(The Praeger Singer-Songwriter Collection) Ben Urish, Ken Bielen-The Words and Music of John Lennon-Praeger (2007) Read Online Free Page A
Author: Ken Bielen Ben Urich
directed The Beatles’ first two feature films A Hard Day’s Night and Help!
6 The Words and Music of John Lennon
A promotional single was released for How I Won the War, which Lennon had
no hand in conceiving or executing, although it used a clip of his voice from the
film’s soundtrack.2 Discounting that single, the Two Virgins album was Lennon’s
first recorded artistic statement without the involvement of any of the other Bea-
tles. It was also his first of three nonpop music album col aborations with Ono.
The full title of the album is Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins and,
like the next two experimental collaborations, it invites the listener to cease
being a passive consumer, but instead become an active improvisational co-
performer, albeit at a technological distance. The recording consists of tape-
looped sound collages supported mainly by airy, pulsating percussions at
varying speeds; ambient room noise; and brief snatches of dialogue (natural
as well as seemingly performance improvised) from Lennon and Ono. The
entire proceedings clock in at just under half an hour. Ono’s characteristic
tremolo wailings are also present throughout. Listeners can add their own
sounds, vocal and otherwise, to “finish” the unfinished music.
Lennon had reportedly made similar home recordings previously, and the
results of such experimentation had been applied to numerous Beatle record-
ings from the previous two years. A sample of what these might have been
like is the sound collage used for “Jessie’s Dream” from The Beatles’ Magical
Mystery Tour television film broadcast near the end of 1967.
A close listen to Two Virgins reveals Lennon’s natural nonsensical humor
popping up at times, his mocking of mundane domestic moments (similar
to his books and some of The Beatles’ later Christmas fan club recordings),
the performing of jangly piano chords (even a bit of a sea shanty) and an
early attempt at his increasingly aggressive, yet almost minimalist, feedback
guitar playing. The work sets the pattern for much of Lennon and Ono’s
experimental musical conversations of the next two years. Nothing on the
album was particularly new to followers of free form or avant-garde and
experimental music and recordings. But the combination of the two art-
ists and Lennon’s presence meant that whatever audience the album found
would not have been likely to have fully understood the roots of the project,
and probably easily ignored it or were just plain baffled by it.
The album gained notoriety not for its recorded content but for its cover, on
which Lennon and Ono appeared nude, attempting to convey both a sort of
Adam and Eve / childlike innocence with nothing to hide and, perhaps, to sym-
bolize his artistic rebirth through the collaboration. The resulting scandal over
the cover ensured that the album was more talked about than listened to, and
it was largely and to some degree unfairly dismissed as totally self-indulgent. It
remains, though, the least interesting of their three avant-garde albums.
The rolling sTones rock and roll circus
With the White Album released, The Beatles made a promotional film
for the single “Hey Jude” / “Revolution.” This led to them discussing what
The Ballad of John and Yoko, Late 1968 to Early 1970 7
would eventually become the Get Back sessions. Meanwhile, Lennon and
Ono rehearsed and filmed a segment for The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll
Circus, a concert film made up of various British rock acts performing in a circus
setting with the Rolling Stones hosting and capping off the show. Lennon’s
impromptu band was called The Dirty Mac and included Eric Clapton, who
took part in The Beatles’ recent recording sessions and who would work with
Lennon fairly regularly for the next year.3
They ripped through a passionate version of Lennon’s “Yer Blues” from
the White Album, and then a
6 The Words and Music of John Lennon
A promotional single was released for How I Won the War, which Lennon had
no hand in conceiving or executing, although it used a clip of his voice from the
film’s soundtrack.2 Discounting that single, the Two Virgins album was Lennon’s
first recorded artistic statement without the involvement of any of the other Bea-
tles. It was also his first of three nonpop music album col aborations with Ono.
The full title of the album is Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins and,
like the next two experimental collaborations, it invites the listener to cease
being a passive consumer, but instead become an active improvisational co-
performer, albeit at a technological distance. The recording consists of tape-
looped sound collages supported mainly by airy, pulsating percussions at
varying speeds; ambient room noise; and brief snatches of dialogue (natural
as well as seemingly performance improvised) from Lennon and Ono. The
entire proceedings clock in at just under half an hour. Ono’s characteristic
tremolo wailings are also present throughout. Listeners can add their own
sounds, vocal and otherwise, to “finish” the unfinished music.
Lennon had reportedly made similar home recordings previously, and the
results of such experimentation had been applied to numerous Beatle record-
ings from the previous two years. A sample of what these might have been
like is the sound collage used for “Jessie’s Dream” from The Beatles’ Magical
Mystery Tour television film broadcast near the end of 1967.
A close listen to Two Virgins reveals Lennon’s natural nonsensical humor
popping up at times, his mocking of mundane domestic moments (similar
to his books and some of The Beatles’ later Christmas fan club recordings),
the performing of jangly piano chords (even a bit of a sea shanty) and an
early attempt at his increasingly aggressive, yet almost minimalist, feedback
guitar playing. The work sets the pattern for much of Lennon and Ono’s
experimental musical conversations of the next two years. Nothing on the
album was particularly new to followers of free form or avant-garde and
experimental music and recordings. But the combination of the two art-
ists and Lennon’s presence meant that whatever audience the album found
would not have been likely to have fully understood the roots of the project,
and probably easily ignored it or were just plain baffled by it.
The album gained notoriety not for its recorded content but for its cover, on
which Lennon and Ono appeared nude, attempting to convey both a sort of
Adam and Eve / childlike innocence with nothing to hide and, perhaps, to sym-
bolize his artistic rebirth through the collaboration. The resulting scandal over
the cover ensured that the album was more talked about than listened to, and
it was largely and to some degree unfairly dismissed as totally self-indulgent. It
remains, though, the least interesting of their three avant-garde albums.
The rolling sTones rock and roll circus
With the White Album released, The Beatles made a promotional film
for the single “Hey Jude” / “Revolution.” This led to them discussing what
The Ballad of John and Yoko, Late 1968 to Early 1970 7
would eventually become the Get Back sessions. Meanwhile, Lennon and
Ono rehearsed and filmed a segment for The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll
Circus, a concert film made up of various British rock acts performing in a circus
setting with the Rolling Stones hosting and capping off the show. Lennon’s
impromptu band was called The Dirty Mac and included Eric Clapton, who
took part in The Beatles’ recent recording sessions and who would work with
Lennon fairly regularly for the next year.3
They ripped through a passionate version of Lennon’s “Yer Blues” from
the White Album, and then a
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