Jack+Keller-+John+Lennon

3/26/12 In My Life

There are places I'll remember All my life though some have changed Some forever not for better Some have gone and some remain All these places had their moments (5) With lovers and friends I still can recall Some are dead and some are living In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers There is no one compares with you (10) And these memories lose their meaning When I think of love as something new Though I know I'll never lose affection For people and things that went before I know I'll often stop and think about them (15) In my life I love you more

Though I know I'll never lose affection For people and things that went beforeI know I'll often stop and think about themI n my life I love you more (20) In my life I love you more

“In My Life” was recorded on October 18, 1965 for the 11th track of The Beatle’s 6th studio album //Rubber Soul.// Ranked 23th on //Rolling Stone//’s, “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”, it goes without saying that this classic is a Beatle Hallmark. According to “John Lennon: The Life and Legend”, John Lennon began working on this composition in 1964 after Kenneth Allsop, an English Journalist, commented that Lennon should write more song about his childhood. Originally written from as a “bus route” through his life, Lennon did not like where this song was going, calling it, "the most boring sort of 'What I Did On My Holidays Bus Trip' song" as he stopped working on it and forgot about it. In an interview with //Rolling Stone//, Lennon remembers sitting in the upstairs of his house in Kenwood when he decided to pick up the song again. However, this time Lennon would reworked the song to generalize his memories. The opening verse is believe to be written from the same vantage point as his previous song: from his seat on bus 5 into the city which passed strawberry fields and Penny Lane (both famous songs). It is believed that first half of line 7 is referring to Stu Sutcliffe while the second half is about Pete Shotten. Stu Sutcliffe was a childhood friend and former bassist for the Beatles. He left the band to pursue an art career before his death of Brain Aneurysm in 1962. Pete Shotten was Lennon’s life-long best friend and former percussionist for the band until he was fired for not enjoying to play. This did not sour the relationship between the two as Shotten would become good friends with the band as well as write John Lennon’s biography, //John Lennon: In My Life//. I have always felt that it is better view this piece as a whole. When listening to this song, I feel that Lennon is describing his relationship with time. Within the song, we learn of Lennon’s affection for his aunt, Mimi Smith, who raised him in the absence of non-exist parents. Seeming to be a meditation on life and growing up, Lennon writes about the change time has put in his life as he relives and remember, “ the moments with lovers and friends.” (5-6). As Lennon explained to //Rolling Stone//, this song revolutionized his song writing saying, "I started being me about the songs, not writing them objectively, but subjectively." "In My Life" resonates with me in my life as its conjures up memoires spent with my Father whose obsession with The Beatles might be addiction. But, I think the real reason why this song is so acclaimed is because it serves as a melodic memory of where we have been, where we are now, and where we are heading.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-beatles-songs-20110919/in-my-life-19691231#ixzz1qBqiFbG1 @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI0Q8ytD44Y

3/26/12

Nowhere Man

He's a real nowhere man, Sitting in his Nowhere Land, Making all his nowhere plans for nobody.

Doesn't have a point of view, (5) Knows not where he's going to, Isn't he a bit like you and me?

Nowhere Man please listen, You don't know what you're missing, Nowhere Man,the world is at your command! (10)

He's as blind as he can be, Just sees what he wants to see, Nowhere Man can you see me at all?

Nowhere Man, don't worry, Take your time, don't hurry, (15) Leave it all till somebody else lends you a hand!

Doesn't have a point of view, Knows not where he's going to, Isn't he a bit like you and me? (20)

Nowhere Man please listen, you don't know what you're missing Nowhere Man, the world is at your command!

He's a real Nowhere Man, Sitting in his Nowhere Land, (25) Making all his nowhere plans for nobody. Making all his nowhere plans for nobody. Making all his nowhere plans (30) for nobody! "I remember I was just going through this paranoia trying to write something and nothing would come out, so I just lay down and tried not to write and then this came out."The idea of John Lennon having writer’s block amuses me. I love the image of John Lennon pacing back and forth in the upstairs room of his Kenwood Mansion desperately attempting to write something meaningful and he cannot draw anything up from the well of his mind. But, as soon as he stops trying, it comes to him. It still baffles me. Recorded on October 21 and 22, 1965 for the 4th track of //Rubber Soul//, “Nowhere Man” is ranked 66th on //Rolling Stone//’s list of “100 Greatest Beatles Song”. A philosophical meditation on where John Lennon was heading in his life, this song was one of the very first songs that had nothing to do with love or romance. This harmonious gander into the “nowhere” of his life expresses the frustration and boredom Lennon was facing in his songwriting, which reflects the philosophical edge of //Rubber Soul.// In an Interview with //Rolling Stone//, Lennon explained that man “who's "making all his nowhere plans for nobody" and "knows not where he's going to" was himself. He was troubled state in his career because sweet and catchy loves songs were springing forth like in years past, rather Lennon was extraordinarily pensive. He explains “Nowhere Man” as an intricate webbing of past advice coupled with the happenings of his current life. Perhaps written by Wiseman or sage reflection on an innocent and meandering youth, Lines 5-7 seem to suggest that the Nowhere Man cannot make up his mind on his future. Having been in a similar situation—“Isn’t he a bit like you and me?’(7)—The Sage follows up the Nowhere Man’s indecisiveness with instructions to get out there and try, which is shortly followed by the Nowhere Man’s stubbornness and blindness to reality—lines 11-13. Realizing that he is only going to learn through experience, the teacher gives ups and tells him to “Leave it all till somebody else lends you a hand”(16-17). I really love this song as it relates to dilemmas in my life—where am I going and why? It is comforting to know that one of the world’s greatest musicians and thinkers went through a similar situation.

