About Me

John Lennon

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! And a sudden flash of memories flew by as I succumbed to the gunshots in my back. Although it took roughly 15 minutes to rush me to the nearest hospital, those 15 minutes felt like the longest instant of my life as I recounted the most memorable moments. I was ten years old when I took the fact that I was born on October 9, 1940 in Liverpool, England during World War II seriously. I hadn’t known that World War II was going to result in a devastating death toll. However, as I remember, it was the aftermath of World War II that inspired my most idyllic pieces of music. I, John Lennon, am the lead singer of the Beatles, which was considered one of the most successful rock bands of my history. Me and my band mates: Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr have, as I envisioned it, revolutionized the art of music. It started when I first met Paul McCartney at a performance I hosted. George and Ringo came along after my request for band positions was made viral. From there, we grew as a family and became closer with every song we sang. Never in my right mind have I thought that we would come out as one of the most commercially successful bands in the history of music and coin the term Beatlemania, which described the extreme passion of the fans directed toward us during our early years of success. Right before the start of Beatlemania, the second most ardent moment of my life was when I went to college. There I met Cynthia Powell who I instantly fell in love with, but the problem was that I was a terrifying man in her perspective. She said that I had a habit of hitting women and I don’t deny it. This was what I considered my worst trait which I slowly turned around. After serious some serious rehabilitation, Cynthia was pregnant and the only thing left for us to do was to get married. But when Beatlemania caught up with the rest of the world, I began to lost interest in her as I spent the majority of my time abroad and hardly ever had time to spend with her, which was confirmed when I visited London to exhibit an art gallery. In the midst of the Beatles’ golden age, the most ardent moment of my life was when I visited the Indica Gallery in London. This was where I met Yoko Ono, who was an artist at the gallery, for the first time. It was not love at first sight as I nearly damaged Ono’s most-prized art collections. Soon after, she began calling me and asked me to sponsor her. I invited her over while Cynthia was away and we spent the night talking about music. From that moment on, my feelings were focused on Ono and a few weeks later I filed for divorce from Cynthia, which was granted. As the Beatles are beginning to disperse, I started a solo act and occasionally included Ono in my performances. This went on until two months after my fortieth birthday. After arriving home, I felt a tingling sensation when I was standing outside my apartment and soon this turned into pain as I slowly lost consciousness.

Source: http://www.johnlennon.com/biography

Picture: http://www.catanna.com/johnsface.jpg

The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles have meant everything to me. Paul, George, Ringo, and I have established bonds similar to those of brothers. Thus, it broke my heart when we went our separate ways. Even though we may have our differences, I only keep in mind the days of which we thrived as the Beatles and dominated the music industry. In the wake of our success, we topped the UK charts various times and dominated numerous award ceremonies such as the Grammy Awards which we had won seven of. However, I do repent of one sin which I have made under certain circumstances where I said, “We’re more popular than Jesus now-I don’t know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity.” I willfully admit that if I could take back one thing from my past life, it would be this sentence. I understand that this offended those countries whose main religion is Christianity and don’t blame anybody for having a grudge against me and I apologize to my band mates for what I have said for our days of glory was primarily dismantled by my words. Now that we ended our days of touring, I felt that there was nothing left to do but leave the band I have so passionately summoned. But before I could formerly announce my departure, Paul had the audacity to declare his leave along with releasing his debut solo album. I was outraged at the fact that Paul knew that I was the one who created this band from the ashes and when he took his leave, it seemed as if he was the one who deserves all the credit for this band simply because he was the first to leave. But as I pondered upon it, I increasingly felt that Paul wasn’t worth the trouble. As I began my own solo career, I smiled upon my past and said to myself, “The Beatles have meant so much to me and will forever be the center of my life; I couldn’t have asked for anything more or better.”

Source: http://www.thebeatles.com/#/history/Introduction

Picture: http://listenrecovery.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/8018beatles11.jpg

Solo Career

The first major step I took after separating from the Beatles was moving to New York City with Ono but this was soon met with animosity, as I released singles that promoted anti-war propaganda, which contradicted that of the policies of the United States government during Nixon’s administration. This resulted in a long-term attempt to deport me but this was soon confirmed as a failure. I did not take this close to heart and I continued to promote world peace through the songs I wrote and sang.

While doing so, my solo career grew as successful as the Beatles with the song “Imagine” being my personal favorite as well as the song most associated with myself according to my fans from my days as a member of the Beatles and after. Parallel to my success was the increase in stability of my family life. After taking a month-long break from music, I decided to retire and devote myself to my family. During which I continued to practice music in my spare time and no doubt paid keen attention to my wife and children. Even though Cynthia and I were no longer together, I felt obliged to treat Julian, our son, with great respect and took him out to weekly dinners where we preserved the bond between father and son. Three years later, after continuous hours of sitting in front of the piano and playing the guitar, I surfaced out of retirement to promote my last album, which was dedicated to my wife and children for providing me everything a man can ever wish for.

Source: http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/john-lennon/solo-career.html

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7qaSxuZUg

Musicianship

Other than my voice, which I despised, the guitar and piano are the only instruments in my repertoire. For a musician, this seemed relatively less since most musicians take on and master a variety of instruments. When I was young my mother taught me how to play the banjo and later bought me an acoustic guitar. From my knowledge the United States has dominated popular music since the end of World War II. In the Western world, jazz, blues, and rock-and-roll had been by far the most popular music forms. All these music styles originated in the United States and these forms later spread around the world, inspiring other artists who then altered the music in their own way. This certainly happened in the same manner as the Beatles, who were inspired by major American figures of music. In turn, our tour of the United States affected the young Americans to take up music and sing for a living. This began to seem like a chain reaction as the Cold War progressed and music became an integrated part of people’s lives. Especially noticeable was the spread of rock-and roll, which has my vote for best music genre. The period from 1967 to 1973 has been considered the golden age of rock. The Beatles and I were amongst the first to experiment with rock music and even before rock-and-roll took its effect on the world population, I knew that rock would prove to be revolutionary.

Source: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/335993/John-Lennon

Picture:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Lie_In_15_--_John_rehearses_Give_Peace_A_Chance.jpg

Political Activism

Some of the popular music of the late 1900s focused on social issues. During my early twenties I had a poor habit of hitting women, which is why I have dedicated countless songs to the promotion of peace and love. Following the issues in Northern Ireland in 1972, in which the problem of fighting between Catholics and Protestants could not be solved by the Conservative and Labour parties of Great Britain, I opposed the British intervention of Irish affairs and wrote two songs along with Ono in protest.

Seeking for a more peaceful society, the Vietnam War gave us the opportunity to show our most-dedicated enthusiasm for peace. The song “Give Peace a Chance” was an anti-war anthem that I used in retaliation of the Vietnam War. As the Cold War ensued, peace movements were increasingly popular while the stakes got higher. However, I didn’t get the chance to witness the end of the Cold War and to see my hopes of peace somewhat fulfilled. I considered my lucky along with the rest of the world who were born after 1945 to be living in a time where civilization reached a benchmark where alternatives to war were considered first in order to avoid a war. War is a perilous time that hopefully nobody in the future would ever have to face. Since I was born in the midst of World War II I know what it is like to be alive when a bomb may drop all of a sudden and I tell this to all of you that you do not know what war is like until you actually live in a time of war.

Source: http://www.johnlennonandthemercystreetcafe.com/lennonactivism.html

Picture: http://lionsgatepublicity.com/epk/johnlennon/images/1_300dpi.jpg