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February 20, 2008
Retrohump: John Lennon, contrarian
I just watched the 1988 John Lennon documentary, Imagine: John Lennon and it got me nostalgic for an era that I didn't even live through. Not so much the hippie idealism that most children of boomers tend to latch on to (often with dreads, patchouli, copious marijuana use, Marley, etc), but more of the straight up uncynical critical thinking that drives people to question societal and governmental conventions. That's it really.
John Lennon - "Jealous Guy"
Though recorded in 1971 for Working Class Hero, the film sets the song during the so-called "Lost Weekend" era of Lennon's life, where Yoko threw John out while basically ordering him to live carefree in what was a strange type of de-facto marriage separation. Ono dispatched the couple's personal assistant with him along as a caretaker-slash-lover. What ensued was an 18 month bout of drinking, partying, and assorted excesses typically associated with La-La-Land rock star types.
John Lennon & Yoko Ono - "Give Peace a Chance" - Montreal bed-in
John Lennon was many things: an artist, a musician, a father, a husband; but possibly his greatest strength, especially during his solo years, was the ability in which he would create attention from controversy and then let the narrative of the aftermath, fallout, whatever become the story. His views drove people crazy. Mostly the one's who perceived danger from his influence on the youth with a naivety in sizing up the world as a broken system needing fixing -- its wars, religions, governments and social establishments were common targets. For a contemporary example: George Clooney speaks about Darfur, Rush Limbaugh has a conniption, right wing radio hosts and assorted television personalities fuel the echo chamber, mainstream media picks up on it and without reference to the actual cause trying to be furthered, start broadcasts with rhetorical questions like, "Do we need Hollywood to tell us what to care about?" Oh brother.
Lennon was a self-billed "Working Class Hero", a type of Robin Hood for ideas and social change. Without delving into the specifics of his various causes it's important to understand the post-Epstein days of John Lennon, and to a larger extent, the other Beatles, who were also very much colored by rebellion from the tightly controlled script of a "safe", mop-topped, boy band who just wanted to "Hold Your Hand". (Ed note - For the purposes of this framing, we must ignore the completely un-safe threats of domestic violence from songs like Rubber Soul's "Run For Your Life".) Lennon toyed with the media, so much so that they all showed up for fourteen days during a "bed-in for peace" in a Montreal hotel, most likely to see what would happen. Lennon taunted the press questions of the bed-in by mocking the fact they showed up to see raunchy bedroom activities. Perverts. They itched to report on the debaucheries of a former Beatle and his oddball Japanese artist wife, instead they provided a platform for one man's anger, frustrations and hope for peace.
If you do catch the film there is a terrific segment where John is confronted by an argumentative cartoonist attempting to debase pretty much everything John claims to stand for during the bed-in, achieving some success until his own vindictiveness towards the progressive movement gets the best of him and he comes off looking totally douchey.
John Lennon - "Instant Karma"
I think ultimately John Lennon had a hopeful view of humanity. Something that adds an even more tragic note to the horrific violence that killed him.
Related: Retrohump quickie: Maharishi
Mayor of Strawberry Fields
Posted by Merry Swankster at February 20, 2008 08:25 PM
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Comments
Just a small quibble: Lennon & Ono's "bed-in" took place in Amsterdam, not Montreal, as this couplet from "The Ballad of John and Yoko" shows:
Drove from Paris to the Amsterdam Hilton,
Talking in our beds for a week.
The newspaper said, "Say what you doing in bed?"
I said, "We're only trying to get us some peace".
Posted by: david at February 21, 2008 09:07 AM
OK, there was a Montreal bed-in. What the hell happened in Amsterdam? I'm just confused....
Posted by: david at February 21, 2008 09:17 AM
Bed-in #1:
During the Vietnam War, in 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono held two, week-long Bed-Ins for Peace, in Amsterdam and Montreal, which were their non-violent ways of protesting wars and promoting peace.
Knowing their March 20, 1969 marriage would be a huge press event, John and Yoko decided to use the publicity to promote world peace. They spent their honeymoon in Room 702 at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel for a week between March 25 and 31, inviting the world's press into their hotel room every day between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. After their other stunts, such as the nude cover of the Two Virgins album, the press were expecting them to be having sex, but instead the couple were sitting in bed—in John's words "like Angels"—talking about peace with signs over their bed reading "Hair Peace" and "Bed Peace".
Bed-in #2:
Their second Bed-In was planned to take place in New York, but John was not allowed into the country because of his 1968 marijuana conviction. Instead they held the event in the Bahamas at the Sheraton Oceanus Hotel, flying there on May 24, 1969, but after spending one night in the (30°C) (86°F) heat, they decided to move to Toronto, Canada.
Eventually, they flew to Montreal on May 26 where they stayed in Room 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. During their seven day stay, they invited Timothy Leary, Tommy Smothers, Dick Gregory, and Al Capp and all but Capp sang on the peace anthem Give Peace a Chance, recorded in the hotel room on June 1.
Posted by: Sebastian at February 21, 2008 10:11 AM
