but Pete was Best!
Posted on 12/06/2012 12:23:27 PM PST by Jan_Sobieski
Was John Lennon a Genius?
You make the call!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7pe3_VQbUM
He was a very troubled boy and young man (absent father, slutty mother, who he basically saw killed when hit by a bus, brought up by Auntie, horribly near sighted, not good at school) who managed to take all that adolescent angst and turn it into lyrics, melody, humor, a unique vocal style, and combined that with a natural bent for leadership.
Genius? In the eye of the beholder. Mistakes in his own life? Beyond question. More accomplished than probably anyone who would comment on this topic? Definitely.
simple answer....no.... he was a doped up loon
"I worry that drugs have made us more creative than we really are." - Lilly Tomlin
It was in the basement under a Chemical Bank and the only way in was a simple brown door with the tiny word TRAX stenciled on it.
I would hang out there two or three times a month. Lennon lived down the block and was in almost every time I was. I never saw him on the street or in the park but I saw him often enough at TRAX that we'd nod to each other. Never said a word to him...just a kind of "hey...how you doing".
My brother-in-law was a beatles nut...it used to drive him crazy that I'd never take him to the spot...but he would have effed it all up being so close to Lennon.
Nice.
Kim Fowley is the genius. He didn’t do drugs. He kept the publishing on the songs he wrote. He produced many musicians recording, and was a card carrying Republican (at least in the 1970s).
Then again, it was his idea to invite John (and Yoko) to Toronto to play an oldies show with Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
John Lennon was a genius as a Beatle. What they had and did together was a kind of magic.
I agree.
Actually, I knew Geraldo pretty well in those days and used to hang with him there on the times he showed up. I am the first to agree that he’s half-a-commie but he was a good friend...and a genuine tough guy.
Do you mean Justin Bieber, born in Canada and now (2053) President of the United States?
Just shows that these people that we think we know from music, TV, movies, sports whatever - are real people who’s private persona may or may not match the public one. OJ is my favorite example of this but there are many others.
Genius? really? John L was a very clever songwriter.
Genius = Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel, Haydn, Handel, JS Bach, Copland, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Mahler and on and on..
as far as songwriters I’d say true genius was:
Irving Berlin,George Gershwin and Rodgers and Hammerstein.
“love pointing out to people that there is only one Beatles song which includes a drum solo, and that it isn’t Ringo playing it.”
Urban myth . It was Ringo playing on THE END .
Was he a genius?I just know that some beetles songs are now 50 years old and we still sing them.Whatever they had,it was magic and will probably never happen again.
One thing that surprised me was that Paul played the solo on Taxman.....He drummed on The Ballad of John and Yoko.
Their producer George Martin did so much for them it isn’t funny. All anybody has to do is listen to their Decca audition tapes, they were terrible even for that time.
Yes, let’s rock out man (and this is one of their originals)...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR7H5r4EMGY
They recorded that the same year “Telestar” came out if we want to talk about genius...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuA-fqKCiAE
And then they meet Martin and suddenly *poof* like magic they are brilliant, a whole new group, total geniuses. yeah OK. Has it ever occurred to anyone there is a reason Paul McCartney hasn’t released one single solitary good song in 40 plus years? Oh but then you get these tone deaf idiots who think crap like “Ebony and Ivory” is brilliant. Yes, all racism can be solved by the keyboard concept. The KKK, skinheads, neo-Nazis, Islamo-fascists...Come on guys, just make pretend your’re a keyboard.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.