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John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
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1 May 2011
1.10pm
mr. Sun king coming together
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My reaction was non-existent. It it's nothing to get hung about.

As if it matters how a man falls down.'

'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.

1 May 2011
5.32pm
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mithveaen
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Strawberry Fields Forever . a-hard-days-night-john-6

 

So far this is my favorite album from the BoxSet. I have listened up to Mind Games , but I was way too tired that I stopped. I'll continue today. a-hard-days-night-ringo-13

Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……

Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…

Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.

Beware of Darkness… 

1 May 2011
7.32pm
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GniknuS
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I go back and forth on whether John took himself too seriously or not, and that line always makes me wonder. So my first reaction was like, come on John, it’s really not that big of a deal, but then I thought about it in the context of the song. All of the stuff that John doesn’t believe in are things that someone views as being God . Anything can be God to anyone, it’s very subjective and I think John just took the black and white meaning of God as just some guy in the sky belonging to some religion out and he replaced it with a definition that is closer to reality. If you watch TV for twelve hours a day, isn’t TV the god of your life because that’s what your life revolves around?
So I think it’s pretty brilliant what he did and the Beatles were the gods of the entire generation so he had to end the song with them to destroy the biggest “myth” of ordinary people being made into god. And he said “I just believe in me, Yoko and me and that’s reality” not because everyone has to grow up and get over the Beatles being broken up but because John isn’t fooling himself anymore by believing in false gods.

I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine

1 May 2011
7.47pm
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mithveaen
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Oh that's a brilliant explanation Gniknus!! Thank you so much!! apple01

 

You know? Sometimes I'm glad the Beatles broke up when they did. I mean, I don't have the feeling that “I wanted another album”. the ones we got are more than enough. Of course listening to Free As A Bird and Real Love was fantastic, but that feeling of “One more one more”… no .. I don't have it. Maybe because I grew up as a child with the fact that the Beatles were not here anymore. (as a band)

Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……

Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…

Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.

Beware of Darkness… 

1 May 2011
8.09pm
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Gnik hit it on the head. He uses the realistic, not metaphorical, meaning of God .

As if it matters how a man falls down.'

'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.

2 May 2011
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Great album. It was central to my Lennon talk over the weekend and I projected the lyrics translated into Italian for Mother and God ..and some people were genuinely moved by the songs, and came up to me or wrote to me afterwards saying what great songs they were and they'd never heard them before.

Possibly his best solo album with Imagine .

2 May 2011
9.52pm
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Zig
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This is definitely one of my favorite albums of John's (Imagine is still my fav). But one night I was really focusing more on lyrics than anything else and felt like I wanted to slit my wrists. With the exception of Love and maybe one other, each song is kind of a downer (IMO).

After that, I decided I needed something lighter and put on HELP!. It was anything but… the title track was John crying for help, followed by other Lennon tunes like You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, You're Going To Lose That Girl, It's Only Love, Ticket To Ride (“she don't care”).

Then I thought, “maybe if I go back a little farther” and looked at Beatles For Sale . First 2 tracks? Lennon's No Reply and I'm A Loser. Great songs, but yikes. I wanted happy.

Farther back? AHDN I'll Cry Instead, I Should Have Known Better … See a pattern here?

He wrote some deep meaningful tunes that I really get into. But if your going to listen to a lot of them consecutively, make sure your local suicide hotline phone number is somewhwere handy.

a-hard-days-night-john-2

To the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.

2 May 2011
9.56pm
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It does have a very negative feel, except Hold On and Love.

As if it matters how a man falls down.'

'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.

3 May 2011
12.42am
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PennyLane
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I finally listened to this album on the 30th anniversary of his death. To say I didn't cry would be a lie. I really do love this album. Very honest and raw. 

Fav tracks: Hold On , Working Class Hero , Remember, Love, God . I can't listen to Mother or My Mummy's Dead with making a sad face or loudly announcing “why is your life so sad John!”

Well we all shine on like the moon, the stars, and the sun.

3 May 2011
3.49am
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mithveaen
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That's interesting Zig. Maybe because I don't pay too much attention to the lyrics I like this album *a lot*. I focus more in the music and voice. Or maybe because I see it that it's happening to another person.

 

Or maybe because I have listened to a lot of depressing music, (I think they're emo, I'm not sure) I feel that at least, all these are brilliant.

 

Edit : Maybe with the anger in these songs, I feel he’s expurgating his feelings and then, everything will be fine. a-hard-days-night-john-2

Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……

Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…

Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.

Beware of Darkness… 

3 May 2011
11.24am
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Zig
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a-hard-days-night-paul-6Yeah, mith it's a fantastic album. I need to make clear that I am in no way panning it.

