Roll on, John, roll through the rain and snow
Take the right-hand road and go where the buffalo roam
They’ll trap you in an ambush before you know
Too late now to sail back home
Shine your light
Movin’ on
You burned so bright
Roll on, John
~Bob Dylan (Roll On John)
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I dig John [Lennon]. As a writer, a singer and a Beatle. I dig everytime I meet them, but him I dig. He doesn’t take things seriously as so many guys do. I like that.
~Bob Dylan (KRLA Beat Interview, June 1965)
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Oh, I always love to see John [Lennon]. Always. He’s a wonderful fellow… and I always like to see him.
~Bob Dylan (to Jann Wenner, Dec 1969)
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”
~John Lennon
From the Liverpool docks to the red light Hamburg streets
Down in the quarry with the Quarrymen.
Playing to the big crowds
Playing to the cheap seats
Another day in your life on your way to your journey’s end
Shine your light, move it on, you burn so bright, roll on John
~Bob Dylan
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
― John Lennon
September 11: John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the Dick Cavett Show 1971
John Lennon and Yoko Ono made their first appearance on The Dick Cavett show on September 11, 1971 to present their new work. They do small-talk and jokes around. They discuss John Lennon’s evolving career. It is mostly a PR-job: showing some film clips and Yoko plays a track from the album Fly.
John Lennon is the star here, as always, and Cavett sometimes has problems following Lennon’s constant stream of wittiness. Lennon had just released the Imagine album in the U.S. (Sept.9,1971), which climbing the charts. The “Imagine film” is at the end of the show.
“twice as good and four times as startling as Rubber Soul, with sound effects, Oriental drones, jazz bands, transcendentalist lyrics, all kinds of rhythmic and harmonic surprises, and a filter that made John Lennon sound like God singing through a foghorn.”
~Robert Christgau
….. Either way, its daring sonic adventures and consistently stunning songcraft set the standard for what pop/rock could achieve. Even after Sgt. Pepper, Revolver stands as the ultimate modern pop album and it’s still as emulated as it was upon its original release.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic.com)
Definition of BEATLESQUE:
of, relating to, or suggestive of the musical style or technique of the Beatles – Websters Dictionary
There are songs by the members of the Beatles that were not used by them but that re-appeared on their solo albums. Songs that was written in the last days of The Beatles and discarded for some reason or another. A lot of songs suffered that faith, not just Lennon songs, but some of the best songs from George Harrison and Paul McCartney’s first albums as well. Some of John Lennon’s stuff from that area would not be out-of-place on a Beatle record (nor some of George or Paul’s songs for that matter).
Today we are looking at John Lennon’s solo output. I will pick his most Beatle-sounding songs, songs that would fit in on an album by the Fab-Four. Some from the last days of The Beatles, some from later albums. This isn’t supposed to be a best of John Lennon list (but maybe it is…), but his most “Beatles sounding” songs , as I said, songs that would have been good enough for a Beatles album.
Jealous Guy first appeared on John Lennon’s 1971 album Imagine.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.
Three recordings of “Child of Nature” are currently known. The first is a demo of the song recorded at the home of George Harrison in May 1968. The second, on which George sings backing vocals, was recorded at Twickenham Film Studios on 2 January 1969. A third recording was made at Apple Studios on 24 January.
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