Foogle Business - Lyrics of John Winston Ono-Lennon - John Lenon - Listen to Imagine - Words & Music - Information About His Life Story - Yoko Ono - Terraforming the Sahara - Mark Chapman - Paul McCartney - Genius [ Lennon, lenon, Lenin, lennin, lenen, lennen, lenun, lennun ]

John Winston Lennon, an icon of idealism, creativity and hope, was born on October 9, 1940 to a dysfunctional, working-class Liverpool family. He was born during an air raid from the German Air Force, in WWII. So pleased that he and his mother had survived, they chose his second name as Winston, after the great war-leader Churchill. John's father, a seaman in more ways than one, deserted his mother, Julia, when John was only three; so at an early age John lived with his aunt Mimi in the suburb of Woolton, Liverpool; his mother could not cope. John was a loving but a rebellious child, regularly skipping school, thinking and sketching instead of studying; dreaming of bigger things, Lennon seemed lost, in his own world. He had a highly developed imagination and would have out of body experiences and hallucinations at a very young age. These self-inflicted trances would frightened him and he considered that he might be insane, but then as no one had taken him to the funny-farm perhaps he was just a genius. Who would have known then, least of all him, that he would be the icon of the sixties; being voted Man of the Decade, in 1969.

When he was 14 John heard Elvis sing Heartbreak Hotel on Radio Luxemburg, he was overwhelmed, it was music that had not been fully appreciated until Elvis had popularized the Rock & Roll movement in the late fifties.

Lennon had been a bully and trouble maker at school and left Quarry Bank High School, he did not excel but rebelled. At age 16, after his aunt persuaded the head teacher to write him a recommendation, he went to Liverpool Art College. Here, John also became more involved in music, getting a guitar and starting a skiffle group in early 1957. Julia, his mother, could play the banjo and she bought him his first guitar, and taught him a chord or two. At this time John and Julia were closer than ever. John was only 17 when Julia was killed by an off-duty policeman who ran her over in his car; he was drunk and his name was Chapman. John was waiting for her at his aunt's house, whilst she was dying just a few yards away outside in the gutter. Here, he lost her for the second time, but this time it was for good, or until they met in hereafter.

John became even more bitter and considered himself a Van Gogh figure, misunderstood and mistreated by life. He immersed himself deeper into his music, writing and poetry. His band, the Quarrymen, with the many different members, advanced over the next few years into the Beatles. Music soothed the savage beast in John, and gave him hope and an endeavor. Lennon remained the unofficial leader of the band and a principle singer and songwriter through its ten year life.

It was while at a church picnic, St. Peter's Church Fete, Woolton, in the summer of 1957, Lennon was introduced to the great Paul McCartney, by a friend of John's, Ivan Vaughan. Paul was equally as talented musically as John but not so forthright or philosophical. John worked on another level, however, the two worked well together and even when they worked apart they contributed input to each other's work. They agreed early on to share songwriting credits, though they directly collaborated on only a few of the Beatles' hits. John had remembered that most of the famous writers of the first half of the twentieth century came in pairs, like Gilbert & Sullivan; Rogers & Hammerstein.

Lennon, for his part, contributed more with experimental and mystical music during the group's later years. McCartney was more pop-oriented; Lennon also led the group into drug use during the mid-'60s, though the first person to introduce them to dope / grass was Dylan when they were on a tour of the USA. Dylan thought that they had already used it based on some words he misheard on one of their singles. John also encouraged the FabFour to follow the guru, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was whilst the Beatles were with the Maharishi, in Wales, that they heard of the death of their mentor and manager, Brian Epstein. losing Brian was the beginning of the end as it was like losing another parent for John; he knew that they were in trouble, when it all sank in.

John was this hard working class rebel, but he was also very sensitive and loving. Moreover, he was actually brought up in a middle-class background, his Aunt Mimi's suburban house was called, Mendips; relatively very posh compared with most of the rest of post-war Liverpool. Nevertheless, he really wanted to be accepted by everyone, he bucked the system only to be noticed and add hype to the Beatles publicity machine.

We can notice how high John regarded higher society when the Beatles first played the Palladium in London. His little joke about those in the cheaper seats clapping along and the dearer seats just rattling their jewelry was supposed to be funny, and a little dig, but John's body language says it all. He was in awe, and he wanted that status also.

The Beatles were formed around 1961and shortly after this Lennon married an art school classmate, and longtime girlfriend, Cynthia Powell. They had a son, Julian, in 1963. On both these occasions Lennon skipped off to play a gig somewhere, a thing he later regretted. In the beginning of the Beatles fame, Cynthia was kept as secret as possible, without offending her too much. As the Beatles popularity grew, Cynthia and John grew further apart. John was always looking for something more. Drugs to increase pleasure, the Maharishi and LSD to expand his mental abilities, money to buy him whatever he wanted. John wanted to experience the each ends of every spectrum. So it was no surprise when he started to openly date an older Japanese-American way out avant-garde artist named Yoko Ono. John left his wife, and she divorced John in 1968, clearing the way for John and Yoko to begin living and working together full time. John & Yoko married in March 1969.


