during the 1970s. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon vocals, guitar Klaus Voormann bass Alan White drums Billy Preston piano, keyboards Yoko Ono piano, backing vocals Bobby Keys saxophone Rosetta Hightower backing vocals, handclaps other singers backing vocals, handclaps Produced: Phil Spector, John Lennon, Yoko Ono Engineered: ?? Recorded at: Ascot Sound Studios, Berkshire, England, Jan 22-Feb 9, 1971 KILL ME W S B
JEALOUS GUY	.	1971	--	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "My song, melody written in India. The lyrics explain themselves clearly: I was a very jealous, possessive guy. Toward everything. A very insecure male. A guy who wants to put his woman in a little box, lock her up, and just bring her out when he feels like playing with her. She's not allowed to communicate with the outside world - outside of me - because it makes me feel insecure. [Mother Nature's Son] was from a lecture of Maharishi where he was talking about nature, and I had a piece called I'm Just A Child Of Nature, which turned into Jealous Guy years later. Both inspired from the same lecture of Maharishi. " (1980:All We Are Saying) Yoko Ono: "He wrote a song, 'Jealous Guy,' that should have told people how jealous he was. After we started living together, it was John who wanted me there all the time. He made me go into the men's room with him. He was scared that if I stayed out in the studio with a lot of other men, I might run off with one of them." (1981:Rolling Stone) KILL ME [I] The song's genesis came in India, after The Beatles attended a lecture by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi about a "son of the mother nature". This inspired both Paul McCartney and John Lennon to write songs about the same subject. McCartney's composition "Mother Nature's Son" was selected for The Beatles (The White Album), while Lennon's song "Child of Nature" was not. However, both were demoed at George Harrison's Esher home in May 1968. The demo featured Lennon's double-tracked vocal and playing an acoustic guitar. After that, Lennon continued to play it into the Get Back sessions. Eventually, the lyrics were scrapped and replaced by the now well-known "Jealous Guy" lyrics for Imagine. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon - vocals, acoustic guitar, whistling Joey Molland - acoustic guitars Tom Evans - acoustic guitars Klaus Voormann - bass Jim Keltner - drums Nicky Hopkins - piano John Barham - harmonium Alan White - vibraphone Mike Pinder - tambourine The Flux Fiddlers - strings Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector Engineered: ?? Recorded at: Ascot Sound Studios, Berkshire, England, May 24, 1971 KILL ME W S B
LOVE	.	1970	--	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "Love I wrote in a spirit of love. In all that shit, I wrote it in a spirit of love. It's for Yoko, it has all that connotation for me. It's a beautiful melody and I'm not even known for writing melody. People aren't going to by my album just 'cause Rolling Stone liked it. People have got to be hyped in a way, they've got to have it presented to them in all the best ways possible. And if Love can - because I like the song Love. I like the melody and the words and everything, I think it's beautiful. I'm more of a rocker, that's all. I originally conceived of Mother and Love as being a single, but I want to put one out with her [Yoko]. Then I have to get rid of one. But I think Love will do me more good." (1970:Lennon Remembers) KILL ME : "" () : "" () : "" () KILL ME [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon vocals, acoustic guitar Phil Spector piano Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector Engineered: ?? Recorded at: EMI's Abbey Road Studio, London, England, 1970 KILL ME W S B
#9 DREAM	.	1975	9	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "That's what I call craftsmanship writing, meaning, you know, I just churned that out. I'm not putting it down, it's just what it is, but I just sat down and wrote it, you know, with no real inspiration, based on a dream I'd had." (1980:BBC) John Lennon: "That was a bit of a throwaway. It was based on some dream I had." (1980:All We Are Saying) May Pang: "This was one of John's favorite songs, because it literally came to him in a dream. He woke up and wrote down those words along with the melody. He had no idea what it meant, but he thought it sounded beautiful. John arranged the strings in such a way that the song really does sound like a dream. It was the last song written for the album, and went thru a couple of title changes: So Long Ago, and Walls & Bridges." Roy Cicala: "Al Coury, the promotion man for Capitol, said, 'They're not going to play this record.' When John asked Al, 'Why?' he was told, 'Because you're saying 'pussy' on it!' So, Lori changed it to 'Ah! b wakawa pouss , pouss ,' kinda like French, and it worked. John listened to us. In fact, he listened to just about everything. He never used to come to the mix sessions until we called him. After all, there was no automation, so why have a breakdown over it? Just come in when you're ready and then tweak it a little bit." (Sound On Sound) KILL ME [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon lead/backing vocals, acoustic guitar Jesse Ed Davis guitar Eddie Mottau acoustic guitar Klaus Voormann bass Jim Keltner drums Arthur Jenkins percussion Nicky Hopkins electric piano Ken Ascher clavinet Bobby Keys saxophone May Pang backing vocals Lori Burton backing vocals Joey Dambra backing vocals Produced: John Lennon Engineered: Shelly Yakus, Jimmy Iovine Recorded at: Record Plant East, New York, New York, USA, 1974 KILL ME W S B
