John Lennon

Agrupamento de Ribeira de Pena
Núcleo de Cerva

John Lennon
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Index
Introduction … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 3
Childhood and adolescence… … … … … … … … … 4
The Quarrymen … … … … … … … … … … … … … 5
The Beatles … … … … … … … … … … … … … ….
6
Solo Career … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 7
Personal relationships … … … … … … … … … … … 9
Cynthia Lennon… … … … … … …...
9
Death … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 11
John´s Discography … … … … … … … … … … … 12
Some lyrics of songs by John Lennon
…14
Documentaries and Movies … … … … … … … … ... 17
Further Reading … … … … … … … … … … … … ...18
Conclusion… … … … … … … … … … … … … … ..19
Bibliography … … … … … … … … … … … … … …20

Introduction

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This work arose under discipline of English.
This paper aims at making known the life of
John Lennon, a great English pop singer who was too part
of the band the Beatles. I really admire this singer,
and that's why decided to undertake this work on it.

Childhood and adolescence
John Winston Lennon was born on October 9, 1940 in Liverpool,
England, only son of Alf Lennon and Julia Lennon (whose maiden name
was Stanley). His baptismal name was in honor of paternal grandfather
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John Jack Lennon, and the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the
time. His father, Alf Lennon, worked in the merchant navy during World
War II and often sent money to his wife and child who lived at 9 Newcastle
Road in Liverpool. The money stopped coming when Alf defected.
The house that John Lennon lived during his childhood in Liverpool with
his Aunt Mimi in Men love Avenue cited it. After being heavily criticized
by the Stanley family about to be married and live in sin Bobby Dykins,
and considerable pressure from her sister Mary Mimi Smith (who has
twice contacted the Social Service of Liverpool John complaining about
having to sleep in the same bed that the couple Bobby and Julia) Julia left
the child care
Mimi. In 1946, Alfred visited the home of Aunt Mimi and took John to
Blackpoll SECRETARY planned to immigrate to New Zealand with the
boy. After failing in his attempt, Alfred dropped the boy with Julia and
John has not contacted until the start of Beatle mania, when they met
again.
Julia picked up again and took John to his house by registering it in a local
school, but a few weeks after she returned to Aunt Mimi. Julia later with
John has bought her first guitar. As John had difficulty learning chords,
Julia taught using a banjo and a ukulele that were simpler tools.

The Quarrymen

A student at Quarry Bank School in Liverpool named JOHN
LENNON decided to form a group in 1957 which laid the foundation to
what waste become the most famous rock band of all time. John's original
name was "The Blackjacks". However, this name only lasted a week and
John used the school name as inspiration for the later name "The Quarry
Men" in March 1957. John sang and played guitar, Colin Hanton played
drums, Eric Griffiths on guitar, Pete Shotton on washboard, Rod Davis on
banjo and Bill Smith on bass. Bill was soon replaced by Ivan Vaughan.
On July 6, 1957, Ivan Vaughan invited PAUL MCCARTNEY to see their
gig at The Woolton Parish Church Fete. The fifteen-year-old McCartney
was introduced to sixteen-year-old Lennon and a unique song writing
partnership began. The line-up of The Quarry Men increased to seven with
Paul on guitar and vocals, John Lowe on piano and GEORGE HARRISON
on guitar and vocals. Soon Griffiths and another member would leave,
leaving a five-piece band. The group appeared at several local talent
contests but had very few gigs.

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The Beatles

John Lennon, James Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Richard Starkey
(also known as Ringo Starr) were born during the 1940s in Liverpool, England. During
the post war period, Liverpool was a dingy depressed town and money was scarce. Two
decades later, these four men born into working class obscurity would take the world by
storm in a phenomenon our culture refers to as Beatlemania.
John Lennon met Paul McCartney when they were both performing in Skiffle
Groups, which were homespun bands that played a combination of folk, rock and jazz.
John was in a group called The Quarrymen, which later became John and the
Quarrymen. Paul introduced John to George Harrison, who was two years younger but
showed extraordinary talent. John, Paul and George, with the addition of John's Friend
from art college, Stu Sutcliffe and a guitarist named Pete Best, set out to work in
German clubs, where musicians were able to make a paltry living playing strip clubs
and low end establishments. Ringo was performing in many of the same establishments
with the group Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
During their time in Germany, Stu Sutcliffe decided to return to his first love,
art, and a new love, a woman he had met in Germany named Astrid. Stu later died of a
brain hemorrhage, which some suspect was due to his previous involvement in a club
fight. The remaining members, now called "The Silver Beatles" returned to Liverpool,
where John dealt with feelings of failure and a pregnant girlfriend, whom he reluctantly
married. Their luck changed when a young record storeowner, named Brian Epstein,
noticed the Beatles and thought they had something unique. After convincing the
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Beatles to clean up their tough image, they traded leather jackets for matching suits as
Brian peddled their records from label to label with no success. Epstein never gave up
on the Beatles and his business savvy, combined with the Beatles raw talent finally
began to pay off.
Many of the groups from England, dubbed The Mersey Sound, were featured
in Mersey Beat Magazine and played on the radio. The Beatles kept plugging away at
fame.