	SEAN NOW

Soon after the release of The Beatles, also known as The White Album, in 1968, John and Yoko released the experimental "found sound" collection of Unfinished Music, No. 1 -- Two Virgins. The cover of this album blatantly highlighted their unclothed photo, causing it to be banned from many stores. John & Yoko became the subject of much media attention as reporters speculated that Ono was manipulating Lennon and indirectly causing trouble for the adored Beatles. Paul had had similar castigation when he married Linda Eastman.


	Yoko Ono-Lennon talking after the tragic death of fellow Beatle George Harrison. Picture by CNN.

In the spring of 1969, shortly after the trouble-filled Get Back sessions were completed, Lennon and a very pregnant Ono embarked on a 'honeymoon' to Europe, stopping along the way to get married in Gibraltar on March 20th. The couple staged a infamous 'Bed-In' at the Amsterdam Hilton, where they recorded the single Give Peace a Chance, released later that year. Opposition to the Vietnam War was very important to the couple, who constantly decried political injustices from their celebrity pulpit.

At this place in time the Beatles had finished, it was not official but who knew that when they staged their now infamous Saville Row rooftop gig, their last appearance all together, that this was not only a paradoxical high point of the Beatles career but its end. And that they would never ever, Get Back together, in a way seen before. The group split one year later.

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This rooftop musical occurrence was the last public performance of the Beatles. This was the very height of their careers; the embodiment of all they were and all they stood for, ironically something they would never Get Back !!!

After recording Abbey Road during the summer of 1969, Lennon flew to Toronto, where he performed at a September rock 'n' roll festival with The Plastic Ono Band, consisting of Yoko, famed guitarist Eric Clapton, German session bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Alan White; the band's performance was captured on a live album released later that year. Although Let it Be was released after Abbey Road it was actually recorded before.

Four of the Greatest Albums ever made.

As Lennon spent more time collaborating with Ono, he began to distance himself from the other Beatles. In late 1969 he informed the group that he wanted to quit the band; he wanted a divorce, but because contract negotiations were underway with EMI, his decision was kept quiet. Lennon and his Plastic Ono Band recorded the single Cold Turkey, about the struggles of coming off heroin. Lennon saw himself as a philosopher and leader of minds. Yoko pushed him to make a mark in the world other than that of being one of the Fab Four. So John intensified his political actions, paying for billboards in various cities that called for the end of war, and he also returned his MBE to the Queen in protest of Britain's involvement in Biafra. Lennon refocused on his own music career and in February 1970 released Instant Karma.

Very early picture of Paul & John.

Paul of Beatle fame was born James Paul McCartney on June 8th 1942, in Liverpool, England, UK. Paul showed an early interest in music, which was no doubt encouraged by his father, James, who was a part-time jazz musician. At age 14 Paul's mother sadly died of cancer, but despite the trauma, the single-minded McCartney remained a dazzling student and was quite accomplished on the guitar in his early teens. He was always trying to bash out a little song or two. In 1956, just after his mother's death he apparently wrote his first song, I Lost My Little Girl.

Two months later Paul McCartney released his debut solo album and publicly announced that the Beatles were finished as a group, this angered Lennon, who had first had the idea and wanted to be the one to break the news to the world. A few months later, in early 1971, Lennon released the protest song Power to the People.

In the spring of 1971 John & Yoko started living permanently in New York City, moving into the Dakota, an historic apartment building on Central Park West. Lennon wasted no time and became involved in American society, frequently speaking out on political issues. Such was his power and public image and radical thinking the American government had him watched 24/7; seeking ways to have him expelled in a reasonable fashion as they could find.

Words of Imagine

later that year John Lennon released his most popular solo album to date, the chart topping album and single Imagine, which dealt with personal and political world issues. John wrote the words to Imagine whilst on an airplane, on the back of a hotel bill. When he got back to his Berkshire mansion he recorded it straight away in his home studio. John and Yoko continued with their political dialogues and in early 1972 Lennon began fighting off U.S. Immigration Authorities, who had denied him a work visa due to a 1968 conviction for possession of marijuana. Partially in protest, Lennon collaborated with a radical New York band Elephant's Memory on the album Sometime in New York City. In 1973 the INS ordered Lennon to leave the U.S.; Lennon refused, and began publicly attacking the agency. Later that year Lennon released the surprisingly tame Mind Games, whose title track was a minor hit.

