December 8th is the 27th anniversary of John Lennon’s assassination. Since then, his his musical character has been assassinated repeatedly by his widow Yoko Ono. John, Yoko will remind us, was a Utopian dreamer. A lover of humanity. A champion for the downtrodden. A crusader for peace. A namby-pamby who dared to… Imagine.
Well Rock Turtleneck is here to reclaim John Lennon’s true legacy as one of the great balls-out rockers of all time. A nasty scruff from Liverpool who imagined infusing old time rock & roll with the hurt and anger of his youth. A pill-popping, booze-swilling sonofabitch who imagined using his beautiful voice to express not only Utopian dreams but earthly desires. A driving, underrated rhythm guitarist who imagined that sanding down the finish of his trusty Epiphone Casino would help him get tones as raw as his emotions.
As the alternate take of Double Fantasy’s “I’m Losing You” (recorded with Cheap Trick) shows, his commitment to furious rocking was alive right to the end.
Herewith, for your listening and viewing pleasure, some of our dearly departed John Lennon’s most rocking moments. Yer blues, John.
YouTube: The Dirty Mac, “Yer Blues,” The Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus, 1968
mp3: The Beatles, “Bad Boy,” Past Masters I
mp3: The Beatles, “Leave My Kitten Alone,” Anthology I
mp3: The Beatles, "You Can't Do That"(live), Anthology I
mp3: The Beatles, "Help!" (live), Anthology II
mp3: The Beatles, “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey,” The Beatles
mp3: Plastic Ono Band, "Money," Live Peace in Toronto
mp3: John Lennon,“I Found Out,” John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
mp3: John Lennon, "I'm Losing You," (w/Cheap Trick), Anthology
YouTube: The Beatles, “Revolution,” The David Frost Show, 1968
Good stuff here! Keep on rockin'!
ReplyDeleteYoko was really the best thing that ever happened to John! He was a much more together person after he met and they fell in love! If it wasn't for Yoko John never would have gone to Scream therapy with psychologist Dr.Arthur Janov in 1970.
ReplyDeleteHe was very emotionally messed up from all of his childhood traumas and he really needed therapy when he was very little but especially when he was only 17 and his beloved mother Julia who gave him away to her sister to raise when he was 5,was killed by an off duty police officer who was driving drunk!
And John was both a rocker,and a peace and love believer and promoter! He did some great rock music on his first brilliant solo album,Plastic Ono Band and on Imagine when he and Yoko were together and she co-produced those albums with him! Imagine does have the angry at Paul song,How Do You Sleep!
Also you are so right about John being an underrated guitarist,Eric Clapton says in an online interview,Eric Clapton In His Own Words,that John was a pretty good guitar player,and he would have known since he played live in concert with John as a member of his 1969 John Lennon Plastic Ono Band!
Some have said that Lennon may have easily turned into a junkie and OD'd were it not for Yoko - my beef is with her relentless marketing of one side of his complex musical personality.
ReplyDeleteTCB,
ReplyDeleteBut Yoko has also helped counteract the many people who unfortunately have the mistaken belief that John was just angry and that he was a terrible person.
Books who I will not name have done a good job promoting these mostly terrible myths about John. One of the best biographies written about John was by award winning music journalist and writer and former editor of the music magazine The Melody Maker and good friend of John's for 18 years, Ray Coleman in the book called, Lennon.
Also John had one of the greatest most beautiful voices and great rock voices ever! Paul McCartney has always had a great singing voice and has always been a great rock and love song singer too with a great range,but John definitely had the most unique beautiful voice!
Also I don't support angry things against Paul like John's song How Do You Sleep,even though it is a really good song! That was John responding out of hurt and anger to some of the personal digs at John and Yoko on Paul's 1971 Ram album.