Ten Story Love Song - John Lennon's Top Ten

December the 8th is here again (ain't been round since you know when...)

31 years ago today, John Lennon, arguably one of the 20th centuries most interesting, and most paradoxical stars was gunned down by a demon on a New York street.
Doubtless today's papers, magazines, blogs and various online media will be filled with messages of peace, love and understanding...nothing funny 'bout that. However many will present the annual token deconstruction of Lennon's 'genius'. Some will refer to him as Gandhi, Jesus, or even a God- like figure (the irony is not lost), while others will counteract with the usual comments that he was a cruel and aggressive asshole who turned his back on his first family and served his own interests first. None of the former group is true of course, while some of the latter certainly hold water.

Don't listen to any of them. In truth it's all utter bollox.

What the man was, and what he did is irrelevant. His music however will never be such. Not to belittle the compositions of his songwriting partner and former band-mates, but Lennon was in a different league completely because he was cursed. He possessed an internal honesty and filter for bullshit that the careful sensibilities of McCartney, and the distracted spirit of Harrison could never quite aspire to. That's not to say that his lyrical conclusions or suggestions were always right, he was often wrong and too easily misled. However, he was always thought provoking, and has remained perpetually relevant. Lennon has never been passé.

I've taken the liberty to choose Lennon's ten greatest achievements on record. Many of these reflect his brutal honesty about how he saw himself, and the world around him.

But how do you pick 10 of Lennon's most notable songs you say? Seriously? Well, not without pacing the floor and losing sleep, that's for sure. There are far fewer tea bags in the tin than there were when this idea was first suggested to me. But if you're partial to other peoples musical suggestions, and you trust the opinion of someone who has been listening to John Lennon's music for 32 of his 42 years, then please, read on.

10. Imagine (1971)

Overrated? Perhaps. This is not John Lennon's greatest song, and it's certainly not the greatest song of the 20th century. I even toyed with the idea of excluding it from the top ten. I included it for two reasons however; 1. I don't want to hear a tap-tap on my back door only to open it and find hundreds of disgruntled Lennon fans holding a noose in the light of burning torches, and 2. I love how this song gets up the nose of cynics who miss the point. It's not called "Instruction", "Action" or "Do". The hint is in the title folks. It's as relevant today with our world crumbling and those who value possessions over people scrambling to protect their interests, as it was in 1971. I've included the acoustic version to distance this beautiful song as far from the candle carrying mob that I possibly can. 

9. Watching the Wheels (1980)

In the middle of the punk revolution in 1977 England, NME published an edition which featured John Lennon in Hamburg on the cover. The caption read: "Oh no, not another angry punk dressed in leather on the cover...which reminds us...where the hell are you John Lennon?". NME, and the UK wanted Lennon back, they needed him. His answer 3 years later was "Watching the Wheels". The song was the final installment in a career of self searching and self yearning that began with the pained "There's A Place" in 1963. It was followed through with "I'll Be Back", "I'll Cry Instead", "I'm A Loser", "Help!", "In My Life", "I'm Only Sleeping", "Good Morning, Good Morning", "I'm So Tired", "The Ballad Of John And Yoko", "Don't Let Me Down", "Mother", "God", "Working Class Hero", "My Mummy's Dead", "Crippled Inside", "How?" and culminated in "Watching the Wheels", "Woman" and "Just Like Starting Over". Placed chronologically, you can almost trace Lennon's life through his introspective habit of writing about what he knew best; himself. "Watching the Wheels" seemingly finds him at peace, two months before his death.

8. I Should Have Known Better (1964)

My own personal favourite from the giddy, bright and optimistic soundtrack to Beatlemania, and the endless possibilities of post-war Europe now that the future belonged to war-babies and not their warring, scrounging, sensible parents. It couldn't last alas, but this fabulous pop song is timeless in its simplicity. My 2 year old sings it enthusiastically, cutely muddling the words, but never the melody which seems to have him possessed. That's the point of pop music isn't it? If aliens landed and had an hour to absorb our culture, this would be the Beatles song I would play them. Sums the entire crazy 7 years up in 2 and a half  minutes. 

7. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)  (1965)

Forget the perpetual stories about sitars and which female Lennon was referring to. Who really cares? What matters here is the sound of Lennon, and the Beatles' coming of age. Possibly the most beautiful acoustic intro sequence ever captured on tape. That Gibson is so rich, so lush. The strumming deliberately held back, escaping from its waltz-like structure through an enthusiastic accent at just the perfect moment. Rhythm guitar playing is an art, here in the hands of one its greatest masters, it can be heard at its best. 

6. Tomorrow Never Knows (1966)

Although this is the manic track that winds up Revolver, providing a perfect cliff hanger, and the missing link that bridges Revolver and Sgt Peppers; this was actually the first song recorded for the album. How they found the energy and enthusiasm for the rest of Revolver after recording this amazing feat of experimentation is a wonder indeed. Sampling, tape loops, and thundering break-beats were all pioneered with this recording. How sneaky of the Beatles to discover and then discard 'Drum n Bass', 20 years before it was 'invented'!

5. She Said, She Said (1966)

Again, a point of opinion on whether this is Revolver's greatest track or not, I've included it because, personally I think its the Fab's coolest albums' coolest track. It's effortlessly cool. And all the more so because while every other track on Revolver was painstakingly and expensively created over months and months, "She Said, She Said" was laid down on the last night of mixing as an afterthought. Interestingly McCartney does not appear on the track at all; Harrison plays bass. Now, I never suggested that's why it might be so bloody cool, you thought that in your own head! 

4. A Day In The Life  (1967)

Another lyrical Lennon trawl through his life of (dis)content in The City of London 'stockbroker belt', even the song's title betrays its origins; a narrative of his post-touring life (reading papers, reading film scripts, reading papers). So much has been documented about the recording of this incredibly beautiful pop song that to regurgitate it all here would be completely predictable and boring. McCartney provides the light relief, and the song wouldn't be the same without it. Starr provides lead drums, roadie Malcolm Evans is on alarm clock and countdown, and several pianos were used to create the crashing E chord at the end. Picture George Martin squirming as he told the 40 piece orchestra that he could give them the lowest note, and the highest note, but that in between, it was every man for himself.  "Of course, they all looked at me as though I were completely mad" 

3. I Am The Walrus (1967)

Conscious of the fact that his old grammar school (which had told him he would amount to nothing) was discussing his lyrics in English classes, Lennon set about composing these Lewis-Carroll inspired lyrics over the course of several acid trips. The anti-establishment lyrics are one thing, the aural landscape they are set within is another. George Martin always maintained that recording a song was like painting a picture in sound. If so, this ranks among the strangest works of Dali. The track contains a darkness and intensity that is unmatched in the entire Beatles catalogue. This is Lennon at his creative Beatles peak. The slope from this point on was ever so slightly downward.

2. Strawberry Fields Forever (1967)

I'm going to leave this one alone and let you enjoy it. I don't want to spoil it. There is nothing I could possibly say which could further enhance it. Pop music becoming high brow art becoming pop music. 

1. God (1970)

God is a concept, by which we measure, our pain.

This is not my personal favourite Lennon song. However, I'm awarding this my number one spot purely because the song contains a revolutionary lyric. The type of vitriolic denunciation contained in Lennon's lyric was previously the privilege of religious leaders, senate hearings, state departments or despotic dictators. As much as popular music had progressed by 1970, this type of honesty and scathing criticism of the failures of the apparent 'progress' of the past 6 years had never been seen or heard before. Lennon not only denounces his friends and the Beatles themselves (sharp intake of breath through teeth), he condemns organised religion, spirituality, politics, the far right, liberalism, and the entire counter culture movement itself. His prognosis accompanied by some tinkering piano parts a la "Love Letters" is that all that matters is you and yours. Everything else is irrelevant. This should be on every school curriculum.

And so dear friends, you'll just have to carry on...