John Lennon
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Twenty years ago David
Sheff climbed the back steps of the Dakota into the personal thoughts and dreams of John
Lennon and Yoko Ono. From the kitchen to the studio and up those fateful Dakota steps,
Sheff recorded 20 hours of tape, discussing everything from childhood to the Beatles. Sheff gives a rare and last glimpse of John and Yoko, one that seemed to look beyond the kitchen table to the future of the world with startling premonitions of what was to come. |
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"Stands out as one
of the few books that don't want to deify, dish the dirt about or otherwise exploit the
slain former Beatle."--Stephen Holden, New York Times Book Review. "Just when you might have thought there was nothing new to say about the late John Lennon, the ex-Beatle, and Richard Nixon, the ex-president, comes a new story about both." --Dan Rather, CBS Evening News |
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John Lennon was not only a musician, he was also an artist of many talents who wrote short stories and nonsense texts, and created drawings and photographs. Though he studied at the Liverpool Art Institiute from 1957 to 1960, it was his music that brought him international fame. In this volume, Lennon's other creative output is published. The book includes his drawings and lithographs, including erotic works from the controversial "Bag One" portfolio, his photographs, lyrics and prose, his record sleeve designs, first editions of his books, and documentary material on the posters and performances. | |||||||
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When FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover reported to the Nixon White House in 1972 about the Bureau's surveillance of John Lennon, he began by explaining that Lennon was a "former member of the Beatles singing group." When a copy of this letter arrived in response to Jon Wiener's 1981 Freedom of Information request, the entire text was withheldalong with almost 200 other pageson the grounds that releasing it would endanger national security. This book tells the story of the author's remarkable fourteen-year court battle to win release of the Lennon files under the Freedom of Information Act in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. With the publication of Gimme Some Truth, 100 key pages of the Lennon FBI file are availablecomplete and unexpurgated, fully annotated and presented in a "before and after" format. Lennon's file was compiled in 1972, when the war in Vietnam was at its peak, when Nixon was facing reelection, and when the "clever Beatle" was living in New York and joining up with the New Left and the anti-war movement. The Nixon administration's efforts to "neutralize" Lennon are the subject of Lennon's file. The documents are reproduced in facsimile so that readers can see all the classification stamps, marginal notes, blacked out passages andin some casesthe initials of J. Edgar Hoover. The file includes lengthy reports by confidential informants detailing the daily lives of anti-war activists, memos to the White House, transcripts of TV shows on which Lennon appeared, and a proposal that Lennon be arrested by local police on drug charges. Fascinating, engrossing, at points hilarious and absurd, Gimme Some Truth documents an era when rock music seemed to have real political force and when youth culture challenged the status quo in Washington. It also delineates the ways the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations fought to preserve government secrecy, and highlights the legal strategies adopted by those who have challenged it. | |||||||
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Fogo examines the ways in which John Lennon's brutal killing in 1980 and the commentary on it are part of a larger context of social disturbance that calls into question fundamental social meanings and relationships. He particularly analyses the print media's response to Lennon's death. | |||||||
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Of all John Lennon's songs, "Imagine" has come to represent the man himself. More than any of the great songs he wrote for the Beatles, this gentle, poignant ballad serves as Lennon's epitaph. Published to coincide with the December anniversary of Lennon's death, Imagine offers a collection of words and images which together make an elegant memorial and an evocative gift. 40 duotone photos. |
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Presents the life of John Lennon, from his early years through the rise and breakup of the Beatles to his final days in New York. | |||||||
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Explores this rock musician's childhood and personal life, his career with the Beatles and on his own, and his lasting impression on the music world. | |||||||
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On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was gunned down outside his home in New York City by an impassioned admirer, Mark David Chapman. After his death, Lennon's memory attained mythic stature and he is now considered one of rock-n-roll's most important figures. This photographic biography is a compelling celebration of Lennon's life and music, as told through vibrant black-and-white photographs and descriptive text. From Liverpool childhood to the Beatles conquering America to his being the most famous house-husband/political activist in the 1970s, this book covers every phase of this amazing artist's life and career. | |||||||
