The best songwriters of all time (3): John Lennon
Even his earliest work with Paul McCartney suggested that their songs would not only change music, but the entire world. “They did things that no one else did,” Bob Dylan said after a long drive in Colorado with Beatles songs playing constantly on the radio.
In a second step, they would take a psychedelic foray into their inner lives and push the boundaries of pop songs with songs like “Hard Days’s Night” or “In My Life”.
“I knew at that moment that they were pointing in exactly the direction that the music needed to take.” Which meant, first of all, taking a step back to infuse pop music with the raw energy of early rock ‘n’ roll. Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Little Richard. In a second step, they would take a psychedelic foray into their inner lives and push the boundaries of pop songs with songs like “Hard Days’s Night” or “In My Life”.
Finally, to take a leap into those avant-garde sound structures that had previously only existed in their dreams: “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “A Day In The Life”, “Revolution #9”.
“I’m interested in things that have meaning for all people,” he told Rolling Stone in 1970. “And not just for a few kids listening to the wallpaper in their bedroom.”
Nobody understood better than John Lennon how to articulate the tension between private and political life. It was no wonder that universally valid songs like “Watching The Wheels” or “Imagine” dominated his solo years. “I’m interested in things that have meaning for all people,” he told Rolling Stone in 1970. “And not just for a few kids listening to the wallpaper in their bedroom.”