The 72nd Anniversary of the Birth of John Lennon

John Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980) was the founder of a Liverpool skiffle band called the Quarrymen, which, following membership changes that included the addition of fellow Liverpool teens Paul McCartney and George Harrison and a series of name changes, became the Beatles. The Beatles, of course, following the addition of Ringo Starr on drums, went on to conquer the world and become the most successful popular music group ever, both artistically and commercially. Lennon would be 72 years old if he were alive today. Since he isn’t, his public image is in certain senses fixed; for instance, the photos of him that are most frequently seen are from the 1960s (when he was in his 20s), the 1970s (when he was in his 30s) or, slightly less commonly, from the last year of his life, around the time he turned 40. In other ways, his image continues to evolve – but, as with other celebrities who have died, without being influenced for better or worse by anything he himself does.

As the founder of the group, John was commonly seen as the leader of the Beatles, especially in their early years. In many senses, this was the truth; in interviews, for instance, while all of them made clever remarks, John usually had the sharpest wit and commonly acted as the spokesman for the group as a whole. Within the band, the others also tended to follow John’s lead. Musically, Paul McCartney very quickly, if not from the very beginning of their recording career, became as much of a leader as John, and in the group’s later years, Paul clearly took charge in the studio. But in other ways, John remained the group’s spiritual leader. If, for instance, he actively opposed something Paul wanted to do rather than just apathetically going along, it was not likely to happen. Likewise, if he really wanted to do something, the others would generally go along.

I argued in my article on Paul McCartney that Paul contributed at least as much to the Beatles as John did, and so should be held in equal regard. This does not diminish John’s importance, however. Paul was (and arguably still is) a musical genius, but so was John. In many ways, they complemented each other perfectly. Of course, due to their background, they has a lot of the same taste in music (early rock and roll, Motown, etc.) and likewise shared a natural, untutored talent for composition. But in other ways they were quite different. The stereotype that Paul wrote melodic ballads and John wrote straight-ahead rock and roll is exaggerated, as Paul wrote plenty of harder-edged tunes and John wrote some lovely ballads, but like most stereotypes it had some basis in reality. Paul had much more of an interest in music hall and other pre-rock styles, as is seen from songs like “Honey Pie”, whereas John at best tolerated such detours. Lyrically, John often had a cynical and caustic edge, whereas Paul was usually sunny and optimistic. This difference was most obvious in later years, but it was clear from the beginning: for example, it’s hard to imagine Paul writing songs like “I’m a Loser” or “Help”, or John writing a song like “I’ll Follow the Sun”. These opposing or rather complementary ways of looking at things can even be seen in songs they wrote together, like “We Can Work It Out” or “Getting Better”, as John and Paul themselves observed in their comments on these songs.

I noted in my previous article that while John wrote many of the most cutting edge, experimental songs the group put out, Paul often played an important, even vital role in arranging and producing them. But for Paul to have an opportunity to experiment with tape loops on “Tomorrow Never Knows” or an orchestra going crazy on “A Day in the Life”, or have a chance to play an otherworldly Mellotron intro on “Strawberry Fields Forever”, John had to write those songs in the first place (or most of the song in the case of “A Day in the Life”). While the Beatles wouldn’t have been the great band they were without Paul’s contributions, John was just as indispensable (it can reasonably be argued that George and Ringo were indispensable as well, but in terms of songwriting, John and Paul were clearly the key to the group’s artistic greatness). The songs referred to above are not only among the most innovative the Beatles recorded, but among the best in popular music history, and the world would be a much poorer place without any of them, not to mention “Help”, “Norwegian Wood”, “I Am the Walrus”, “Come Together” and many others that John wrote.