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4/18/12

Revolution You say you want a revolution Well, you knowWe all want to change the world You tell me that it's evolution Well, you know (5) We all want to change the world But when you talk about destruction Don't you know that you can count me out Don't you know it's gonna be all right all right, all right (10)

You say you got a real solution Well, you know We'd all love to see the plan You ask me for a contribution Well, you know (15) We're doing what we can But when you want moneyfor people with minds that hate <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">All I can tell is brother you have to wait <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Don't you know it's gonna be all right (20) <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">all right, all right

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Ahah, ah, ah, ah, ah...

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">You say you'll change the constitution <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Well, you know (25) <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">We all want to change your head <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">You tell me it's the institution <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Well, you knowYou better free you mind instead <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao (30) <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Don't you know it's gonna be all right <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">all right, all right <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">all right, all right, all right <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">all right, all right, all right (35)

In 1968, there was worldwide civil unrest. The Tet Offensive stimulated university student’s protest to the Vietnam War. The assassination of peace advocate and leader Martin Luther King Jr. created more political disturbance as strikes and student rallies surged on in both America and Europe. The Beatles, who were openly against the Vietnam War—violence in general—were not going to sit back and let this violence ensue before their very eyes. Consequently, when the Beatles hit the studio in the summer of 1968, they let the world know exactly how they felt. Indecisive as where to turn next, the Beatles spoke out about what was happening. From the machine gun sounding guitars to the snarling politically-charged lyrics, Lennon made his opinion loud and clear. “I wanted to put out what I felt about revolution," Lennon told Rolling Stone in 1970. "I thought it was time we spoke about it. The same as we stopped not answering about the Vietnamese War [when we were] on tour with Brian [Epstein]. We had to tell him, 'We're going to talk about the war this time, and we're not going to just waffle.'" After the release of “Revolution”, The New Left and counterculture media expressed their feeling of “betrayal” as they described the song in the //New Left Review// as “a lamentable petty bourgeois cry of fear". However, some praised The Beatles for rejecting their anti-violent campaign against radicalism for the more supportive “pacifist idealism.” Yet, Lennon was not off hook quite yet as he became the target of numerous pro-Leninist, Maoist, and Trotskyist groups. As the verses allude to, Lennon felt the, “the lyrics stand today,” as he told //Rolling Stone// in 1980. "They're still my feeling about politics: I want to see the plan. . . . I want to know what you're going to do after you've knocked it all down. I mean, can't we use some of it? What's the point of bombing Wall Street? If you want to change the system, change the system. It's no good shooting people." [] []

**Blackbird** Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly All your life You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Black bird singing in the dead of night (5) Take these sunken eyes and learn to see all your life you were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly Into the light of the dark black night. (10)

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly All your life (15) You were only waiting for this moment to arise, You were only waiting for this moment to arise, You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird" was really about the struggle over civil rights Often cited as a response to Lennon’s Revolutions, Paul McCartney recorded “Blackbird” for the White Album on his own. Messing around with his guitar on his Scottish farm, McCartney fingerpicked the melody, which was “loosely based on Bach’s Bourrée in E minor." Lyrically centered around Civil Rights uproar in 1968, McCartney wrote “Blackbird” about Melba Pattillo Beals, who was one of the member of the Little Rock Nine—a group of black students who were the first to integrate the segregated Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. As McCartney explained to //Rolling Stone//, “: "I had in mind a black woman, rather than a bird. Those were the days of the civil rights movement, which all of us cared passionately about, so this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: 'Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.'" Lyrically, the song tells a story of a Blackbird, a symbol for African-Americans, who is broken and cries out for help. Oppressed by reality, this Blackbird has an opportunity to fly out into the night and see the world. Clearly symbolic for the Little Rock Nine integration into public schools, the Blackbird finally takes the opportunity “she” had been “waiting” for all her life. A beckon of hope to all, Paul McCartney sweet ballad was ranked by //Rolling Stone// as the 38th greatest Beatles song. Echoing that ranking, “Blackbird” has been covered over 1,300 times by various artists.

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