(The Praeger Singer-Songwriter Collection) Ben Urish, Ken Bielen-The Words and Music of John Lennon-Praeger (2007) (13 page)

non. The male and female voices sharing equally in the mix complement the

ideals of the song beautifully, and though the heartfelt lyrics become melodi-

cally cumbersome and distracting for no discernable reason, the song is still

one of true emotive power.

Lennon’s instrumental contributions are strongest on a handful of num-

bers, including “Kite Song,” where he provides a growling guitar undercur-

rent that anchors Ono’s account of a disturbing dream. No less impressive

is his guitar work on “Move on Fast,” a straight-ahead rocker that hits the

ground running and never lets up. Lennon then revisits some guitar play-

ing reminiscent of “Cold Turkey” on “Peter the Dealer.” The guitar lines

on “Yang Yang”—presumably performed by both Lennon and Elephant’s

Memory member Wayne “Tex” Gabriel—are appropriately forceful in

one of Ono’s better songs about social and internal revolution, and their

interconnections.

4

What You Got, 1973–1975

Radio airplay banning and its controversial nature helped keep “Woman Is

the Nigger of the World” from rising higher than number 57 on the charts,

and Lennon did not release any other single from the
Sometime in New York

City
album, despite the obvious choice of “New York City.” The general

public’s as well as Lennon’s fan base’s lack of appreciation for Ono’s work

(making up a significant part of the album), the extreme countercultural,

politicized content, the slightly higher cost for the “free” live disc, and the

lack of a top-40 hit single caused the album to be a comparative commercial

flop, especially in the wake of the much-praised and high-selling
Imagine

album. This occurred despite the fact that the duo, backed by Elephant’s

Memory, promoted the material on
The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett

Show,
and
The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon
broadcast. In addition,

the two One to One charity concerts were also filmed and broadcast, and

later edited into the posthumously released
Live in New York City
album and

video tape.

By the end of the summer of 1972, Lennon’s immigration troubles had

deepened, consuming much of his time.1 In October 1968, he and Ono were

arrested for possession of cannabis resin, pled guilty, and paid a fine. Later,

this was used to declare Lennon an undesirable alien in the United States and

therefore deportable. Lennon’s high-profile, countercultural actions got him

noticed, and evidence shows he was in fact targeted by government agen-

cies and officials for expulsion for those very reasons, with the drug charge

being merely an excuse. The harassment slowed down after Richard Nixon’s

reelection as president, but did not really abate until Nixon resigned from

the presidency in August 1974. Soon after Lennon and Ono’s son Sean was

46 The Words and Music of John Lennon

born in October 1975, the U.S. government officially ended its harassment

of Lennon. However, it was not until July 1976 that Lennon was granted full

and permanent status as a resident alien, with the option to earn citizenship

five years later in 1981.

He and Ono cut back on their overt political activities and rhetoric as well

as their public appearances. While the couple finished both the Elephant’s

Memory and Ono’s albums, Lennon seems to have hit a period of creative

and personal malaise that began in the fall of 1972 and lasted until the start

of 1974. That malaise may have contributed to his and Ono’s separation in

the early fall of 1973 that continued until early 1975. Lennon later termed

the malaise and separation his “lost weekend,” and, while it clearly had its

personal and professional rough spots, it did not keep Lennon from working

and ultimately creating some of his best recordings.2

Ringo StaRR: “i’m the gReateSt”

Lennon’s former Beatle band mate Ringo Starr had produced two nonrock

albums and two nonalbum hit singles since The Beatles’ breakup. Both singles

had employed fellow former Beatle George Harrison, who had also played

on Lennon’s
Imagine
album. At the time, Starr and Harrison shared to some

degree Lennon’s frustrations with Paul McCartney, which was so fiercely

exhibited in
Imagine
’s “How Do You Sleep?” discussed in chapter 3. One of

Starr’s charting singles, “Back Off Boogaloo,” had been about McCartney;

the term “Boogaloo” was an insider code word for McCartney, and the lyrics

obviously related to him.3 Freudians may want to note that the promotional

film Starr made for the song at the time shows him amiably contending with

Frankenstein’s monster. Also, one of Starr’s B-sides, “Early 1970,” expressed

his uncertain relationship with McCartney while asserting the dependability

of his relationships with Lennon and especially Harrison.

By the time Starr decided to do his first rock-pop album, relationships

among the former Beatles were on the mend, and Starr asked each of them

to contribute something to the record. Harrison collaborated with Starr on

four songs, McCartney on two, and Lennon one. Lennon’s contribution was

performing on his composition “I’m the Greatest,” and it includes a sardonic

take on the Beatles’ experience.

The song became a sequel of sorts to The Beatles’ “With a Little Help

from My Friends” as Starr once again sings that “my name is Billy Shears”

while crowd noises cheer him on. Lennon’s lyrics compare The Beatles to

a circus by stating, “I was in the greatest show on earth,” but then deflate

the importance of that remark immediately by adding the pithy “for what it

was worth.” Klaus Voorman handled the bass, with Harrison on guitar, Starr

on percussion and lead vocals, and Lennon on piano and backing vocals.

The collaboration on “I’m the Greatest” was the closest thing to a Beatles

What You Got, 1973–1975 47

reunion during Lennon’s life time, and, though not a monumental work, its

humor and sense of fun recapture some of the true joy at the core of much

of The Beatles’ best work.

The
John Lennon Anthology
contains a portion of Lennon’s run through

with Starr, Harrison, and Voorman to rehearse them for the recording of the

track and to provide Starr with a guide vocal. What is most noticeable is how

assured Lennon is in directing the band and finding the feel he wants. Also

striking is how, even in rehearsal, the tone of the song seems harsher. Starr’s

shouting of “I’m the greatest, and you better believe it baby!” is inherently

affable and comical in a manner that Lennon’s obviously tongue-in-cheek

delivery of a similar phrase cannot quite match.

