Lennon Musings

While I recommend 2 Lennon biographies for your Lennon info:

• Ray Coleman's: Lennon
• Albert Goldman's: The Lives Of John Lennon

...two diametrically opposed books which go into incredible detail, you may care to see a little timeline that I've created for John's life which may give some insight into the man and really where the John & Yoko love story actually sits in the scheme of things.

Lennon:

• controlled The Beatles until 1965. Statistically, he sang about twice as many songs as Paul
• obliterated himself with acid during 1966 and 1967 during which time, young Paul McCartney blossomed
• became angry and bitter that McCartney was taking over the group in 1968-1969

...and coped with McCartney's purple patch by:

• getting hooked on heroin, (see his solo single: Cold Turkey)
• immersing himself in Ono, an "artist", who didn't recognise The Beatles, never mind McCartney &
• in the meantime, tried, with his playmate, to er...achieve world peace, something which was bigger than The Beatles

Coming out of The Beatles, Lennon's life looks like, not a man in love...but a shell-shocked ex-cult member trying eratically to stay sane, continually knocked around by his ex-band members' success:

1   Late 1970: John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band is released. It's a magnificent shriek of Primal Therapy pain but is mostly misunderstood, unappreciated and ignored by the public

2   Even Later 1970: Damn! Baby George releases the best-selling ex-Beatle album of all time, All Things Must Pass. Lennon gets insanely jealous that George's Krishna hymns are selling like hotcakes when his own album is virtually ignored

3   Early 1971: Ram...McCartney's got all the toons...but nothing to sing about! Tee-hee! 

4   Late 1971: Imagine...half of an excellent album...and the other half er...tune-less. Lennon's already missing Paul and he knows it

5   Even later 1971: Damn twice! George does it again with The Concert For Bangla Desh in August, which Lennon pulled out of at the last minute. However, the album gets plaudits from around the world. Everybody loves George instead of John...and Lennon simmers!

6   Early 1972: Some Time In New York City Lennon realises that he's best at writing half an album...and finds a partner to take up the other half. Bad move, it's Yoko Ono...and their tabloid-like album of radical causes really stinks!  

The album (and proposed U.S. tour to register young voters and sway the balance of power away from the Republican government) is supposed to elevate John & Yoko into becoming advisers to the new democrat government after the 1972 elections...meaning that John and Yoko...are bigger than Paul...and George!

7   Late 1972: When Nixon wins re-election, a shocked and depressed Lennon goes into a six-month hibernation, (rumored to be heroin). 

8    Early 1973 Apple releases The Beatles Greatest Hits 1962-1966 & 1967-1970 with resultant  monstrous sales but because of the legal case he can't get any of the cash. Beatle reunion rumours persist.

9    Spring 1973 McCartney releases Red Rose Speedway to middling reviews and a big, soppy hit single, My Love. Lennon breathes a sigh of relief but watches both single and album go to the top of the charts.

10   Spring 1973 Like McCartney, George Harrison hits # 1 again with the slightly disappointing Living In The Material World and its slight but pleasant single Give Me Love.

11   Spring 1973 Lennon finishes recording the workmanlike Mind Games, strangely enough, with no sign of radical politics but as soon as it's finished, he's thrown out of the house by Yoko Ono. She encourages him to start an affair with their personal assistant, May Pang...and the two arrive in L.A., ready to party with L.A. rocker friends. 

8   Mid 1973 Lennon starts recording Rock'n'Roll immediately, in order to release an album quickly and sell via TV ads. He needs to get some money together quickly as he has no cash and Yoko, who's in charge of the Lennon's money, isn't giving him any. Unfortunately, the album stalls when producer Phil Spector goes mad and hides the tapes.

9   Autumn 1973 Like Paul and George's albums, Lennon's Mind Games is released to middling reviews but just breaks Top 10. 

10   Late 1973 Ringo's impressive album Ringo and Paul McCartney's superb Band On The Run (released just six months after Red Rose Speedway) trounce Mind Games, artistically and sales wise. Strangely, they've all been aggressively released at the same time, battling each other for the Christmas 1973 Beatle dollar.

In reaction, realising that he's the lowest selling Beatle of 1973 and that The Beatles reunion may be his only future, Lennon goes nuts...and is involved in a number of public disturbances, of which at least two involved the police!  

10   Winter 1973 George Harrison (with 3 big-selling albums behind him) tries to step out from The Beatles shadow and plans a major tour of the USA. It starts in early 1974 and flops, badly! Lennon watches...as The Beatles reunion starts to look more and more aparent.

11   Spring 1974 Lennon & McCartney jam in the studio with Stevie Wonder. The bootleg A Toot & A Snore documents this.

12   Autumn 1974 Late 1974, Lennon releases his second workmanlike album Wall And Bridges...but lines up to work on Paul McCartney's next sessions in early 1975

13   Winter 1974 Lennon gets the Rock'n'Roll tapes back and finishes the album. When onstage with Elton John in November 1974, Lennon describes Paul as "...an old estranged fiance of mine..."...and plays I Saw Her Standing There a Paul song, the first track from the first Beatles album (symbolism?)

Yoko, unhappy with rumours about Lennon getting back with The Beatles attends the concert, meets up with John backstage and rekindles the marriage. Lennon soon breaks with May Pang, McCartney & all rock'n'roll buddies and disappears for 5 years (rumored to be because of frequent heroin use).

So, for me, Lennon's great love story was The Beatles, not Yoko, she just fed him one hair-brained scheme after another...to prove that they were (and in Lennon's mind, he was) bigger than The Beatles:

• World Peace
• Revolution

...causes that Lennon used as slogans to be bigger than Paul and stay Number 1 in the greatest band in the world. When it didn't work, Johnny left the party and locked himself in his room.