I'M LOSING YOU	.	1980	--	VIDEO	[I] Lennon completed "I'm Losing You" in mid-1980 while in Bermuda after trying to call wife Yoko Ono but not being able to get through. His annoyance became a jumping off point for a deeper examination of the state of his marriage. The lyrics acknowledge that the relationship is in trouble, and Lennon admits that he has hurt his wife, but he also resents the fact that she won't let him live down his mistakes. He also claims that those mistakes occurred long ago. According to pop historian Robert Rodriguez, the candidness of Lennon's exploration of his feelings give the song a potency that recalls songs from John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Walls and Bridges. Music critic Johnny Rogan also sees similarities with songs written during his mid-70s separation from Yoko Ono, when many the Walls and Bridges songs were written. And Lennon has confirmed that although the song was originally inspired by his feelings over the phone call, it also expresses his feelings about losing Yoko Ono during their 18-month separation (i.e., his lost weekend) as well as other losses, including the loss of his mother, which was the subject of several songs on John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. The opening line in the song has the singer wondering why he went to the room of a "stranger" for comfort. It is left ambiguous whether the stranger is someone other than his lover, or whether the stranger is actually his lover, to whom he has become so alienated that she seems like a stranger. In another line, "do you still have to carry that cross?", the singer uses The Passion as a metaphor for his lover's refusal to forgive him. Another line from the song is "here in the valley of indecision/I don't know what to do". This is a reference to the title of the 1945 movie The Valley of Decision. Shortly after writing the song, Lennon explained to son Sean that he was often indecisive as a result of the pain he suffered when having to choose which parent to live with when his parents separated. (Wikipedia) [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon vocals, rhythm guitar Earl Slick lead guitar Hugh McCracken lead guitar Andy Newmark drums Tony Levin bass Arthur Jenkins percussion George Small keyboards Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Jack Douglas Engineered: Lee DeCarlo Recorded at: The Hit Factory, New York, New York, USA, Aug 26, Sep 22, 1980 W S B
OH YOKO	.	1971	--	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "It's a very popular track, but I was sort of shy and embarrassed and it didn't sort of represent my image of myself as the tough, hard-biting rock 'n' roller with the acid tongue. Everybody wanted it to be a single - I mean, the record company, the public - everybody. But I just stopped it from being a single 'cause of that. Which probably kept it in number two. It never made number one. The Imagine album was number one, but the single wasn't." (1980:All We Are Saying) KILL ME [I] The final song on Imagine, Oh Yoko! was a jubilant love song written for John Lennon's second wife Yoko Ono. ..... The melody was inspired by Lonnie Donegan's Lost John, a song Lennon played often. He wrote the basis of the music in 1968 while The Beatles were in India with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, although the song was not completed until just before the Imagine recording sessions began. (The Beatles Bible) KILL ME [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon: vocals, electric guitar, harmonica Rod Linton: acoustic guitar Andy Davis: acoustic guitar Klaus Voormann: bass Alan White: drums Nicky Hopkins: piano Phil Spector: harmony vocal Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Phil Spector Engineered: ?? Recorded at: Jun 23-Jul 5, 1971 KILL ME W B
THE LUCK OF THE IRISH	(with Yoko Ono)	1972	--	VIDEO	[I] The Luck Of The Irish was one of two songs on Some Time In New York City written in support of the republican movement in Northern Ireland, a cause which John Lennon felt affinity with in the early 1970s. Lennon wrote Sunday Bloody Sunday in response to the British Army massacre of 30 January 1972. The Luck Of The Irish predated the event, and was inspired by a protest march in London that Lennon attended in August 1971. He began writing the song three months after. Lennon recorded a demo of The Luck Of The Irish on 12 November 1971. The Luck Of The Irish, coupled with Attica State, was considered for the lead single from Some Time In New York City. (The Beatles Bible) KILL ME [P] (John Lennon, Yoko Ono) John Lennon - lead vocals, guitar Yoko Ono - lead vocals Gary Van Scyoc - bass Richard Frank Jr - drums, percussion Jim Keltner - drums Adam Ippolito - piano, organ Stan Bronstein - flute Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector Engineered: ?? Recorded at: ?? KILL ME B

