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Post by nowheregirl on May 2, 2007 16:17:01 GMT 1
Crippled Inside(John Lennon)[Imagine] This song appeared on the 1971 "Imagine" album, and is directed at hypocrites who 'hide their face behind a smile' and 'live a lie until they die'. "There's a nice one called "Crippled Inside"... Very corny, very country and western..." - John Lennon, 1971 Klaus Voormann plays upright bass on the track and George Harrison plays Dobro (a type of resonator guitar). This is what Wikipedia has to say about the song: Lennon also incorporates the myth about a cat having nine lives into the song, and compares it to a dog's one: "Well, you know that your cat has nine lives, babe, but you only got one, and a dog's life ain't fun." This could be interpreted as a veiled criticism of reincarnation, advising listeners to instead focus on the one life that they do have.
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Post by nowheregirl on May 4, 2007 12:55:45 GMT 1
Dear Yoko (John Lennon)
[Double Fantasy]
As you might have guessed from the title, this is another love song that John wrote for Yoko.
"It says it all. The track's a nice track and it happens to be about my wife, instead of 'Dear Sandra' or some other person that another singer would sing about who may or may not exist." - John Lennon, 1980
A home video exists of John singing this song at Cold Spring Harbor in April 1980.
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Post by nowheregirl on May 9, 2007 11:24:56 GMT 1
Do You Want To Dance? (Robert Freeman)
[Rock 'n' Roll]
This song was a big hit for Bobby Freeman in 1958.
John Lennon recorded the song in October 1974 for his Rock 'n' Roll album and said, "we got [this song] in a few sessions at the West Coast with a couple of stars that aren't worth mentioning. I tried to do the reggae version."
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Post by nowheregirl on May 10, 2007 17:48:57 GMT 1
(Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess (John Lennon)
[Milk and Honey]
This is a ballad that John wrote in 1980. It was released in 1984 on his posthumous album "Milk and Honey". Very little information exists about this song.
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Post by nowheregirl on May 24, 2007 13:43:09 GMT 1
Gimme Some Truth (John Lennon)
[Imagine]
This song appeared on John Lennon's Imagine album and is sometimes spelled "Give Me Some Truth".
John had started writing the song in India in 1968 and it was performed a few times in January 1969 during the Beatles' Let It Be sessions. However, John didn't complete the song until several years later. It was recorded in July 1971. George Harrison played lead guitar on the track, with Klaus Voorman on bass. It is another of John's political songs and is directed at President Nixon (whom he refers to in the lyrics as Tricky Dicky).
"Gimme Some Truth" was also the title given to a 2000 documentary about the making of the Imagine album.
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Post by nowheregirl on Jun 13, 2007 20:23:49 GMT 1
Give Peace A Chance (John Lennon)
[single]
This song was written on 1 June 1969, during John and Yoko's Bed-In for peace in Montreal, Canada. The recording session took place in their hotel bedroom and was attended by various celebrities including Timothy and Rosemary Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Murray the K, Petula Clark, Dick Gregory and Tommy Smothers.
"Give Peace A Chance" was originally credited to Lennon-McCartney, although Paul was not involved in composing the song. John said in his 1980 Playboy interview, "I don't even know why his name was on it. It's there because I kind of felt guilty because I'd made the separate single - the first - and I was really breaking away from the Beatles."
"Give Peace A Chance" was released as a single on 4 July 1969 in the UK and 7 July 1969 in the US. The Yoko Ono song "Remember Love" was the B-side. It reached number 14 on the US charts and number 2 in the UK (kept off the top by the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women").
Almost half a million people gathered outside the White House in Washington on 15 November 1969 and sang "Give Peace a Chance" to protest against the Vietnam War.
John performed the song live on several occasions – at the 1969 Live Peace In Toronto concert and at his 1972 Live In New York City concert. Paul McCartney also performed it in Liverpool as part of a tribute to John during his 1990 world tour.
In 1991, Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon collaborated with a number of other artists to record an updated version of the song in protest of the Gulf War.
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givepeaceachance
Dreaming of the past
[M:239]
All we are saying is give peace a chance
Posts: 440
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Post by givepeaceachance on Sept 1, 2007 17:31:11 GMT 1
These are great, nowheregirl, I'm learning a lot. Are you going to continue them?
