THE BEATLES SHIRTS SONGS OF LENNON MCCARTNEY
The Beatles were phenomenally popular in 1966. They had been international superstars since their US debut on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, and a two-year period of touring, movie-making, and songwriting had followed, cementing their popularity. But John Lennon was dissatisfied…he wanted something more. He wanted to be something more than just The Beatles John Lennon.
He was unsatisfied with their concerts, feeling that the people were unable to hear the music for all the screaming, and that their skills as musicians were suffering as a result. He later said his song “Help!” mirrored his own feelings: He put on weight and felt he was unconsciously crying out for help and searching for change. He was introduced to LSD when at a dinner party, his host spiked the guests’ coffee with the drug. After the involuntary use, he grew to like it, and used it almost constantly for most of the following year. According to music historian Jonathan Gould, “John Lennon’s involvement with LSD over the course of 1966 had the aura of personal quest. He turned his attention inward with the help of LSD, in the hope that this … might wean him from his dependence on the persona of The Beatles John Lennon.” His drug use began to very much affect his songwriting, as the landmark album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band revealed when it was released in 1967. His new lyrics were surreal and hallucinogenic and in direct contrast with the simple love songs of the band’s early years.
Because of a variety of circumstances, they stopped touring, and John Lennon felt lost and considered leaving the band. The Beatles were introduced to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and as a group attended a weekend of personal instruction at his Transcendental Meditation seminar. They later traveled to his ashram in India for further guidance, and while there composed most of the songs for The Beatles and Abbey Road.
But the final blow came when Brian Epstein, their manager, died suddenly. Paul McCartney took over and helped run the first project after his death, the filmMagical Mystery Tour, which was their very first critical flop. But the soundtrack to the movie was a great critical and commercial success, with the surreal lyrics once again written by John Lennon.
With Brian Epstein gone, the band members had to become involved in business activities, and they formed Apple Corps, a multimedia corporation consisting of Apple Records and several other subsidiary companies. But John Lennon’s accelerating drug use combined with his growing love affair with Yoko Ono, and Paul McCartney’s marriage plans left Apple in dire need of some professional management, since they obviously had no time to do it. John approached Allen Klein, who had represented the Rolling Stones and various other British bands, and he was appointed against Paul McCartney’s wishes
John Lennon finally left the Beatles in September of 1969. He was free to explore now, free to be more than just The Beatles John Lennon, and he was to go on to release several more significant albums. He also had several more successful singles, including Imagine, his most famous post-Beatles song. Despite his estrangement from the band, John always took notice of them. Asked at one point whether The Beatles were enemies or friends, he said that they were neither, and that he hadn’t seen any of them in a long time. But he also said, “I still love those guys. The Beatles are over, but John, Paul, George and Ringo go on.”
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