Feeling the Space

Before Lennon began work on his next album,
Mind Games,
Ono had

started on her next album, titled
Feeling the Space.
The production of the

albums overlapped, and both were released in November 1973. The album

remains one of Ono’s best and most accessible records.

Lennon contributed guitar work on “She Hits Back,” a percolating track

that musically sounds like it could have come from the
Double Fantasy

sessions. “Woman Power” showcases another especially gritty guitar line and

rhythm solo from Lennon that closely prefigures his work on the “Walk-

ing on Thin Ice” single released shortly after his murder. These tracks are

surprisingly similar to work that they did seven years later. It is as if Lennon

and Ono picked up in 1980 where they left off in 1973.

Lennon’s final contribution is to “Men, Men, Men,” where Ono satirically

engages in a comical reverse sexism. A condescending lecture on the nature

of and value of men while reducing them to sexual playthings ends with Ono

telling “honeyjuice” that he can “come out of your box now,” to which we

hear Lennon subserviently reply, “Yes, dear.”

Mind gaMeS

The
Mind Games
album was welcomed as a sort of recovery from the agit-

prop of the previous year’s releases. Lennon later dismissed it as hackwork,

and fans considered it a definite cut below
Imagine.
Time has been good to

it, however, and, although it largely fails as a unified effort, certain individual

songs have justifiably earned their spots in Lennon’s pantheon.

The title cut, which was also a single release, sets the tone and informs the

underlying theme for the album, a theme sometimes hard to discern as much

of a unifying force. Sonically lush, Lennon’s transformed and muted slide

guitar work ably stands in for an orchestra and is countered by a churning

rhythmic accompaniment that adds a feeling of earnestness to the lyrical pleas.

48 The Words and Music of John Lennon

The sound is reminiscent of “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” from The

Beatles’
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
album, and a similar approach

would again be used on
Double Fantasy
’s “Watching the Wheels.”

Lennon started “Mind Games” in 1970 as another of his pop anthems

under the title of the then-popular slogan “make love, not war” and as an

abandoned 1950s-style melodramatic rocker called “I Promise.”4 Portions

of both appear on the
John Lennon Anthology.
However, enough time had

passed that he decided the “make love, not war” phrase was dated and would

appear passé at best or might be seen as unintentional self-parody. Clearly,

the phrase would have been the refrain, and its ghost can be heard as the

song fades out, with Lennon adding an apologetic “I know, you’ve heard it

before.” A consciousness-raising book with the song’s eventual title was also

an early inspiration for the song, but no less so was Ono’s conceptual art. In

fact, Lennon sings that “yes is the answer,” a direct reference to an instal-

lation of Ono’s at the Indica Gallery, where the couple first met. Lennon

frequently told the story of climbing up a ladder, grabbing a magnifying glass

hanging by a string from the ceiling, and using it to read the word “yes” on

a small piece of paper attached to the ceiling.5 Lennon was impressed by the

message of positive acceptance he inferred from the word, and, in later years,

he and Ono would express their belief in positive thinking and imagery as

tools for social change.

Lennon’s lyrics express that view on “Mind Games” and are sharp and

spirited, with his cheeky sense of humor evident throughout. The combination

of the solemn message delivered by a tongue-in-cheek cleverness is Lennon

at his best—a big improvement from the somber sloganeering of the previous

year’s output. The song could be seen as both the last hurrah of the flower

children and the opening salvo of new ageism. Lennon’s humorous catalog

of pop mysticisms runs the gamut of references, including mantras, Druids,

magic, the Holy Grail, the (instant?) karmic wheel, image projection through

space and time, ritual dancing, and soul power. These are all part of the mind

games. However they think of it, he calls on people to be “mind guerillas”

for the “absolute elsewhere.” The vagueness is clarified when he tells listeners

that it all comes down to love, which is ultimately “the answer.” This insight,

combining the power of the mental outlook and the power of love, makes

“Mind Games” of a piece with Lennon’s previous hopeful paeans, stretching

back at least to The Beatles’ “The Word” and including such songs as “All

You Need Is Love,” “Instant Karma!,” “Love,” and “Imagine.”

A taut number, the appropriately titled “Tight A$” cannot help but remind

listeners of “That’s Alright, Mama” or other similar rockabilly numbers that

surely inspired Lennon in his younger years. The song prances along with

jubilant energy, and Lennon seems to be having fun, cutting loose with

shouts of joy several times in the song.

The title is inexplicable word play on “tight as” and “tight ass” compounded

by the dollar sign. The lyrics do not offer much of an explanation, as clichés

What You Got, 1973–1975 49

such as “if you can’t stand the heat you better get back in the shade” are

tossed in with surprising similes such as “as tight as a dope fiend’s fix.” Rhym-

ing words provide shifts into harmless nonsense that sound like they probably

mean something but have rushed past by the time the listener realizes they do

not, such as “got it made” becoming “got it laid.”

The band captures the feel of country swing that informs much of classic

rockabilly, helped along considerably by the steel guitar playing of “Sneaky”

Pete Kleinow. There is not any emotional investigation to be had here, and

certainly no overt political commentary. The song is a rejuvenating slice of

simple rock, and it feels as good to the listener as it must have to Lennon.

“Aisumasen (I’m Sorry)” is definitely another matter, as Lennon apologizes

to his wife by name in this mid-paced ballad. This is the first release in which

Lennon uses Japanese words in the lyrics, and they are a tribute to Yoko