John Lennon The Life
Philip Norman
WHEW! This is one long book. Philip Norman begat this brick of a book. Look at it! It’s huge. It’s kind of impressive in its sheer size. Who knew the life of John Lennon could be fascinating enough to fill the pages of “War and Peace nearly”?
Firstly, this is a must-read for all rock and roll fans. The life of John Lennon is the history of rock and roll. Don’t believe me? Of course, you do.
Beatles fans will love pouring over the details of Lennon’s life and his creative life within the Beatles. Mr. Norman spends the vast majority of the book on The Beatles. John Lennon’s creative life after The Beatles was essentially ignored, for all intents and purposes.
“John Lennon the Life” spends so little time on his life in the 70s that the name of the book should have been different. Maybe it should have been “John Lennon The 60s Life”, that’s a genius title - if I do say so myself.
That is not to say this is a bad book—just the opposite. I would have been more than happy if Philip Norman had made the book several hundred pages longer than it is and had spent more time on Lennon’s life in the 70s.
Maybe it should have been a 2 part book. Lennon’s life in the 60s followed by a second book about the life of Lennon in the 70s. Someone has done something similar with Elvis Presley so why not Lennon? Wanting more of this book is not just a good thing it’s a great thing.
It was fascinating to learn just how quick Lennon was with words. While he was riding in a cab with Maureen Cleave, a member of the British press, he was working on lyrics to a new song. Lennon read the lyrics to Cleave who thought some of them sounded kind of “clunky”. “ when I get home to you, I find my tiredness is through”.
Any Beatles fan worth their salt will know that John was working on the lyrics to “HELP”. So, during the course of a cab ride, Joh Lennon changed the words and came up with the classic line “when I get home to you I find the things that you do”. Ms. Cleave was absolutely amazed, as was I.
As when anything about the Beatles is written there is one name that keeps popping up. Much like playing wack-a-mole with drumsticks. Pete Best is a name from the depth of Beatles lore. We learn a story that George Martin, the producer of The Beatles, explained to the manager that Pete Best was not up to snuff and would be replaced by a session drummer.
From there it was an easy step to fire the poor lad. He had been in the band for 2 years but, while he had a nice shiny drum kit, he couldn’t play it very well. One would have thought that 2 years in Germany would have turned Pete Best into a pro but nope.
Also, Pete didn’t fit in with the other boys. Pete didn’t have the same sense of humor as the other Beatles. Every Beatles fan knows that humor is a big part of the Beatles' history both real and imagined. Pete didn’t find the same things funny so they failed to develop the same kind of bond with him as they did with each other. Turns out a fellow named Ringo not only had the same sense of humor as the others but he could play a little as well.
As always I want to talk about the pictures and this John Lennon biography lets me do just that. Nearly all biographies have them so having them in a biography about John Lenn is almost mandatory. And the pictures are fine. They’re ok. But that’s not what you come to this book for. The lowly unpaid intern who assembled these did a fine job.
If you want pictures of John Lennon you can find likely every image made of the man. Pictures are abundant but pictures are not among the reasons you should come to this book.
This is a wonderfully written tale whose biggest flaw is that it is far too short. Any fan of The Beatles and John Lennon as a solo artist will love this book. Fans of rock and roll should love it too. You can not call yourself a fan of pop music and not at least want to read “ John Lennon the Life” by Philip Norman.
As I said earlier, Mr. Philip Norman has written a book that had me wanting more. More of John Lennon in the 70s but also more of the wonderful prose provided by Mr. Norman. This is a wonderful book. Read it whenever you get the chance.
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