Solo Career
Following The Beatles' break-up in 1970, Lennon and Ono went
through primal therapy with Dr. Arthur Janov in Los Angeles, California.
Designed to release emotional pain from early childhood, the therapy
entailed two half-days a week with Janov for four months; he had wanted
to treat the couple for longer, but they felt no need to continue and returned
to London. Lennon's emotional debut solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono
Band (1970), was received with high praise. Critic Greil Marcus remarked,
"John's singing in the last verse of 'God' may be the finest in all of
rock." The album featured the songs "Mother", in which Lennon
confronted his feelings of childhood rejection, and the Dylanesque
"Working Class Hero", a bitter attack against the bourgeois social system
which, due to the lyric "you're still fucking peasants", fell afoul of
broadcasters. The same year, Tariq Ali's revolutionary political views,
expressed when he interviewed Lennon, inspired the singer to write "Power
to the People". Lennon also became involved with Ali during a protest
against magazine’s prosecution for alleged obscenity. Lennon denounced
the proceedings as "disgusting fascism", and he and Ono (as Elastic Oz
Band) released the single "God Save us/Do the Oz" and joined marches in
support of the magazine.
With Lennon's next album, Imagine (1971), critical response was
more guarded. Rolling Stone reported that "it contains a substantial portion
of good music" but warned of the possibility that "his posturing will soon
seem not merely dull but irrelevant". The album's title track would become
an anthem for anti-war movements, while another, "How Do You Sleep?",
was a musical attack on McCartney in response to lyrics from Ram that
Lennon felt, and McCartney later confirmed, were directed at him and Ono.
However, Lennon softened his stance in the mid-70s and said he had
written "How Do You Sleep?" about himself. He said in 1980: "I used my
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resentment against Paul ... to create a song ... not a terrible vicious horrible
vendetta ... I used my resentment and withdrawing from Paul and The
Beatles, and the relationship with Paul, to write 'How Do You Sleep'. I
don't really go 'round with those thoughts in my head all the time".
Lennon and Ono moved to New York in August 1971, and in
December released "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)". To advertise the single,
they paid for billboards in 12 cities around the world which declared, in the
national language, "WAR IS OVER—IF YOU WANT IT". The new year
saw the Nixon Administration take what it called a "strategic counter-
measure" against Lennon's anti-war propaganda, embarking on what would
be a four-year attempt to deport him: embroiled in a continuing legal battle,
he was denied permanent residency in the US until 1976.
Recorded as a collaboration with Ono and with backing from the
New York band Elephant's Memory, Some Time in New York City was
released in 1972. Containing songs about women's rights, race relations,
Britain's role in Northern Ireland, and Lennon's problems obtaining a green
card,[103] the album was poorly received—unlistenable, according to one
critic. "Woman Is the Nigger of the World", released as a US single from
the album the same year, was televised on 11 May, on The Dick Cavett
Show. Many radio stations refused to broadcast the song because of the
word "nigger". Lennon and Ono gave two benefit concerts with Elephant's
Memory and guests in New York in aid of patients at the Willow brook
State School mental facility. Staged at Madison Square Garden on
30 August 1972, they were his last full-length concert appearances.

Personal relationships
Cynthia Lennon

Lennon and Cynthia Powell met in 1957 as fellow students at the Liverpool College of
Art. Although being scared of Lennon's attitude and appearance, she heard that he was
obsessed with French actress Brigitte Bardot, so dyed her hair blonde. Lennon asked her
out, but when she said that she was engaged, he replied, "I didn't ask you to fucking
marry me, did I?”. She often accompanied him to Quarrymen gigs and travelled to
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Hamburg with McCartney's girlfriend at the time to visit him. Lennon, jealous by
nature, eventually grew possessive and often terrified Powell with his anger and
physical violence. Lennon later said that until he met Ono, he had never questioned his
chauvinistic attitude to women. The Beatles' song "Getting Better", he said, told his own
story, "I used to be cruel to my woman, and physically—any woman. I was a hitter. I
couldn't express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women. That is why I am
always on about peace"
Recalling his reaction in July 1962 on learning that Cynthia was pregnant, Lennon said,
"There's only one thing for it Cyan. We'll have to get married."The couple was married
on 23 August at the Mount Pleasant Register Office in Liverpool. His marriage began
just as Beatlemania took hold across the UK. He performed on the evening of his
wedding day, and would continue to do so almost daily from then on. Epstein, fearing
that fans would be alienated by the idea of a married Beatle, asked the Lennons to keep
their marriage secret. Julian was born on 8 April 1963; Lennon was on tour at the time
and did not see his son until three days later.
Cynthia attributes the start of the marriage breakdown to LSD, and as a result, she felt
that he slowly lost interest in her. When the group travelled by train to Bangor, Wales,
in 1967, for the Maharishi Yogi's Transcendental Meditation seminar, a policeman did
not recognize her and stopped her from boarding. She later recalled how the incident
seemed to symbolize the ending of their marriage .After arriving home at Kenwood, and
finding Lennon with Ono, Cynthia left the house to stay with friends. Alexis
Mardas later claimed to have slept with her that night, and a few weeks later he
informed her that Lennon was seeking a divorce and custody of Julian on grounds of her
adultery with him. After negotiations, Lennon capitulated and agreed to her divorcing
him on the same grounds. The case was settled out of court, with Lennon giving her
£100,000, and custody of Julian.

