30 anni senza John Lennon
08/12/2010
Ho in mente innumerevoli ricordi, immagini, note di John Lennon. Come un'opera di Shakespeare, John è qualunque cosa si desideri: il leader dei Beatles, l'uomo tormentato, l'idealista invasato, lo sperimentatore musicale, l'umorista scanzonato.... Abbiamo scelto 15 illustrazioni e 15 canzoni: in tutto, un volto per ogni anno che ci è mancato
Mother you had me, but I never had you. I wanted you, you didn't want me. So I just got to tell you goodbye, goodbye. Father, you left me, but I never left you. I needed you, but you didn't need me. So I just got to tell you goodbye, goodbye. Children, don't do what I have done. I couldn't walk and I tried to run... Mama don't go, daddy come home
Nota: scritta nel 1970 fa parte del disco solista semplicemente intitolato John Lennon/ Plastic Ono Band. Musicalmente si distingue per lo straordinario uso del “primal scream”, una terapia a cui si sottoponeva in quel tempo e che rende la coda della canzone inimitabile e agghiacciante
Well she was just seventeen, you know what I mean, and the way she looked was way beyond compare. So I could I dance with another, when I saw her standing there ....Well my heart went boom when I crossed that room and I held her hand in mine... now I'll never dance with another, since I saw her standing there
Nota: uno degli esempi di perfetta collaborazione tra Lennon e McCartney, scritta durante una fuga da scuola a “17-18 anni circa, per un pubblico coetaneo”. Nel loro primo disco “Please Please me”, è cantata da Paul, ma John la riprenderà nel 1974 durante un concerto con Elton John come ultimo omaggio all'amico
I once had a girl, or should I say she once had me. She showed me her room, isn't it good, norwegian wood. She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere, so I looked around and I notice there wasn't a chair. I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine. We talked until two, and then she said “It's time for bed”. She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh, I told her I didn't, and crawled off to sleep in the bath. And when I awoke I was alone, this bird had flown. So I lit a fire, isn't it good? Norwegian wood
Nota: presente sull'album Rubber Soul, del '65, è una canzone molto particolare, contrassegnata dal suono del sitar, e ambiguamente autobiografica, che richiama le avventure avvenute ai tempi delle trasferte ad Amburgo, all'inizio di carriera (nella foto lo vediamo durante un concerto al Keiserkeller, in compagnia del primo bassista ed amico, il precocemente defunto Stu Stucliffe)
Here I stand with head in hand, turn my face to the wall, if she's gone I can't go on felling two feet small. Ev'rywhere people stare each and ev'ry day, I can see them laugh at me and I hear them say hey, you've gotta hide your love away . How can I even try, I can never win, hearing them, seeing them, in the state I'm in. How could she say to me love will find a way? Gather round all you clowns, let me hear you say....
Nota: scritta nel '65 e presente sull'album Help! È una canzone che esprime un disagio esistenziale, scritta sotto l'influenza di Bob Dylan, nel periodo apparentemente più rosa e fiori della carriera e della vita di John. A parere di qualcuno, è dedicata al manager Brian Epstein e il “devi nascondere il tuo amore” sarebbe riferito alla sua omosessualità, ma Lennon non ha mai confermato tale interpretazione.
Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! When I was younger so much younger than today, I never needed anybody's help in any way, but now these days are gone I'm not so self assured, now I find I've changed my mind, I've opende up the doors. Help me if you can I 'm feeling down, and I do appreciate you being around. Help me get my feet back on the ground, won't you please help me? And now my life has changed in oh so many ways, my indipendence seems to vanish in the haze, but ev'ry now and then I feel so insicure, I know that I just need you like I never done before
Nota: scritta per l'omonimo film e dotata di una musica carina ed accelerata, in realtà è un autentico e consapevole grido di aiuto: “ero molto grasso, molto insicuro e avevo completamente perduto me stesso”. In assoluto una delle più mature e personali composizioni di John
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, knows not where is 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. 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 you time, don't hurry, leave it all till somebody else lends you a hand...
Nota: sempre del '65, l'anno di “crisi creativa” ( a suo dire) ed esistenziale, che iniziò il periodo introspettivo delle sue composizioni. Col tempo è divenuta una delle sue canzoni simbolo e al di là della depressione momentanea rappresenta il disagio di chi si sente una guida senza direzione
Turn off yor mind relax and float down stream, it is not dying, it is not dying. Lay down all thoughs, surrender to the void, it is shining, it is shining. That you may see the meaning of within, it is being, it is being. That love is all and love is ev'ryone, it is knowing, it is knowing. When ignorance and hate may mourn the dead, it is believing, it is believing. But listen to the colour of your dreams, it is not living, it is not living. Or play the game existence to the end, of the beginning, of the beginning
Nota: dall'album “Revolver” del 66, è ispirata, nella musica e nella filosofia, dal Libro dei Morti tibetano, ma risente chiaramente delle prime esperienze psichedeliche (i versi iniziali sono le istruzioni per assumere l'LSD senza entrare in panico ).Il titolo originale era The Void, ma un gioco di parole di Ringo fece optare per il più tranquillizzante Tomorrow never knows
Let me take you down 'cos I'm going to strawberry fields. Nothing is real, and nothing to get hungabout. Strawberry Fields forever. Living is easy with eyes closed misunderstanding all you see. It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out, it doesn't metter much to me....No one I think is in my tree, I mean it must be high or low. That is you can't know tune in but it's all right, that is I think it's not too bad....Always not sometimes think it's me, but you know I know when it's a dream. I think a No I mean a Yes but it's all wrong that is I think I disagree.....