John’s solo career got off to a great start with several great singles like “Give Peace a Chance”, “Cold Turkey” and “Instant Karma” and the brilliant John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970). The latter album was filled with stark, emotional tracks like “Mother”, “God”, “Love”, “I Found Out” and “Working Class Heroes”. While it was a dramatic departure from the recordings made by the Beatles, it is almost universally well-regarded and is seen by many (including me) as John’s best solo album. His only other solo album to sometimes figure in top album lists is his second, Imagine (1971), due to not only the title track, which is by far the best known Lennon solo song (with only “Give Peace a Chance” being almost as widely heard), but other solid efforts like “Jealous Guy”, “Gimme Some Truth” and “It’s So Hard” (it also contains “How Do You Sleep”, an attack on Paul that is wrongly taken to represent how John felt about his former partner in the post-Beatles era – in fact it represented the nadir of their relationship). His other solo albums, Some Time in New York City (1972), Mind Games (1973), Walls and Bridges (1974), the oldies album Rock 'n' Roll (1975), Double Fantasy (1980) and the posthumous Milk and Honey (1984) – the last two and the first of these being partly made up of songs by his wife Yoko Ono – are considered something more of a mixed bag. Nowadays most critics view them mostly positively (except Some Time in New York City, which many regard as overly strident in tone), but they are generally held to have a fair number of mediocre songs, though opinions vary as to which are the good ones and which the mediocre ones. I haven’t listened to some of these albums all the way through more than a few times, since I don’t have copies of all of them, but my general impression is that they aren’t as consistent as his first two. However, they do all have at least a few good and even great songs, like “Mind Games”, “#9 Dream”, “(Just Like) Starting Over”, “Watching The Wheels” and “Nobody Told Me”.

Since he was murdered by a deranged fan just as he was beginning a comeback following a long sabbatical from music, John Lennon has been almost deified by many music fans. His idealism, his witty cynicism, and his (sometimes brutal) honesty all played a major role in making him the hip people’s favorite Beatle, but being seen as a martyr had at least as much to do with it as any of his real virtues, just as John F. Kennedy is generally ranked as one of the greatest presidents in polls of ordinary Americans more because he was assassinated than for any actual accomplishments. John’s death has resulted in a number of distortions in the public view of him. One is his relationship with Paul after the Beatles, which was much better than commonly believed; despite a period of hostility, they later hung out together and even played some music together. Another is his relationship with Yoko, which according to many who knew them was far from perfect. Also, despite his idealism, John could be inconsistent and didn’t always practice what he preached. In terms of music, there has been a tendency to consider John the true source of the Beatles’ greatness. Since this deification of John comes at the expense of the other Beatles and particularly Paul, I have many problems with it, as do others. Peter Gabriel, for example, said in a letter to the editors of The Lennon Companion: “Although I was and I am a big Lennon fan, I feel the canonisation of this particular hero of mine has overlooked the formative roles of the other Beatles, particularly Paul and George, and I am a little concerned that your project may give the gloss and blessings of the arts establishment to a one-sided memory.” It is hard for Paul to compete with a dead man for critical acclaim, but an objective look at their work with the Beatles – and their solo work as well – shows them to be equally deserving of admiration. But even if John should not be placed more highly than Paul, he certainly ranks alongside him as one of the most important figures in 20th century popular music. His songs, his wit, and his idealism were and still are an inspiration to countless people, and will doubtless continue to be for a long time to come.

Below I have listed 50 of John Lennon’s best songs with the Beatles. While I haven’t included songs like “She Loves You” that were written more or less equally by John and Paul, I have included a few that Paul made a substantial contribution to, most notably “A Day in the Life”, where Paul not only wrote the middle section but the “I’d love to turn you on” line. There is also some dispute regarding the authorship of “In My Life”; while everyone agrees that John wrote all the lyrics, Paul says he wrote the melody, whereas John said Paul only helped with the middle eight. Since it’s impossible to verify either account (unlike in the case of “Eleanor Rigby”, John and Paul seem to have been the only ones present for the writing of “In My Life”), I have assumed it was mainly John’s, though Paul certainly helped on the melody. I didn’t try to make a list of John’s best solo songs; a few of the best are mentioned above, but a full list will have to wait for a future article.

