The Legend of Lennon Lives On...

Yesterday was the 28th anniversary of the assassination of John Lennon on December 8, 1980. To mark this occasion, Rolling Stone has done something credible and respectful, words not typically associated with the magazine this day and age. They have posted the complete interview Editor in Chief and Founder of the magazine Jann Wenner had with John Lennon accompanied by Yoko Ono spanning 2 of their 1971 issues. The interview is quite a lengthy read, but undoubtedly contains more insight and just as much relevance as anything you may currently read anyway.

Looking back at the former Beatle, he has a unique outlook on life many today can still envy and admire. Having been a fan of, and sought out information of the Beatles over the years, reading this interview shed light on some things I had not previously known. It also reaffirmed my belief that following the Fab Four's breakup, Paul McCartney's next band Wings might as well have been called Beatles 2.0. Ringo is portrayed as lovable but stupid, George as a loopy Hare Krishna with a catchy radio tune, and Paul as a power hungry puppet. He didn't think George Martin did much producing for them after "A Hard Day's Night," also an interesting revelation considering their abstract later period. Lennon also reveals his love for Creedence Clearwater Revival, disdain for Ike and Tina Turner's Beatles covers, and sheds light on the fact that anything the Beatles innovated, the Rolling Stones just copied 2 months later.

Even nearly 30 years after his death, my opinions have changed from some of his insight. This interview made me gain more respect for Yoko Ono, and should show people she can't be looked at as the reason the Beatles broke up. I also realized in reading it that it was a good thing the Beatles ended when they did. There was no room in the bloated scene of 1970's arena rock that saw such acts as Led Zeppelin, The Who, and Queen rise to prominence. The Beatles were above all that, and they were here just long enough and not too long at the same time. I respect his decision to get out of a situation where he felt there was no more musical growth and suffocation on his evolution as an artist.

"Gimme Some Truth" was an iconic tune of his, and this is what he gave the readers in this look into his private life, career with the Beatles, and his solo work. Seeing the recent documentary, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" gives more insight to his steadfastness in America throughout the 1970's that shines through in this vivid picture of the man who doesn't believe in Beatles, but just himself. Every year around this time we continue to hear on the radio what is still, in my opinion, the greatest Christmas song ever recorded, "Happy X-Mas (War is Over)." Times like these that are so enjoyable are also saddened by the fact that this great artist was taken much before his time. With all the great music he recorded with and without the Beatles, we will never know what would come later in his middle age that never was.

Of all the musicians taken before their time, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Tupac Shakur, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Notorious B.I.G., Marvin Gaye, Jeff Buckley, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Duane Allman, and Brian Jones to name only a few, while Lennon had a larger body of work than most of them, I still feel today like some of his best work was still ahead of him. Where those artists were gone too soon, they had the candle in the wind mythos to their musical bodies of work. Each were best suited for the time they had here, did the most with it, and may have just wilted away musically and never had as full a legacy. John Lennon, on the other hand, was a completely different story. He had been to the mountain with the Beatles, chopped it down with solo songs like "Instant Karma," and "God," then solidified his own legacy with iconic songs like "Imagine" and "Working Class Hero" which spoke to generations past, present, and now future.

In 1975 following the birth of his son, he took a 5 year hiatus from music, returning with the comeback album "Double Fantasy" in 1980, only to be killed 3 weeks after its release. This new musical outpouring was the next chapter in his story that we will never see the end to. You can hear glimpses of this in the incomplete demos the surviving Beatles completed in the mid-1990's, "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love." Wondering what the 1980's music of John Lennon would have been like is like wondering what the 1970's music of the Beatles would have been like. We will never know, but luckily, the music can still be heard of what he did in his time here. Let it be a lesson to us all.

Part 1 of the Interview (From the January 21, 1971 Issue): http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/24937978

Part 2 of the Interview (From the February 4, 1971 Issue):
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/24946866

Paul McCartney's tribute to Lennon, "Here Today." Probably the most moving song Paul McCartney has ever written, with or without the Beatles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY09Wa7z_38

The Lennon demos as completed by the surviving Beatles in 1994/95:

"Free As A Bird" great video, it actually won a Grammy that year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D196-oXw2k

"Real Love": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZjCGF57v4Q