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As John Lennon said to Playboy in 1980, "I like to write about me, because I know
about me." John Lennon: Whatever Gets You Through the Night is a song-by-song
analysis of every song Lennon wrote and recorded after the Beatles breakup in 1970 until
his death in 1980. In his songs he explored the traumas of his childhood, the bitter legacy of the Beatles, his love for Yoko, his infidelities, and his insecurity. There are also the classic anthems of social protest, like "Give Peace a Chance" and "Power to the People." Even his choice of covers like "Stand by Me" and "Be-Bop-A-Lula" tells much about his musical roots. Finally there are Lennon's accounts of his domestic contentment and optimism for the future. |
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A brief biography of the English rock musician with emphasis on his early years and the formation of the famous Beatles. | |||||||
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Lennon, as an icon, a dreamer, a songwriter and a flawed poet, has never been surpassed. In almost a thousand pages and over half-a-million words, renowned Beatles authority and archivist Bill Harry provides an alphabetical, comprehensive and definitive celebration of John Winston Lennon, the man who has now been venerated and adored by three generations of rock fans. It aims to include every track Lennon ever wrote or worked on, every gig he ever played, and biographies of everyone involved in his life. |
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This book draws on conversations with Lennon relating to his time with the Beatles and his years as a solo artist. | |||||||
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A revised and updated edition of the best and most complete biography about the influential Beatle, with new revelations and photographs. A bestseller, Lennon won Goldmine magazine's 1985 Best Book of the Year Award. Ray Coleman also wrote The Man Who Made the Beatles and coauthored Clapton! with Eric Clapton and Stone Alone with Bill Wyman. | |||||||
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From Gloria Steinem's 1964 Cosmo article that asked the question "Will he last?" to moving recollections of Lennon written after his murder, this remarkable collection of over 60 articles is a fascinating guide to a magical time, and one of its most important symbols. Three 8-page photo inserts. | |||||
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In the decade before his assassination, John Lennon touched the lives of millions of men and women around the world; drawing upon his media credentials as a former Beatle, he spoke out against violence and materialism ... until his voice was silenced. Although Lennon has now been dead for more than 20 years, his message endures — and Lennon in America is a heartbreaking look at his powerful legacy. | |||||||
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For the first time ever in print: The full John Lennon Rolling Stone interviews
from 1970. Includes substantial new material, never before published. Here, available for the first time in full, are the extraordinary interviews with John Lennon conducted by Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner in 1970. With characteristic honesty and deadpan wit, Lennon discusses the break-up of the Beatles, his favorite tracks with the group and how they were made, fellow musicians including the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, his attitude toward revolution and drugs, and the tenderness of his relationship with Yoko Ono. Published on the twentieth anniversary of his death, and containing substantial material never before seen in print, Lennon Remembers presents a compelling portrait of a complex musical genius at the height of his career. Sometimes anguished and angry, often tender and poignant, these interviews are indispensable to understanding who John Lennon was and why his legacy continues to resonate today. New foreword by Yoko Ono, new introduction by Jann Wenner. Includes never-before-published facsimiles of handwritten lyrics by Lennon. |
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The result of six years of research and some 1,200 interviews, this book takes fans deep into Lennon's secretive world, from his traumatic childhood to his Beatles days to his hidden life with Yoko Ono. While the Lennon of legend enjoyed a gifted and inspired life, the private Lennon lived in torment, poisoning himself with drugs and self-hatred. The Lives of John Lennon exposed for the first time all of his various lives, from idealist to cynic, from ascetic to junkie. It is a lasting tribute to his brilliant achievements and a revelation of the price he paid for them. | |||||||
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1969 was the most productive and eventful year of John Lennon's life. It was during this period that Lennon produced some of his greatest work with the Beatles, divorced Cynthia Lennon and married Yoko Ono, and overcame a short-lived heroin addiction. It was also the year when the tension between the Beatles became intolerable. This book features rare, exclusive interviews from Lennon during this period as well as exclusive interviews from other Beatles, Lennon's family - many of whom have never spoken publicly before - and other insiders including Yoko Ono herself. 200 photos. | |||||||