John Lennon with the Beatles
Please Please Me
It Won’t Be Long
Not a Second Time
This Boy
A Hard Day’s Night
I Should Have Known Better
If I Fell
You Can’t Do That
I Feel Fine
No Reply
I’m a Loser
Help
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
Ticket to Ride
You’re Going to Lose That Girl
Day Tripper (Lyrics and Music co-written by Paul McCartney)
Norwegian Wood (Lyrics co-written by Paul McCartney)
Nowhere Man
In My Life (Music co-written by Paul McCartney)
Girl
Rain
I’m Only Sleeping
She Said She Said
And Your Bird Can Sing
Tomorrow Never Knows
Strawberry Fields Forever
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (Lyrics co-written by Paul McCartney)
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
A Day in the Life (Lyrics and Music co-written by Paul McCartney)
All You Need is Love
I Am the Walrus
Revolution
Dear Prudence
Glass Onion
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
I’m So Tired
Julia
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
Yer Blues
Good Night
Don’t Let Me Down
Hey Bulldog
The Ballad of John and Yoko
Come Together
I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
Because
Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam
Across the Universe
Free as a Bird (Lyrics and Music co-written by McCartney/Harrison/Starkey)
Real Love

Gordon Sumner, aka Sting

Sting, born Gordon Sumner on October 2, 1951, is a singer-songwriter and musician who first became famous as the lead vocalist and chief songwriter for the Police. Prior to joining the Police, he had played in a number of bands in his native Newcastle, most notably Last Exit. Sting was the group’s bassist and singer (the same roles he later had in the Police) and the other key figure was keyboard player Gerry Richardson, who wrote "Whispering Voices" and "Evensong", the songs on the only single the band released. Many of the other songs the band played live were tracks that Sting later reused with the Police or as a solo artist, such as “I Burn for You”, "Oh My God", “Truth Kills” (an early version of “Truth Hits Everybody”), and “Savage Beast” (an early version of “We Work the Black Seam”). It’s interesting to note how these jazz-influenced arrangements are not unlike much of Sting’s post-Police solo work. For those who want to know more about this part of Sting’s career and his life up until the time the Police began to make it big, his excellent autobiography, Broken Music, is well worth checking out.

As he makes clear in his autobiography, one of Sting’s main motivations for teaming up with drummer Stewart Copeland to form the Police is that as he saw it as a vehicle to break into the music business. While Copeland conceived the group as a punk band (though Sting implies that Copeland – who had previously been the drummer in the progressive band Curved Air, which was likewise far removed from punk – also may have been exploiting musical trends), Sting liked neither the name nor the kind of music they played at first, and tried to steer the group in a more romantic direction at first opportunity. That he eventually succeeded can be seen from their later material, much of which bore no resemblance whatsoever to punk.

While Sting very quickly took over from Copeland as the main songwriter in the Police, both Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers, who replaced original guitarist Henri Padovani before the group’s first major label recordings, played important roles, particularly in the arranging. They resisted Sting’s inclinations towards more jazzy numbers, and Copeland in particular made the songs much more up-tempo than they would have been if it had been entirely up to Sting. Nevertheless, as the writer of the songs, Sting deserves the greatest share of the credit for the group’s success. Songs like “Message in a Bottle”, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”, “King of Pain” and “Every Breath You Take” are brilliant regardless of the arrangement, and even those such as the excellent “Synchronicity II” where it’s hard to imagine them without the propulsive arrangement the Police gave them, much of their virtue comes from Sting’s lyrics and melody.

After Sting went solo, he no longer felt constrained to keep things simple lyrically and musically, so he incorporated more jazz and classical influences into his music and his lyrics became if possible even more literary (though it is hard to top rhymes using Nabokov and Charybdis, both of which appear in Police songs). This has resulted in charges of pretentiousness from critics, but I see no reason why pop music can’t be intelligent and literary; for that matter, the way some of the same critics dismiss many popular, established artists out of hand in favor of underground music or the next new trend is just pretentious in its way. While Sting’s solo work generally doesn’t have the immediate, visceral appeal of his hits with the Police, it is on the whole just as good. Of course, that doesn’t mean every song he has released either with the Police or as a solo artist is great, but even the least appealing songs are listenable, and the best are classics.

