John Lennon “Live In New York City”

sfilzen — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 18:15:05 +0000

John Lennon “Live In New York City” 1986, recorded in August 1972, his last full-length concert performance. Today, December 8th, marks the 40th anniversary of Lennon’s death, murdered in New York City in 1980. Yoko Ono put together the concert LP; she performed alongside Lennon at the concert (a benefit for the Willowbrook State School); they were backed by the Elephant Memory band. The performance includes some of Lennon’s greatest hits, including “Instant Karma (We All Shine On),” “Mother,” “Imagine” and “Give Peace a Chance.” He even throws in a Beatles tune – “Come Together” – and an old blues/rockabilly track “Hound Dog” made famous by Elvis but originally (and much better) performed by Big Mama Thornton. One of the best tracks on the album is the hard-rocking “Well, Well, Well” which was from his 1970 John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band LP. Live in New York City went to #41 in the US and #55 in the UK.

The post John Lennon “Live In New York City” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

John Lennon “Imagine”

sfilzen — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 15:45:43 +0000

John Lennon “Imagine” released on yesterday’s date, October 8th, in the UK, 1971. Today, October 9th, is John Lennon’s birthday (b. 1940, d. 1980). It’s also his son Sean Lennon’s birthday (b. 1975) so today seemed the perfect day to spin Lennon’s second solo album, which went to #1 on the charts in both the US and the UK.

Imagine is sweet and beautiful (“Oh My Love,” “Oh Yoko”) but also biting and bitter. Lennon’s resentment and acrimony towards Paul McCartney is evident in the early editions’ inclusion of a card with Lennon holding a pig to mock McCartney’s Ram as well as the song “How Do You Sleep?” which is pretty brutal – “So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise, you better see right thru that mothers eyes, those freaks was right when they said you was dead…A pretty face may last a year or two, but pretty soon they’ll see what you can do, the sound you make is muzak to my ears…” Lennon’s political commentary is scathing and still relevant today, particularly “I Don’t Want To Be a Soldier” and “Gimme Some Truth” (“I’m sick and tired of hearing things from uptight-short sighted-narrow minded hypocrites, all I want is the truth, just gimme some truth. I’ve had enough of reading things by neurotic-psychotic-pig headed politicians…”). And the title track “Imagine” is highly political; to quote Lennon it is “an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song” and so perfectly composed that it became an enduring anthem for peace and non-violence.

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

The post John Lennon “Imagine” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

john lennon Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

John Lennon “Live In New York City”

John Lennon “Imagine”