Nota: il testo, scritto nel '67 per la facciata B del singolo che comprende “Penny Lane”, è tutto uno slittamento di senso, di reale e di sogno, così come l'ispirazione varia dai pensieri allucinati sotto effetto di droga e i ricordi reali di un luogo dell'infanzia (un orfanotrofio vicino alla casa in cui abitava con la zia Mimi). Uno dei suoi capolavori, nel periodo di alta creatività contrassegnato dall'album “Sgt. Pepper”
Love, love, love. There's nothing you can do that can't be done, nothing you can sing that can't be sung, nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game. It's easy. There's nothing you can make that can be made, no one you can save that can't be saved, nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time. It's easy. All you need is love, all you need is love, love is all you need.
Nota: dello stesso periodo di esperimenti arditi quali “Lucy in the sky with diamonds”, “A day in the life” (scritta a quattro mani ma separatamente con Paul), “I am the warlus”, questa canzone è stata composta su commissione, e John ha volutamente scelto una lirica elementare e una musica orecchiabile, che infatti hanno immediatamente trasformato il brano nell'inno degli anni del “love and peace”
Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism. All we are saying is give peace a chance . Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout Minister, Sinister, Banisters and Canisters, Bishops, Fishops, Rabbis, and Pop Eyes, Bye bye, Bye byes. All we are saying is give peace a chance. Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout Revolution, Evolution, Masturbation, Flagellation, Regulation,
Integrations, mediations, United Nations, congratulations. All we are saying is give peace a chance
Nota: un altro inno, questo non su commissione, ma nato dalla sua nuova relazione artistica e umana, quella famigerata con Yoko Ono. È il '69, e John comincia a essere un po' meno Beatle e un po' più “working class hero”
Here come old flat top he come grooving up slowly he got joo joo eyeball he one holy roller he got hair down to his knee. Got to be a joker he just do what he please. He wear no shoe shine he got toe jam football he got monkey finger he shoot coca cola he say I know you, you know me. One thing I can tell you is you got to be free. Come together right now over me. He bag production he got warlus gumboot he got O-no sideboard he one spinal cracker he got feet down below his knee. Hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease. Come together right now over me . He roller coaster he got early warmong he got muddy water he one mojo filter he say one and one and one is three. Got to be goodlooking 'cos he's so hard to see...
Nota: il '69 è anche l'anno dell'ultimo album dei Beatles, Abbey Road, e questa è la canzone di apertura, una summa degli stili di scrittura di John: nonsense, giochi di parole, omaggi autoreferenziali, allusioni sessuali. Chi è “lui”? Probabilmente il Tricheco di I am the Warlus . Musicalmente è un blues, con un particolare effetto sonoro che ritma la canzone: la frase “shoot me”, sparami
Don't let me down....Nobody ever loved me like she does, ooh she does, yes she does. And if somebody loved me like she doese, ooh she does, yes she does. Don't let me down...I'm in love for the first time, don't you know it's gonna last, it's a love that last forever, it's a love that has no past. Don't let me down...And from the first time that she really done me ooh she done me, she done me good. I guess nobody ever really done me, ooh she done me, she done me good
Nota: la canzone fa parte del tormentato progetto “Let it be”. Un altro blues, ma questa volta con un testo semplicissimo, sincero e accorato, cantato magnificamente. Forse il suo miglior “testamento” per la fine dei Beatles
Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try, no hell below us, above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today. Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do, nothing to kill or die for and no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one. Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can, no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world...
Nota: 1972, dall'album omonimo, la sua canzone simbolo, la canzone del sogno (o, meglio, dell'illusione). Dopo anni di analisi, tormenti, droghe, lotte politiche, fughe- e prima che tutto ciò ricominci – quest'inno alla speranza, il cui punto di forza è una linea musicale semplicissima e suggestiva. Il resto dell'album è però ancora pieno di rabbia, e tra le dolci note del sogno si legge l'amarezza per qualcosa che sai essere utopia
So long ago, was it in a dream? Was it just a dream? I know, yes I know, it seemed so very real, it seemed so real to me. Took a walk down the street, thru the heat whispered trees I thought I could hear somebody call out my name as it started to rain two spirits dancing so strange... Dream, dream away, magic in the air, was magic in the air? I believe, yes I believe, more I cannot say, what more can I say?. On a river of sound, thru the mirror go round, I thought I could feel music touching my soul, something warm, sudden cold, the spirit dance was unfolding....
Nota: “Number 9 dream” è una canzone del periodo solista, datata 1974 e presente sull'album “Walls and bridges”, scritto in un momento di crisi della relazione con Yoko Ono, che pure trasmette pace e magia, sulla linea lirica e musicale di “Across the universe”. Una canzone pacificata, in un periodo segnato dalla schizofrenia
Our life together is so precious together, we have grown - we have grown. Although our love is still special, let's take our chance and fly away somewhere alone. It's been so long since we took the time, no one's to blame, I know time flies so quikly, but when I see you darling, it's like we both are falling in love again, it'll be just like starting over - starting over. Everyday we used to make it love, why can't we be making love nice and easy. It's time to spread our wing's and fly, don't let another day go by my love, it'll be just like starting over - starting over. Why don't we take off alone, take a trip far, far away, we'll be together on our own again, like we used to in the early days,
Well, well, well darling....
Nota: 1980, l'ultimo album di John. Su questa canzone e sulla foto, beh, stavolta nessun commento.
Ciao John, ci manchi ancora e sempre
Elena Aguzzi