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John and Cynthia
Lennnon

Death
At around 10:50 pm on 8 December 1980, as Lennon and Ono
returned to their New York apartment in The Dakota, Mark David
Chapman shot Lennon in the back four times at the entrance to
the building. Lennon was taken to the emergency room of
nearby Roosevelt Hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival at
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11:07 pm earlier that evening, Lennon had autographed a copy
of Double Fantasy for Chapman.
Ono issued a statement the next day, saying "There is no funeral
for John," ending it with the words, "John loved and prayed for
the human race. Please pray the same for him.". His body was
cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Ono
scattered his ashes in New York's Central Park, where
the Strawberry Fields memorial was later created. Chapman
pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20
years to life; as of 2011, he remains in prison, having been denied
parole six times.

John´s Discography

Unfinished Music No. 1 - Unfinished Music No. 2 - Life
Two Virgins with the Lions
Nov. 11, 1968 (US) May 26, 1969 (US)
Nov. 29, 1968 (UK) May 9, 1969 (UK)

Wedding Album Live Peace In Toronto
Oct. 20, 1969 (US) Dec. 12, 1969 (US)
Nov. 7, 1969 (UK) Dec. 12, 1969 (UK)

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Imagine
Band
Sept. 9, 1971 (US)
Dec. 11, 1970 (US) Oct. 8, 1971 (UK)

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Dec. 11, 1970 (UK)

Some Time In New York Mind Games
City
Nov. 2, 1973 (US)
June 12, 1972 (US) Nov. 16, 1973 (UK)
Sept.15, 1972 (UK)

Walls And Bridges Rock 'N' Roll
Sept. 26, 1974 (US) Feb. 17, 1975 (US)
Oct. 4, 1974 (UK) Feb. 21, 1975 (UK)

Shaved Fish Double Fantasy
Oct. 24, 1975 (US) Nov. 17, 1980 (US)
Oct. 24, 1975 (UK) Nov. 17, 1980 (UK)

John Lennon Collection Milk And Honey
Nov. 8, 1982 (US) Jan. 19, 1984 (US)
Nov. 1, 1982 (UK) Jan. 23, 1984 (UK)

Live In New York City Menlove Ave.
Jan. 24, 1986 (US) Oct. 27, 1986 (US)
Feb. 24, 1986 (UK) Nov. 3, 1986 (UK)

Imagine: John Lennon Lennon
Oct. 4, 1988 (US) late July, 1991 (US)
Oct. 10, 1988 (UK) Oct. 30, 1990 (UK)
(out of print)

Lennon Legend Wonsaponatime
Feb. 23, 1998 (US) Nov. 3, 1998 (US)
Oct. 27, 1997 (UK) Nov. 2, 1998 (UK)

John Lennon Anthology Acoustic
Nov. 3, 1998 (US) Nov. 2, 2004 (US)
Nov. 2, 1998 (UK) Nov. 2, 2004 (UK)

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Some lyrics of
songs by
John Lennon
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Imagine
John Lennon

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

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

Sharing all the world

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 live as one

Stand By Me
John Lennon

When the night has come
And the land is dark
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And the moon is the only light we'll see

No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me
So darling, darling, stand by me, oh stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me

If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and let fall
And the mountains should crumble to the sea

I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me
And darling, darling, stand by me, oh stand by me, oh stand now
Stand by me, stand by me

Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me, oh stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me, stand by me.

Darling, darling, stand by me, oh stand by me

Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me, oh stand by me

Documentaries and Movies
Solo (3): "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night", "(Just Like) Starting
Over", "Imagine".

With David Bowie (1): "Fame".

With The Beatles (21): "Can't Buy Me Love", "I Feel Fine", "I Want
to Hold Your Hand", "Love Me Do", "She Loves You", "A Hard
Day's Night", "Eight Days a Week", "Help!", "Ticket to Ride",
"Yesterday", "Paperback Writer", "We Can Work It Out", "All You
Need Is Love", "Hello Goodbye", "Penny Lane", "Hey Jude", "Come

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Together", "Get Back", "For You Blue", "Let It Be", "The Long and
Winding Road".

As co-writer of releases by other artists (2): "A World Without
Love" (Peter and Gordon), "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (Elton
John).

Further Reading

 Kane, Larry (2007). Lennon Revealed. Running Press. ISBN
9780762429660

 Pang, May; Edwards, Henry (1983). Loving John: The
Untold Story. Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-37916-6.

 Wiener, Jon. The John Lennon FBI Files

 Yorke, Richard (1969). "John Lennon: Ringo’s Right, We
Can’t Tour Again", New Musical Express, 7 June 1969,
reproduced by Crawdaddy!, 2007.

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Conclusion
With this work we conclude that John
Lennon had a life full of successes and is really
was a great singer of English pop music.

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Bibliography
 http://en.wikipedia.org
 www.vagalume.com.br

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