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Loss and mourning loom over John Lennon's life and legacy. Since his tragic death in 1980,
he has embodied our culture's feelings of loss; he has become an object of mourning, of
fantasy, of desire. Lennon himself created an aesthetic vocabulary for dealing with loss,
pain, and loneliness that is unparalleled in modern times. His personal crises reflect
core dimensions of modern social experience, in particular transformations affecting
sexuality, masculinity, identity, and fatherhood. In this provocative account, Anthony
Elliott places Lennon's life and career in its social context, examining the ways the
ex-Beatle has come to symbolize an entire culture's struggle to mourn. Elliott interweaves broad-ranging discussions of celebrity, pop music, politics, feminism, psychoanalysis, and postmodern-ism with in-depth analyses of Lennon's life and art. Beginning with a brilliant reading of Albert Goldman's bestselling biography, he moves to the loneliness and pain of Lennon's childhood, developing a powerful analysis of songs such as Strawberry Fields Forever and I Am the Walrus. From Help to Mother to I'm Losing You, he contends that a consistent exploration of pain and loss in the wider emotional and political world is evident in the body of Lennon's works. Elliott explores the complex, contradictory role of love in Lennon's life, with a particular focus on the themes of guilt and grief, sexuality and desire. He gives careful attention to Lennon's personal relationships --from his marriage to Cynthia Powell to his extraordinary romance with Yoko Ono. Elliott also offers a fresh consideration of Lennon's commitment to radical politics and world peace; a detailed account of his withdrawal from public life and his time as a house-husband in the late 1970s; and an examination of the postmodern, hi- tech "reunion" of The Beatles in 1994, in which John Lennon magically returned from the dead for the recording of Free as a Bird and Real Love. By exploring the ways we remember Lennon--from the endless repackaging of his music to the more serious reappraisals of his significance in contemporary culture--we come to see this modern icon, as well as ourselves, in a new and different light. |
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Twenty-four hours after Lennon's murder, the personal assistant of the ex-Beatle told me
that Lennon, while they were in Bermuda together that summer, had asked him to write the
true story of his Dakota days. It would not be the official tale of the happy, eccentric
househusband raising Sean and baking bread while Yoko ran the family business. Instead, it
would be the story of a tormented superstar, a prisoner of his fame, locked in his
bedroom, raving about Jesus Christ while a retinue of servants tended to his every need.
'It'll be the Ultimate Lennon Biography!' said the visibly shaken aide. 'It's what John
wants.' It was our job to carry out Lennon's final wishes." --Robert Rosen This eerie biography tells the truth about John Lennon's final days in the Dakota. New York City journalist Robert Rosen, a vessel of information on the tripped-out, alienated legend, had insider sources who divulged everything. In 1981, five months after John Lennon's murder, Rosen was even given the ex-Beatles diaries. Until now nobody has ever heard his unique perspective on Lennon. Nowhere Man is an inside look at the conflicted, schizophrenic, Dakota-era that Lennon himself wanted exposed after his death. Lennon was torn between twin poles of fame and reclusiveness,i ndulgence and asceticism, considering himself a "working class hero" one day and then the next, Jesus Christ. |
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In a sunny living room on a relaxing Sunday, a man and his son sit drawing pictures and giggling over their silly captions. Sound familiar? The only difference between your home and the one in the image are the characters: here the father is rock legend John Lennon and the son is popular musician Sean Lennon. This was how the two bonded as Sean was growing up - over a piece of paper and some colouring pencils. Dad shared his love and his creative energy with his son, and you can share it too in Real Love: The Drawing for Sean, a book of their collaborative drawings. | |||||||
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Too often artists are pigeonholed into the first genre that they succeed in and aren't allowed to expand their creative base. That was, in part, the case with John Lennon, but his odd foray into literature is always satisfying. Skywriting by Word of Mouth is an eclectic collection of odd sayings from the fertile imagination of one the most beloved songwriters of this century. Alongside quirky gems like "Maurice finished his donut, tipped over the waitress and headed for the door," Lennon adds unusual drawings that will captivate your imagination. | |||||||
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"It is fascinating of course to climb inside a Beatle's head to see what's going on
there, but what counts is that what's going on there is really fascinating". --London
Sunday Times 30 two-color line drawings. |
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