Lennon was a most complex character and with everything going on he had his doubts about his lover, Yoko; he decided that she was more like a mother to him and that he was maybe not this political animal after all but just a Rock Star. Lennon realized early on that he wanted many things in life; he wanted an overload in everything he experienced, but he also soon realized that when he had got it, he wondered why he wanted it in the first place. In 1974 Lennon separated from Yoko Ono and moved out to Los Angeles. For the next two years Lennon became heavily involved in various drugs, and became a frequent celebrity party-goer at star's homes and wild night clubs. Even though he thought he and Yoko were finally through, encouraged by Yoko, he took a Japanese girlfriend, May Pang, as some kind of substitute. Through the party circuit Lennon developed a friendship with Elton John, with whom he co-wrote the song Whatever Gets You Through the Night, Lennon's 1974 No. 1 comeback. The single was from the album Walls and Bridges, which also reached the number one spot.

BORN: March 25, 1947, Pinner, Middlesex, England

In terms of sales and lasting popularity, Elton John was the biggest pop superstar of the early '70s. Initially marketed as a singer/songwriter, John soon revealed he could craft Beatlesque pop and pound out rockers with equal aplomb. He could dip into soul, disco and country, as well as classic pop balladry and even progressive rock. His versatility, combined with his effortless melodic skills, dynamic charisma and flamboyant stage shows made him the most popular recording artist of the '70s. Unlike many pop stars, John was able to sustain his popularity, charting a Top 40 single every single year from 1970 to 1996.

By the end of 1975, Lennon realized that he was becoming burnt out as far as partying was concerned. Yet again he discovered that once he had something he was not too sure whether he really wanted it. Elton had helped John and Yoko resolve their marital differences, furthermore, in early October an appeals court overturned the deportation order which had been so poignant in Lennon's life. At the last public performance Lennon ever did, onstage with Elton John, at Madison Square Garden, Yoko and Lennon met up again backstage and they fell in love all over again.

That following year Yoko Ono became pregnant yet again, and after several previous miscarriages, on October 9, 1976, which was also John's birthday, she gave birth to their son, Sean. John dropped out of the music scene to raise his child and tend house, whilst Yoko handled the family's complicated business and legal affairs.

In early 1980 Lennon re-entered the music business after years of self denial and public denial, and exclaimed that he has not touched a guitar for years. He signed a new record deal with Geffen. [ Go to Goodtime on your old WIN95 disc. ]

John and Yoko recorded a new album that summer, Double Fantasy, which was released in November. The highly popular recording along with its first single, Just Like, Starting Over, both charted well, and Lennon was on the start of a comeback.

While leaving his New York apartment on December 8, 1980, Lennon was approached by a fat ugly, sleazy-looking fan who requested an autograph. When John returned home several hours later, the fan was still outside his apartment, and with total calculation shot Lennon several times.

To John's left we can see Mark David Chapman, John is signing an autograph for his soon to become assassin.

December 8, 1980

One of the very last pictures taken of the great John Lennon. To John's left we can see Mark David Chapman, John is signing an autograph for his soon to become assassin. Like many millions of fans, Chapman had always wanted to emulate Lennon, to be him; Chapman wanted to be as famous as John, but he did not have the talent or charisma. His shortcut to instant fame was to strike out and murder one of the most important and notable icons of the twentieth century.

John Lennon, nevertheless, is now immortal.

In that immortal call, " Mr. Lennon? " John turned to see the fan he had seen earlier. Mark Chapman pulled out his gun, and took up a commando-like stance, without any real malice, just his own ticket to fame, Chapman fired. John Winston Lennon, AKA, John Ono-Lennon, died minutes later after he was shot, and the fan, Mark David Chapman, waited by the people amassing around the body of Lennon, just waiting; he was quickly arrested.

Sunday, October 3, 2004

Mark David Chapman, the infamous assassin who shot John Lennon, in 1980, has had his first meaningful parole hearing. He was turned down based on the premise that 100,000 people are outside waiting for the opportunity to shoot him.

" Join the queue ! " Cried the World.

On this day, the world stood still; this was the day when music truly died. Millions around the planet cried in pain, not just over the death of John Lennon but for themselves. Lennon had played a part in and was a part of the lives of a whole generation of young people. When John died a little bit of many millions of people, died as well. This great pop-icon had protested against violence for most of his life; he more than most, would have appreciated the pathetic irony that he himself would die from a bullet.

On December 14, 1980, at 2 p.m., Lennon fans around the world participated in a widely publicized 10-minute silent vigil.

Mark Chapman went to trial and bizarre details came out about the disturbed loner, who apparently was obsessed not only with Lennon, but also with the popular novel Catcher in the Rye. He was convicted and sentenced to an indefinite term in a mental institution. Over twenty years on, he has already had one parole hearing refused. It will be many years before he is released, not because this is justice, but because there will be several thousands of people around the planet, waiting for him. Waiting, to help Mark David Chapman join John Lennon in the hereafter.

Would you kill Mark Chapman?