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Post by nowheregirl on Sept 14, 2007 12:23:32 GMT 1
I'm glad you're finding them interesting, Hannah. I promise I'll post the next one as soon as I have time.
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Post by lennonchik on Jan 10, 2008 9:13:50 GMT 1
I absolutely love the song Gimme Some Truth it's ones of the best songs to listen to when ya wanna stick it to "the man". Nice list ya got going here nowhere girl keep it going...
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Post by onolennon on Jul 6, 2008 16:44:50 GMT 1
Thanks for that, nowheregirl. Always so helpful.
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gijoe26
Trying to change the whole wide world
[M:200]
"Nothing will stop me, and whether I'm here or wherever I am, I'll always have the same feelings."
Posts: 103
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Post by gijoe26 on Jan 8, 2009 0:30:27 GMT 1
hopefully "h" is next...lol
How Do You Sleep
Lennon wrote this at the height of his feud with Paul McCartney after The Beatles broke up. Each line of the song is an attack on some aspect of McCartney's life or music at the time. For instance, the line "Everything you done was yesterday. Since you gone you're just another day" refers to Paul's song "Yesterday" with the Beatles and his first solo single "Another Day." John felt that Paul's greatest work was behind him.
When the Imagine album was originally released, it contained a postcard of John holding the ears of a large pig. This was making fun of Paul's 1971 album cover for Ram, released before Imagine, where Paul is pictured holding the horns of a ram. On the back of the Ram album, Paul included a picture of two beetles 'screwing,' or saying to John 'screw' you from one Beatle to another.
The feud between Lennon and McCartney originated after The Beatles manager Brian Epstein passed away. Paul wanted his new father-in-law to manage the group while the other Beatles wanted the notorious Allen Klein. Lennon and McCartney maintained a frosty relationship after the band broke up. By most accounts, McCartney contacted Lennon periodically, but was often rebuffed. The last time they saw each other was two years before Lennon's death when they shared dinner in New York. In a 2008 interview with The Times of London, McCartney said: "The answer to John was well — I was sleeping very well at the time. Before John died I got back a good relationship with him. That was very special. The arguments we had didn’t matter. We were able to just take the piss about all those songs; they weren’t that harsh. In fact, I have been thanked by Yoko and everyone else for saving the Beatles from Allen Klein. Everything comes round in the end.”
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Post by lennononmymind on Jul 19, 2009 14:54:28 GMT 1
What happened Nowheregirl? I just started reading these and they are great little tidbits of information. Please continue the list.
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Post by nowheregirl on Jul 19, 2009 16:56:05 GMT 1
Thanks lennononmymind. If people are still enjoying the A-Z I'll be happy to continue it.
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Post by nowheregirl on Aug 2, 2009 13:23:45 GMT 1
Thanks for doing "How Do You Sleep" gijoe26, but we've missed a couple of "G" songs.
"God" will be next.
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Post by nowheregirl on Aug 2, 2009 13:26:48 GMT 1
God (John Lennon)
[Plastic Ono Band]
John wrote "God" after going through Primal Therapy with Dr Arthur Janov.
Arthur Janov remembers: "He would say, 'What about religion?' and I would say something like, 'People in pain usually seek out religion'. And he would say, 'Oh, God is a concept by which we measure our pain'."
The song lists all the things John no longer believes in: magic, I Ching, the Bible, tarot, Hitler, Jesus, Kennedy, Buddha, mantra, Gita, yoga, kings, Elvis, Zimmerman (Bob Dylan) and finally, The Beatles. After he has renounced everything else, he finishes with "I just believe in me – Yoko and me. And that's reality".
"I had the idea that 'God is a concept by which we measure our pain', so that when you have a word like that, you just sit down and the tune is simple, because I like that kind of music and then I just rolled into it...I don't know when I realized that I was putting down all these things I didn't believe in. So I could have gone on, it was like a Christmas card list: where do I end? Churchill? Hoover? I thought I had to stop. I was going to leave a gap, and just fill in your own words: whoever you don't believe in. It had just got out of hand, and 'Beatles' was the final thing because I no longer believe in myth, and 'Beatles' is another myth. I don't believe in it. The dream is over." - John Lennon
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