Thursday 10 May 2018 / john lennon, music
Ten Underappreciated John Lennon songs
...because there's more to the Smart Beatle than just Imagine, you know?
Steel and Glass (from Walls
and Bridges)
Probably the only song in Lennon's catalogue to
rival the better-known How Do You Sleep in nastiness, Steel
and Glass is a delightfully seething fuck-you to his former manager,
Allen Klein. With cruel lines like 'your mother left you when you were small /
but you're gonna wish you weren't born at all', John's at his best when he's
angry, and boy is he angry here.
I'm Losing You (from Double
Fantasy)
This is undoubtedly one of Lennon's best-written
songs. His fear and confusion about his relationship with Yoko Ono manifests
itself, as it so often does, as anger in this intense, paranoid gem from his
final album. The sound is so tight, so tense, that listening to it evokes
anxiety in me. Great vocals, too!
I Know (I Know) (from Mind
Games)
He dismissed this song as a 'piece of nothing',
but it's a top-five Lennon track for me. Something I find in a lot of his more
ostensibly tender songs, like Oh Yoko! and Grow Old
With Me, is an underlying sadness and pain, though it's possible I'm
allowing his eventual murder to colour my perception, of course. I hear it in
this song too, which sounds so bittersweet to me. Lennon uses simple statements
- 'no more crying, no more crying', 'today, I love you more than yesterday' -
to convey deeper themes such as forgiveness and empathy. I like the theory that
he wrote this for Paul - it wouldn't be the first time he referenced Beatles
songs (Yesterday, Getting Better) to send him a message (see: How
Do You Sleep).
Surprise, Surprise (Sweet
Bird of Paradox) (from Walls and Bridges)
No one ever talks about this song! It definitely
misses the powerful emotion that drives some of his better-received tracks
like Mother and God, but what it lacks in
intensity, it makes up for in groove and fun. Whilst distinctly
Lennon-sounding, the lyrics are almost Paul McCartney-esque ('just like a
willow tree/ a breath of spring you see). Plus it's got Elton John on backing
vocals! Definitely not his best or most powerful track, but a very entertaining
listen nonetheless.
You Are Here (from Mind
Games)
This is one of his most relaxed, pretty songs.
When I think of his post-Beatles career, I tend to think more of songs like
this and Bless You - vaguely philosophical, meandering tracks
- than rockier numbers like Cold Turkey and Remember. He
famously hated his singing voice, but the raw thinness of it works well with
this kind of song.
Remember (from John
Lennon/Plastic Ono Band)
So many of Lennon's best songs are based around
one word, almost like a mantra: Imagine, God, Love,
Isolation, Woman, Mother and this one, Remember. I always
forget how good this one is until I hear it. Perfectly placed on the album
right before the much softer Love, the juxtaposition is
beautiful and disorienting. Great drumming from Ringo on this one, too!
Nobody Told Me (from Milk
and Honey)
I love this song! It's much less vulnerable than
most of his songs, but doesn't suffer for it. Taking inspiration from classic
poetry - and his own UFO sighting! - it's a jaunty little tune that was
originally meant for Ringo Starr. Calling a top-five hit 'underrated' could be
a bit of a stretch, but the song seems to have been largely forgotten with
time.
Out The Blue (from Mind
Games)
You can probably tell I'm a big Mind
Games fan. This serene, grateful song is less emotionally searing
than most of his songs, but doesn’t suffer for it at all. This type of song is
underrated in the Lennon canon in favour of louder songs like Instant Karma, not least of all by John
himself. Lyrics such as ‘it had to be – two minds, one destiny’ and ‘I survived
long enough to make you my wife’ express the very Lennon-esque sentiment that
he was awakened or ‘saved’ by Yoko and their love for each other.
Look at Me (from Plastic Ono Band)
I love the ethereal double-tracked vocals on
this pretty song. He’s vulnerable, asking for help and begging ‘please look at
me, my love’. He’s pleading for guidance with lyrics such as ‘here I am. What
am I supposed to do?’ It’s something I find so interesting about Lennon. He was
so opinionated, so self-centred, so uninterested in what anyone else thought,
and yet it’s clear from his songs that he looks for validation from others,
particularly women.
Hold On (from Plastic Ono Band)
This could have easily made it onto The Beatles’
Let It Be album. The bass line is
fantastic, while the simple, universal message of ‘hold on, it’s going to be
all right’ is surprisingly positive for such a lyrically bleak album. People
always talk about John’s ability as a lyricist, but in many ways, I think he’s
actually underrated in that department; he has the rare gift of being able to
say so much by saying so little. Think of songs like Strawberry Fields Forever –‘no one, I think, is in my tree’ may be
my favourite line in any song.
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