Authors: Ken Bielen Ben Urich
released, the Plastic Ono Band was not included. In 1988, their segment,
with a little bit of introductory footage of classic 1950s stars, became its own
documentary titled
Sweet Toronto.
As with
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll
Circus
from the previous year, had the band’s footage been released as part of
the original film, it would have helped to solidify the public’s understanding
of the end of The Beatles as a living musical entity. Furthermore, it would
have highlighted Lennon’s distance from them as a separate performer in
the public’s mind, as well as help answer the perennial “What does he see in
Yoko?” question.
On December 15, Lennon and Ono performed with George Harrison, Eric
Clapton, and others as the Plastic Ono Supergroup in London at a fundraiser
for UNICEF. The group performed superb, hard-edged versions of “Cold
Turkey” and “Don’t Worry Kyoko” for an audience that, unlike the one in
Toronto, at least might have known what to expect. The vibrant performance
was recorded and included in their 1972
Sometime in New York City
double
album and Frank Zappa’s
Playground Psychotics
almost 20 years later.
“insTanT karma!”
On January 27, 1970, Lennon wrote and recorded the next Plastic Ono
Band single, and it was released to the public in less than two weeks, becom-
ing a top-five hit. “Give Peace a Chance” was a more or less an on-the-
spot recording, and—although credited to Lennon-McCartney and later
overdubbed by Starr—by its nature, it was never considered to be a Beatles
recording. “Cold Turkey” initially became the second Plastic Ono Band sin-
gle by default rather than by design when The Beatles rejected it and Lennon
decided to record it anyway. But the third Plastic Ono Band single, “Instant
Karma!” was never offered to The Beatles, providing evidence, if any were
needed at that late date, that Lennon no longer considered The Beatles his
prime artistic outlet, if an artistic outlet for him at all. This and future such
releases would credit Lennon and / or Ono along with the Plastic Ono Band
until the name was partially abandoned when the couple separated late in
1973, although Lennon jokingly credited some of 1974s
Walls and Bridges
to the Plastic UFOno Band and the Nuclear Ono Band.
The title “Instant Karma!” is also a bit of a joke, because, in traditional
thinking, karmic forces might take more than one life time to play out for an
16 The Words and Music of John Lennon
individual. Instant karma would indeed be a surprise, and the exclamation
point in the title emphasizes the clever nature of Lennon’s irony in forcing
the listener to ponder just what “instant karma” might be. It also functions
as advertising hyperbole, an aspect emphasized in the album artwork for the
song in Lennon’s 1975 singles collection
Shaved Fish.
The first verses have a sarcastic tone and berate the listener to “get yourself
together ... pretty soon you’re gonna be dead” and telling the listener “its
up to you—yeah, you!” The tone reverses when Lennon seems to mock the
listener for thinking he or she is a “superstar” but then he agrees, “Well, right
you are!” This leads into the rousing anthem-like repeated chorus of “We all
shine on, like the moon and the stars and the sun.” Instant karma seems to be
a system of positive retribution with “everyone gonna get their share” if they
merely recognize their responsibilities to other humans. After implying what
proper human behavior ought to be, Lennon then poses the question, “Why
in the world are we here, surely not to live in pain and fear?” The answer
that we are here to self-actualize through concern for humanity is strongly
implied but never stated outright.
Sonically the recording has similarities to “Give Peace a Chance” with its
handclapping rhythm and Lennon’s chorus-leading vocals. And like “Cold
Turkey,” it has a simple stripped-down feel despite the jangly rhythmic pia-
nos and echoed mix. There is no piano or guitar solo, but Lennon takes a
brief vocal solo of grunts and moans in what may be a joking reference to the
lengthy vocal moans and screams of “Cold Turkey.” Otherwise, his vocals
bite through with a real urgency and sincerity to the performance, despite the
1950s Sun Records–style echo that serves to partly distance and disembody
Lennon’s vocal presence. The result is that Lennon manages to have it both
ways: his voice seems otherworldly, yet tangible. “Cold Turkey” demon-
strated Lennon’s penchant for taking something personal and expanding its
message through metaphor. “Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)” was Len-
non providing a chiding though positive and proactive message for humanity.
The same artistic drive would be the bedrock of his post-Beatles career.
The single’s reverse side, Ono’s “Who Has Seen the Wind?” is a low-key,
evocative number on which Lennon does not perform.
Lennon had demonstrated his ability to have pop hits without The Beatles.
A Beatles compilation album titled
Hey Jude
was released around the time of
“Instant Karma!” and The Beatles’
Let It Be
album was issued the following
May. By the time it was clear to the public that The Beatles were no longer a
functioning unit, Lennon already had the
Live Peace in Toronto
album going
gold, and three top-40 hit singles, the most recent (“Instant Karma!”) having
peaked at number 3.
3
Gimme Some Truth,
1970–1973
With all The Beatles having finally acknowledged their split in late April
1970, Lennon had already turned his attention to the primal scream therapy
of Arthur Janov to help deal with his lingering stress and strain as well as cer-
tain addictions, a move that would have a purging effect on his musical and
lyrical compositions as the year progressed. Lennon’s actions had, to some
degree, negatively colored his reputation with the public from his seemingly
radical artistic and political endeavors with Ono to the well-publicized public
break-up of The Beatles.
John Lennon / PLastic ono Band
It would not be until December 1970 that Lennon’s first “solo” album,
John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band,
would be released. Its uncomplicated and
direct sound, gritty frankness, painfully raw emotional content, and moral
outrage would become the marker of artistic and personal integrity by which
Lennon and other artists making “serious” pop music would be measured.
