John Lennon . . . in his own words

By Bruce Ward, Compiled By Postmedia News. October 9, 2010


Had he lived, John Lennon would have turned 70 today.

Being in the world's best-loved rock band was never enough for Lennon, who was gunned down in New York on Dec. 8, 1980.

He busted up the Beatles, fell in love with an obscure Japanese performance artist, and went from transcendental meditation to drug addiction, then had primal scream therapy, and finally found happiness as a house-husband caring for his son Sean.

Lennon was funny, tough and cynical. He was honest, vulnerable and insecure. Now he has become a sort of secular saint.

Here's a remembrance of the Beatles' leader, in his own words:

His artistic temperament: "I was hip in kindergarten, I was different all my life. 'There must be something wrong with me,' I thought."

Writing I Want To Hold Your Hand, the Beatles' breakthrough hit in America: "I remember when we got the chord that made the song. We had 'Oh you-u-u/ Got that something,' and Paul hits this chord, and I turn to him and say: 'That's it! Do that again.' In those days we really used to write like that -- both playing into each other's noses."

LSD and Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds: "I swear to God or swear to Mao or to anybody you like. I had no idea it spelled LSD."

What Norwegian Wood is about: "I was trying to write about an affair without letting my wife know about it. I was writing about my experiences, girls' flats, things like that."

Lennon's politics, as evidenced by Revolution, written in 1968 as the Vietnam War dragged on: "The lyrics stand today (1980). They're still my feeling about politics. I want to see the plan. I want to know what you're going to do after you've knocked it all down. I mean, can't we use some of it? What's the point of bombing Wall Street? If you want to change the system, change the system. It's no good shooting people."

The Beatles' breakup: "The dream is over. I gotta get down to reality. The good old days is garbage."

Joys of pop music: "I love commercial music! I can dissect it and criticize it with any critic in the business. But without any thought, I just enjoy it. It's folk music. That's what I'm doing, folk music. I'm not intellectualizing it ... and making it into a phoney art form. I'm just doing the music I enjoy."

Sources: John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman, New York Times, Newsweek, Playboy, Rolling Stone

ok...I'll admit I had a thing for John Lennon. I even went so far to hunt down a look-a-like to marry. Well, at least I thought he looked like John.

(10-09-2010 07:25 AM)missjtiger Wrote:  ok...I'll admit I had a thing for John Lennon. I even went so far to hunt down a look-a-like to marry. Well, at least I thought he looked like John.

Wow, he really does look like him!

Lennon would have been 70, how old does that make us feel MissJ?

(10-10-2010 11:10 PM)KRB Wrote:  Lennon would have been 70, how old does that make us feel MissJ?

really really old but also blessed to be alive