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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
 Posted - 09/12/2010 : 19:18:54
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A very nice tribute & personal reflections of John by Yoko in the NY Times....
Oct 9, 1940-Dec 8, 1980)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/opinion/08ono.html
Rest in peace John..we love you.
_____________________________________________
Letting your freak flag fly is a state of mind,
not a fashion statement.
-lk |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 09/12/2010 19:21:07 |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3491 Posts |
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John9
Old Love
United Kingdom
2154 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2010 : 00:49:41
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Of course over here, it was already the early hours of December 9 when the tragedy happened. And so people gradually found out as they tuned into the morning news. By evening, Radio Moscow was playing Imagine even though Beatles fans in the Soviet Union had sometimes had a hard time of it.
I don't really know why there was such a wave of grief that touched so many people. In a way it was similar to what happened when Princess Diana died. What a complex character he was. He could be drawn along by the daftest ideas; he was sometimes arrogant and hypocritical. And if you look at some of the interviews on Youtube with his elder son, you get rather a depressing insight into how badly he treated both Cynthia and Julian. And yet he could also be absolutely charming...and was never less than fascinating to listen to. But more than anything else, it was the music that had become part of and changed so many lives. And of course, it still does.....and what better epitaph can there be than that?  |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3491 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2010 : 03:32:06
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well he WAS a musical genius
Quite hopeless at living his own life. His talent REALLY took a dive after leaving the Beatles, although he seemed to need the group less than did Paul
There are very few of his solo songs I'd ever want to hear again, to be honest. "Love" makes the cut, and though songs like "Oh Yoko" (though used to GREAT effect in the Royal Tenenbaums I might add!) sounds a bit workmanlike & mundane
I guess the Beatles just had that magic?
Although I do like each mans solo career (Gone Troppo, Monkberry Moon Delight, My Mummys dead, Photograph) its clear now that when the group gave up the ghost that the guys never really recovered. Doesn't matter that a reformed Beatles would've sounded crap, when the Beatles broke up (and so BADLY too I might add - how long were John and Paul slamming each other in the music press?)
it really WAS like the end of a dream
Still would rather listen to Revolver than Plastic Ono Band. Sorry John! |
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John9
Old Love
United Kingdom
2154 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2010 : 10:31:36
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| Yes Joe, I heartily agree. I've never been able to make up my mind about the John Lennon Plastic Ono Band album. Part of me thinks that it is indulgent and self pitying. But then I listen again and I see the the elements that he first visited so spectacularly on the White Album. Look At Me has always been a special favourite of mine. The Beatles were at their most revolutionary when they were together - and for me their very early solo albums (All Things Must Pass, McCartney and JL/POB) still have a late Beatles era feel to them...although of course all of them have some throwaways as well. But like you I will always go to Revolver first....the world was on fire with their music then....and it seemed as though it would just go forever. |
Edited by - John9 on 11/12/2010 10:32:22 |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3491 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2010 : 16:20:36
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Its a problem, because the man who was preaching love and peace
treated his 1st wife so shabbily (took her to court for adultery or some such nonsense - while Yoko was pregnant!)
Imagine HAS a lovely piano hook, but so much of what he did solo - that piano you get so sick of - witness "Oh Yoko"
Isolation is good, but a lot of what he did I rarely am in the mood to play. I have a 4cd Lennon box I BARELY play, tend to stick to Hey Jude if I want to be uplifted. Have a cd of 30 different Beatles takes of the song!
It WAS like a divorce, as Lennon said when splitting from them, but it really didn't help Lennon. Up to Imagine he was okay, but after that, albums like Some Time in New York City really didn't fare well, and you can see why he gave up touring/living in public
because his last solo album had no originals at all and were just songs he loved to play while growing up.
I don't know - good songs written after the "early retirement" period (1975-80) like "Watching the wheels" "Woman" "Just like starting over" (okay, maybe not "Just like starting over") are tired for me and I have no desire to hear them again
Nick Hornby writes in his Songbook that some artists (he mentioned Dylan) have some songs you just cannot hear again because they've had all the juice squeezed from them; you had to turn to the rarer tracks (Can you please crawl out your window? he refers to)
I can divorce the man from his music - this TERRIBLE drunk who wrote such lovely songs as, uh, Love
but I wonder if much of his music will even hold up years from now, as well as the Beatles has. Just the fact that the Beatles catalog was put on iTunes last month was headlines worthy!
I mean, regrettable of course that the man was shot, but he really seemed to have shot himself in the foot by breaking with his band so completely. I'm surprised he never made up with Paul and wrote with him again - thats just weird, to be breaking with your songwriting partner so completely. Brave to write songs with subject matter like Cold Turkey, but he really lost something when he left Paul, and he even fled the country!
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rocker
Old Love
USA
3606 Posts |
Posted - 13/12/2010 : 17:47:00
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You know it's evident that Lennon though himself trapped with that Beatle moniker. I'm sure he spent the last few years of life trying to escape it rather trying to be "John Lennon" than John "Beatle" Lennon. I can't imagine the great internal struggle he had within himself and with those who came into contact with him. He was an artist all in all trying to make his way. For that I'll always respect him.
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
Posted - 13/12/2010 : 18:10:27
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Just watched "Let It Be" again last night (thanks Joe)...
...when I first saw it in theaters in 1970 we were all so bummed out...we knew the dream was over.
But in watching it again, I just see so much joy and creative genius, the bits of anger just don't seem to bother me at all now....all part of a creative "marriage",
Love the bits with Paul playing a classical line on the grand with Ringo quietly listening, John and Yoko dancing a waltz to I ME MINE, Ringo and Paul doing a number on the piano, and all those great improv moments...Paul singing like an opera star and quite well...I just watch it with awe and joy now.
Here's to you Johnny and George, RIP...may we have Paul and Ringo with us for years to come. Let's hope the vegetarian diet they both adhere to gives them long life and joy.
_____________________________________________
Letting your freak flag fly is a state of mind,
not a fashion statement.
-lk |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3491 Posts |
Posted - 14/12/2010 : 05:16:48
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Let It Be's a damn fine film. I can't believe its not out on dvd yet. The songs are great, and the album itself (Let it be) is SERIOUSLY underrated, with the live tracks on that positively sizzling
ESPECIALLY on the recent remaster of the album
Shame it had to end so though - by the end of it they all hated each others guts of course
Except maybe Ringo?
It wasn't so much Yokos fault (although her being there REALLY didn't help, and the other 3 were really not happy to have her there!)
John wasn't writing good songs at the time though, and coming off junk
Its too bad that Paul w/Ringo boogie on the piano never came out (officially - I'm sure Yellow Dog have it out on bootleg!)
George was cross cos his songs weren't taken seriously, and having just come back from playing with the Band and writing songs with Dylan (If Not For You, etc)
Well, it can't have been easy to come back and be limited to 2 songs an album! |
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The Tea Maker.... John Lennon