While all of the albums Sting has released are worth listening to, the best of the five Police albums in my view are Zenyatta Mondatta (1980) and Synchronicity (1983), with Ghost in the Machine (1981) not far behind. The best Sting solo album to date is Ten Summoner’s Tales (1993), followed by The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985) and Brand New Day (1999). …Nothing Like the Sun (1987) and The Soul Cages (1991), though not quite as consistently enjoyable as the above three, have two of the very best songs he ever wrote, “Fragile” and “All This Time” respectively, as well some other good material, particularly in the case of The Soul Cages ("Mad About You" and "Why Should I Cry For You" are also excellent, so I might sometimes put this album in my top three, depending on my mood). For that matter, Mercury Falling (1996) and Sacred Love (2003) are both solid, if not quite equal to his other albums. Sting’s last three albums have not been albums of new material: Songs from the Labyrinth (2006) was an album of the songs Elizabethan composer John Dowland, If on a Winter’s Night… (2009) was an album of winter-themed songs (mostly traditional, though a few of Sting’s own songs were included), and Symphonicities (2010) was an album of reinterpretations of previous Sting songs as classical symphony pieces. While I don’t have If on a Winter’s Night…, the other two are quite interesting, even if it would also be nice to hear an album of new songs. Sting has also released close to two albums’ worth of tracks on movie soundtracks or as B-sides of singles, including both original songs and covers. Of his more obscure B-sides, a favorite of mine is “Conversation with a Dog”, which is as good as anything except “Fragile” on Nothing Like the Sun, the album it’s an outtake from. I also quite like "Beneath a Desert Moon".

Sting's songwriting is generally pretty consistent in terms of both lyrics and melodies. On some songs the melody seems to take a back seat to the lyrics, but on his best songs the match is excellent. Aside from being a very good singer, he is a talented bassist and guitarist (his playing on "Fragile" is a good example of the latter), and he also plays a bit of keyboard and numerous other instruments. No doubt in part due to his ability to play multiple instruments, he's also a great arranger, though fans of the Police may miss the contributions of Summers and Copeland in this regard. In addition to his musical skills, Sting has also contributed to many worthy causes such as human rights (he has performed for Amnesty International) and the environment. Admittedly, his record is not perfect; he did a commercial for Jaguar, which doesn't quite accord with his environmentalism, and he did a concert in Uzbekistan paid for by their authoritarian president. However, the good he has done outweighs these (admittedly rather glaring) misdeeds.

I have listed thirty of Sting’s best songs with the Police and as a solo artist. As usual, there are other songs that I like more or less as well as some of those that I included, and if I were to redo the list without referring to this one, it would no doubt come out differently.

The Best of Sting
(All songs written by Sting except where otherwise noted; tracks 1-14 originally performed by the Police)

Roxanne
Can’t Stand Losing You
Message in a Bottle
Walking on the Moon
Don’t Stand So Close to Me
De Do Do Do De Da Da Da
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Spirits in the Material World
Invisible Sun
Every Breath You Take
Synchronicity II
King of Pain
Wrapped Around Your Finger
I Burn for You
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free
Fortress around Your Heart
Russians (Music: Sting, Sergei Prokofiev)
Moon Over Bourbon Street
Fragile
Conversation with a Dog
All This Time
Mad About You
Fields of Gold
Seven Days
Saint Augustine in Hell
Epilogue (Nothing ‘Bout Me)
The Hounds of Winter
Desert Rose
Brand New Day
Send Your Love

Honorable Mentions: Driven to Tears, Canary in a Coalmine, When the World Is Running Down You Make the Best of What's Still Around, One World (Not Three), Tea in the Sahara, Children’s Crusade, Be Still My Beating Heart, Englishman in New York, Why Should I Cry for You, Saint Agnes and the Burning Train, If I Ever Lose My Faith in You, She's Too Good for Me, Shape of My Heart (Music: Dominic Miller), Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot, All Four Seasons, I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying, Beneath a Desert Moon, After the Rain Has Fallen, A Thousand Years (Kipper/Sting), Ghost Story, Inside, Whenever I Say Your Name