I always knew most of the songs on it, but never owned the whole album until I picked up the box set a while back. That's why I never really paid close attention to all of those lyrics all at once until that night. There is a lot of raw emotion on that album and it can get to you if you are in the right frame of mind.

Powerful stuff.a-hard-days-night-john-1

To the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.

3 May 2011
7.40pm
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mithveaen
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I got a question.

 

How do you call the style of songs like Well Well Well or  I found out? You know that dirty rock style.

Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……

Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…

Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.

Beware of Darkness… 

3 May 2011
8.42pm
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Zig
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mithveaen said:

I got a question.

 

How do you call the style of songs like Well Well Well or  I found out? You know that dirty rock style.

I really don't know. I get a laugh when people put labels on Rock like Punk, Alternative, Grunge, Metal, etc…

To me it's either Rock & Roll or it's not.

To the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.

3 May 2011
11.52pm
mr. Sun king coming together
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POB is really John’s frame of mind after he band. And because of that, he lays bear all the emotion. I think the allure of the album is the cathartic way it plays. It really has a strong link to grunge, and Neil Young/Nirvana especially. They spoke their mind, but didn’t go soft and folky. They went hard and electric. Young had Rocking In The Free World, Nirvana had the whole Nevermind album, and Lennon had POB. Lennon (and also Young), pioneered the grunge movement, the angry screaming musician who uses songwriting as a form of release. I apologize if this seems off-topic, but I clearly seethe link from POB to Nirvana (with help, obviously. But this was one of the first music as attack, with CSNY’s Ohio.)

As if it matters how a man falls down.'

'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.

4 May 2011
4.36am
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GniknuS
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I’m not sure if John intentionally pioneered the grunge movement, I just think he was fairly limited as a lead guitar player, so that’s why there is plenty of distortion and grungy sounding chords being hammered away at all album. But certainly Cobain was influenced by John as I believe he mentioned several times.

I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine

4 May 2011
11.33am
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Zig
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Gnik, I've also read about John's influence on Cobain. You also bring up a good point about John's guitar playing. If you have seen the concert footage from Lennon Live in NYC you'll recall him strumming chords with no hand on the neck of the guitar on more than one occaison. I sometimes think he just got bored with the guitar and started favoring the keys instead.

Adding to that grungy sound you mentioned was the fact that he always had one string (if memory serves, it was the D) mis-tuned. I think it was Jack Douglas that talked about that in the PBS documentary aired last year. When he asked John why he always had a flat D string, John said it was so Aunt Mimi could pick out which guitar was his. How long he continued to do that is beyond me, but it would definitely lend to your point about him not intentionally pioneering a grunge movement. It just sounded that way.

Side note: After that PBS special, I started listening for that flat string. A great example of it is in the song Money. On that one, his guitar almost sounds like a cheap dime store brand without an amp.

Side, side note: On one hand, I find it fascinating to read or watch something about the music specifically; studio tricks, flat strings, odd little noises/voices, etc… On the down side I sometimes find myself listening so intently, I don't here the song. Similar to not seeing the forest for the trees and all that.

george-martin

To the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.

4 May 2011
11.53am
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minime
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It's my fav album of his. Unfortunately, it's somewhere along the piles of stuff and cds of (crappy) music.  I've also liked working class hero, but it somehow bothers me, since Lennon never really was from working class, though his ancestors might have been. 

 

On the other hand, “Love” is one of the most boring song I've ever heard(from him). His vocals are awesome, but the lyrics are tiring and over simplified, in my opinion.  Maybe the sense of boredom comes from  the guitar that plays the same tune over and over again.

4 May 2011
12.18pm
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I too have resrvations about Working Class Hero .. .everyone thinks JL is writing/singing about himself but he can't have been really and he knew that. . he's just commenting on the working class condition per se.

a-hard-days-night-ringo-13

4 May 2011
9.53pm
mr. Sun king coming together
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Well, I never knew Cobain admitted to a Lennon influence. Thanks Zig!!!

As if it matters how a man falls down.'

'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.

5 May 2011
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mithveaen
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I know because of a friend of mine who's a big Nirvana fan, that Cobain said he didn't want to try rock or pop because it was going to be difficult to be better than the Beatles (he said something that everything started with the letter B). And if I'm not mistaken, In My Life was played in his funeral.

 

Also, I read somewhere that Nirvana played some Beatles songs when they have problems in their concerts. I haven't seen a video of that… Let me check.. yep I found some. And yes, it sounds awful. But I can picture Nirvana playing this and all the bunch of pissed off fans throwing them cans of beer brian-epsteinbrian-epsteinbrian-epstein

 

Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……

Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…

Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.

Beware of Darkness… 

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