The Artist: John Lennon
The CD: “The U.S. vs. John Lennon” (Soundtrack)
“The U.S. vs. John Lennon” is a movie currently playing the arthouse circuit. It documents the anti-war efforts of the former Beatle during the Vietnam quagmire and the darkest days of the Nixon administration. Many of us die-hard Beatle fans already knew about the FBI surveillance of Lennon when his files were declassified years ago. But the general public hasn’t really wrapped their minds around the fact that, within the last 40 years, we had a president so unstable and paranoid that he thought a rock musician was going to lead an uprising of young people against the government, and that extreme and legally-questionable measures would have to be taken to keep him from succeeding.
There were many levels of irony at play. Lennon, who famously railed against gurus, after spending his life searching in vain for a father figure, sort of became one himself, as he made a sincere effort to promote peace. Even though he never really got much farther than saying “war is bad,” the Nixon administration viewed him as a major threat and ordered the FBI to keep tabs on him 24 hours a day. Ultimately, Lennon lost his credibility as a spokesman for the peace movement, in part due to his constant rambling in interviews about how his phones were tapped and he and his wife were always being followed — which we now know to be true.
Today, it’s quaint to think that a rock musician could lead a youth movement to overthrow the government. Rock music has become too trivial and universal to be considered revolutionary. The youth movement of the early 1970s consisted of the generation that’s currently running Washington, and if anything, they’ve proven that it was right to dread their ascension to power, but not for the expected reasons. The movie “The U.S. vs. John Lennon” has no shortage of Bush/Nixon/Captain Queeg analogies, which lends it a relevance that’s strikes a rather depressing chord. We could really use a John Lennon now, but there are no likely candidates on the horizon. Nobody has the right combination of idealism, naivete, and raw musical talent to impress an entire generation.
And with this soundtrack CD, the music is what’s most important. Rather than a simple “greatest hits” collection, this is a thematic collection of Lennon’s most political songs. It’s a refreshing new take on the concept of repackaging Lennon’s back catalog. Back in the late ’70s, Capitol Records tried this sort of thing with the Beatles, releasing “Rock and Roll” and “Love Songs,” both of which sold millions, and both of which were ignored when it was time to release Beatle music on CD. This concept actually works very well when you have an artist with a rich catalog, and this CD is a real eye-opener.
Drawing largely from Lennon’s “Plastic Ono Band” and “Imagine” albums, “The U.S vs. John Lennon” presents some of Lennon’s less well-known songs in a new context that shows how vital the music was. “I Found Out” is a remarkably defiant statement of disillusionment with a sparse but striking arrangement. “I Don’t Want To Be A Soldier” speaks for itself. It’s not just an anti-war song, but an anti-ME-going-to-war song. (Later. this sentiment was echoed in “The Call Up” by The Clash.)
Now, 36 years after its release, “Working Class Hero” still ranks as one of the greatest artistic statements in rock music. Lennon rummages through his emotional baggage trying to figure out how he became the spokesman for a generation even though he wasn’t remotely close to having any real answers. The stark arrangement and a couple of f-bombs have kept this song from being over-exposed, so it’s managed to maintain the same raw emotional impact that it had back when the world seemed more interested in the breakup of the Beatles than in the war in Vietnam.
This CD also includes Lennon’s political slogan songs, “Give Peace A Chance,” which is not as embarrassing now as it was then, and “Power To The People,” which is way more embarrassing now than it was back then. It’s frightening to think that Lennon’s concept of promoting peace by using simple slogans displayed in big letters with dopey songs and catchphrases may have inspired a young Karl Rove to employ the same techniques when promoting his political puppets and their decidedly non-peaceful pursuits.
There are two unreleased cuts here: A live acoustic version of “Attica State” from Lennon and Yoko Ono’s much-maligned “Some Time In New York City” album reminds us that that album was only half as bad as everyone says it is. An instrumental version of “How Do You Sleep” from the “Imagine” album is a revelation. This song was already a minor masterpiece, but with the vocals stripped out, it takes on a whole new feel, and you can hear how impressive George Harrison’s guitar work on the track is. The latter cut is used as background music in the film, but it shows how impeccable the studio work of the Beatles could be, even after they split up.
The rest of the collection is well-thought-out. “Imagine” and “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)” are present, as is “God,” one of the most impressive vocal performances Lennon ever delivered, as well as an amazing song in its own right. Some of the more obscure cuts are a welcome diversion. “New York City” is a fun little rock and roll diary of Lennon’s time hanging out with the Yippies. “Gimme Some Truth” would be a good anthem for our country today.
A couple of the cuts are extremely obscure, having only been previously released on posthumous compilations. “Here We Go Again” is a song Lennon wrote with the infamous Phil Spector, and it’s not really very good. The live version of “John Sinclair,” about a political activist who’d been sentenced to ten years in prison for being caught with two joints, was just unearthed and released on the “Acoustic” album a couple of years ago. However, it fits perfectly here. It shows Lennon at his most strident, leading a live crowd at a protest rally. With this track, you can almost understand what the government feared about Lennon, if you ignore the fact that he was railing against a gross injustice.
In many ways, this CD could be a better introduction to John Lennon’s music than any of the countless greatest hits CDs. It’s more cohesive and presents different sides of Lennon than just his innate ability to write hit songs. There are examples of his sloganeering, both good and bad (”Give Peace A Chance” and “Power To The People,” respectively). We also get songs that are journalism in its purest form (”New York City” and The Beatles’ “Ballad Of John And Yoko”). There are also a few examples of Lennon at his most intimate (”Scared,” “Love,” and “Oh My Love”).
John Lennon was a complex artist, neither the saint nor the revolutionary that people thought he was. This CD gives the listener a pretty good picture of some of the many sides of the man behind the myths.
– By Rudy Panucci