The album stands as a document of Lennon’s mental and emotional pur-
gation following the end of The Beatles. For his audience, it is a call to
wake up from being narcotized by childhood trauma, parental authority,
popular culture, consumer society, and all manner of social, political, and
religious institutions. If, during the time the album was recorded, Lennon
was strongly influenced by the primal scream therapy practices of Arthur
Janov, then
John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band
was the artistic embodiment of
his primal scream.
18 The Words and Music of John Lennon
Lennon chose to open the album with the selection he also released as a
single, “Mother.” The album version opens with four dirge-like bell peals
not present on the single release, which also fades out sooner. Lyrically the
song is an exorcism of the pain of parental rejection, as Lennon mourns the
mother who did not want him and chastises the father who left him, purg-
ing the pain by saying “goodbye, goodbye.” Percussion from Ringo Starr
ticks like a clock, emphasizing the awareness of how the past impinges upon
the present, while Lennon’s piano hits chords echoing the pealing bells that
began the song.
After a third verse in which Lennon warns the next generation not to “do
what I have done” (a lyrical nod to the harrowing traditional ballad “House
of the Rising Sun”), he begins a series of increasingly agonized laments,
shouting repeatedly “mama don’t go” and “daddy come home” as if revert-
ing to the anguished, frightened child. Structurally similar to the finale of
“Cold Turkey,” it is just as emotionally stark and disquieting in its own way,
something that could be said of much of the album. To no one’s surprise,
the barren-sounding, angst-ridden single—backed by one of Ono’s better
numbers, “Why”—did not break into the top 40.
“Hold On” is a song of affirmation. Lennon does not hide behind an
impersonal narrator, but specifically mentions John and Yoko in the lyrics.
The first verses allude to the trials and tribulations that the Lennons expe-
rienced as John sings of his “fight” and Yoko’s “flight.” These challenges
not only encompass the emotional pain that the Lennons faced in their
primal scream therapy, but also the concrete prejudice (racism, sexism, and
a public that blamed Ono for taking Lennon away from The Beatles) and
opposition (to the causes the duo promoted, such as world peace) that the
Lennons faced from the time they became a couple. Lennon reminds his
wife and himself that from within they will have the strength to weather
the storms.
Lennon then expands this notion to encompass all peoples on earth. He
realizes that he and his wife are not the only two who face problems in life.
When people of all nations come together and understand they are “one,”
then they will “see the light.” Peace will be more than an imagined dream.
The shimmering guitar work of the song sounds vaguely like parts of
Lennon’s “Sun King” from
Abbey Road,
but the similarities are superficial.
Those who see nothing but bleakness from
Plastic Ono Band
forget the ulti-
mately hopeful messages embedded in some of the tracks, or Lennon’s never
totally missing humor. Before the verse about the world, the listener hears
“Cookie!” in the voice of the Cookie Monster from
Sesame Street.
It is either
a complete non sequitur or a clever referential commentary on childhood
traumas and adult obsessions.
Continuing in the line of the therapeutic value of self-awareness, Lennon
focuses in “I Found Out” on different avenues he tried to find meaning and
make peace with himself, only to discover that they all led to dead ends. The
Gimme Some Truth, 1970–1973 19
title means “I wised up,” and the first verse points a finger at hangers-on and
others who tried to exploit Lennon and the Beatles for political ends, finan-
cial gain, or both. Two years earlier, Lennon and Beatle band mate Paul
McCartney flew to New York City and announced the opening of Apple
Corps. The two naively encouraged musicians and inventors and those with
innovative ideas to approach Apple for funding of their pet projects. Com-
ing to grips with the failure of this tack, Lennon tells these same, and simi-
lar, people, “stay away from my door.”
In the second verse, he tackles formalized Christianity. Four years earlier,
the U.S. media held Lennon over the coals due to his remarks comparing
the popularity of the Beatles to Jesus Christ.1 At a Chicago press conference,
he reluctantly apologized. He tacitly withdraws that apology in the second
verse as he sings that there will be no Jesus coming “from the sky” to bring
salvation. He tells the listener not to expect help to come from some outside
source, but rather that one must rely on oneself. For Lennon, this realization
frees him. There is no hope to be gleaned from false teachings. He ends the
verse singing, “I know I can cry.”
The third verse addresses free love and the idea that jumping in and out
of bed with a number of partners would bring some kind of meaning and
satisfaction. In particular, he addresses men and tells them that sexual prowess
will not define their masculinity or who they really are as people.
Lennon makes this verse painfully personal as he closes with the thought
that his parents conceived and gave birth to him, but, in the end, they did not
want him to be a part of their lives, nor did they want to give of their selves to
him. His father went off to sea. His mother chose to let her sister raise him.
Agreeing with the pop psychology idea that entertainers seek the love denied
them as children, Lennon sings that, because his parents did not want him,
they made him “a star,” however unintentionally.
Still feeling burned from sitting at the feet of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
several years earlier, Lennon next casts his critical eye on the promises of
Eastern religions. Just as Marx spoke of religion being an opiate for the
masses, Lennon asserts that “Hare Krishna” will “keep you occupied with
pie in the sky.” These teachings will not help the followers come to terms
with the issues of everyday life, because they have no special enlightenment
of the individual soul. Lennon implicates gurus of any kind, but the listener
cannot help thinking that Lennon is visualizing the Maharishi in his lyrics.