Miscellaneous questions about John Lennon | Page 28 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Old Soak said
I’m coming here because I’m getting quite distressed about an idiot, Mark Harrison spoiling every single JL story on MSN with exactly the same comments and claims every story, which MSN either seem incapable or uninterested in taking down as hate speech. Basically it concerns John and supposed support for the IRA. The claims made are frankly ludicrous, you’ll get a taste here: John Lennon was ‘furious’ when restaurant played certain Beatle’s song (msn.com) . Can anyone clarify what actually happened? Yes, I know I shouldn’t perhaps read the output of conspiracy theory believing morons, but this guy seriously needs taking down. 

@Old Soak, here’s a link that you may find helpful:
Lennon did not give cash to IRA, says Yoko

Yoko Ono, widow of the former Beatle John Lennon , has been quick to deny reports that her late husband helped fund the IRA. That was not true, she said, but he did send money to Ireland.

Ono said the musician sent money to many countries, including Ireland, but that it was intended for “children, orphans and women in need.”

At an exhibition of her art works in the northern Spanish city of Zaragoza, she said: “My husband did not give money to the IRA. My husband gave money… when it was asked for by people who were in need.”

Regarding the article called ‘John Lennon was “furious” when restaurant played certain Beatle’s song’, let’s look at some examples from the text:

However, Lennon grew disdainful of how talented McCartney was behind the scenes. The Beatles star’s assistant, Dan Richter, recently opened up about the two creatives’ differences. He said McCartney was always Lennon’s “biggest rival”. He went on: “It bugged him that Paul could write those sweet melodies like Yesterday and Hey Jude . He couldn’t do that. He was just too acerbic, or too intelligent…”

In fact, John could and did write a number of stylish “sweet melodies”, such as: Do You Want To Know A Secret , Ask Me Why , I’ll Be Back , You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away , In My Life , Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds , Dear Prudence , Julia , Good Night , Love, Imagine , Jealous Guy , Oh My Love, Woman , (Just Like) Starting Over, Beautiful Boy.

This bitterness between the two songwriters even bled into Lennon’s social life, Richter recalled. On one occasion, the singer found himself being assaulted by his band’s music in public – but not the music he wanted.

Richter laughed while recalling a trip to a “fancy restaurant that had a band”. He said: “When they saw John come in they started playing Yesterday . John was so p****d off!”

Lennon even spoke out about this instance in one interview back in 1980 while talking to journalist David Sheff. He was asked about hearing his music being played in public, and he replied: “I’m always proud and pleased when people do my songs. It gives me pleasure that they even attempt to do them, because a lot of my songs aren’t that doable.” He added: “I go to restaurants and the groups always play Yesterday . [His wife] Yoko [Ono] and I even signed a guy’s violin in Spain after he played us Yesterday . He couldn’t understand that I didn’t write the song. But I guess he couldn’t have gone from table to table playing I Am The Walrus .”

Behind the scenes, however, it was a different story. Lennon’s assistant, Richter, even recalled the star getting so frustrated by the rivalry in his own home he made a request of his staff. Richter said: “John got somebody to make a list of all the Beatles’ songs and then we had to say which were his and which were Paul’s.”

Both John and Paul have understandably expressed frustration at times about that subject. Paul later wanted to reverse the songwriting credit to McCartney–Lennon for Yesterday and some other songs; and John might have been agreeable to this as it could have helped to alleviate some of the frustration for both John and Paul.

Lennon and McCartney’s feud grew into a painstaking fury when The Beatles split up in 1970. McCartney looked back on his relationship with his lifelong friend in his recently released book, The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present.

He wrote: “When we broke up and everyone was now flailing around, John turned nasty. I don’t really understand why. Maybe because we grew up in Liverpool, where it was always good to get in the first punch of a fight.”

Paul wrote and published the song Too Many People , and John responded – but perhaps more aggressively than Paul had expected. Looking back, this episode doesn’t seem that important: of course people have occasional rows, and the media often like to sensationalise.

Ringo’s quote comes to mind: “It was magical. I mean, there were really some loving, caring moments between four people. A really amazing closeness, with four guys who really loved each other. It was pretty sensational.”

Although McCartney’s final conversation with Lennon wasn’t a groundbreaking look into their psyches or relationship, the star confessed he wouldn’t change anything about it.

He added: “It was really nice and I was so glad that we got back to that relationship that we’d always had when we were kids. We’d lived in each other’s pockets for so long that it was great to get back to that.”

Yes, at least the writer ended the article in an amicable manner.