FIVE GREATEST ALBUMS

Imagine
1971

John Lennon/Plastic
Ono Band, 1970

Double Fantasy
1980

Some Time in New
York City, 1972

Walls and Bridges
1974

STATE OF THE ARTIST

R.I.P.
John Lennon was assasinated in New York City, December 9, 1980. You will need to rely on tribute artists such as Gary Gibson and Shawn Hughes for live performances. Lennon never got to do a full fledged solo tour, as he was planning that for his follow up album after Double Fantasy. His last full concert was the One to One Concert at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA, August 3, 1972. His final performance was 3 songs at an Elton John concert at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA, August 3, 1972.
R.I.P. John Lennon (1980)
Setlist: Final Concert, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA, August 3, 1972
Setlist: Final Performance, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA, November 28, 1974

TRIBUTE BANDS
Just Imagine Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A. Website

THE ARTIST

From: Liverpool, England	Artist Website
Solo Launch: 1969	Wikipedia Bio
...	Wikipedia Discography
Rock N Roll Hall of Fame: 1994	Utube Bio
Rolling Stone List, 100 Greatest Acts of All Time: 38
Interviews: 1980/Playboy 1980/Rolling Stone 1980/All We Are Saying

RELATIONSHIPS

John Lennon / Yoko Ono
It has been said that John Lennon always needed soneone in his life that was domineering or at least a strong person. Growing up, that person was his Aunt Mimi who raised him. During the late 50's and 60's ,it was Paul McCartney. For the last decade plus, it was Yoko Ono. Proof of this is the one peried of his life where he had no one strong, 1973 to 1975, John produced the most mundane batch of songs in his career. Just getting by. He needed someone to pitch idea's to, someone who would stand up and tell him what was crap. Ironically tho, with Yoko, they would butt heads too much in the studio. With the making of Double Fantasy, they had to go separately to record their songs. During the solo years, John recorded all of his best material when Yoko was in the picture.

HIDDEN GEM
HOW DO YOU SLEEP?	.	1971	--	VIDEO	[Q] John Lennon: "I heard Paul's messages in Ram - yes there are dear reader! Too many people going where? Missed our lucky what? What was our first mistake? Can't be wrong? Huh! I mean Yoko, me, and other friends can't all be hearing things. So to have some fun, I must thank Allen Klein publicly for the line 'just another day'. A real poet! Some people don't see the funny side of it. Too bad. What am I supposed to do, make you laugh? It's what you might call an 'angry letter', sung - get it?" (Crawdaddy) John Lennon: "was an answer to "Ram," except that Paul didn't print his lyrics. There's really no feud between me and Paul. It's all good, clean fun. No doubt there will be an answer to 'Sleep' on his next album, but I don't feel that way about him at. It works as a complete song with no relation to Paul. It works as a piece of music. I started writing it in 1969, and the line `So Sergeant Pepper Took You By Surprise . . .' was written about two years before anything happened. There was always a musical difference between me an Paul-it didn't just happen last year. But we've always had a lot in common, and we still do. The thing that made The Beatles what they were was the fact that I could do my rock 'n roll, and Paul could do the pretty stuff. I'll never give up rock 'n roll-that's with me forever. But hardly a week goes by when I don't see, and/or hear from one of them." KILL ME [I] Following the release of McCartney's album Ram in May 1971, Lennon felt attacked by McCartney, who later admitted that lines in the song "Too Many People" were intended as digs at Lennon.[1] Lennon thought that other songs on the album, such as "3 Legs", contained similar attacks.[2] The back cover of Ram, showing one stag beetle mounting another, has been described by McCartney as indicative of how he felt treated by the other members of the Beatles. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (John Lennon) John Lennon vocals, guitar George Harrison slide guitar Ted Turner acoustic guitar Rod Linton acoustic guitar Andy Davis acoustic guitar Klaus Voormann bass Alan White drums Nicky Hopkins Wurlitzer electric piano John Tout piano The Flux Fiddlers strings Produced: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector Engineered: Recorded at: Ascot Sound Studios, Lennon's home Tittenhurst Park, London, England, Jun 23-Jul 5, 1971 KILL ME W S B

Just Imagine