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    John Lennon: The Life
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    John Lennon: The Life
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    John Lennon: The Life
    Ebook1,138 pages20 hours

    John Lennon: The Life

    By Philip Norman

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    The final word on music’s greatest legend, in which Philip Norman reveals a John Lennon the world has never seen. With ground-breaking insight into the pain, beauty and frustration that shaped the genius of modern music, John Lennon: The Definitive Biography redefines a legend.

    John Lennon – the iconic songwriter, composer and one quarter of The Beatles – was a giant of the twentieth century. As the founding member of the world's most successful group ever, he changed lives. The popularity and significance of The Beatles is beyond comparison in our age – in the UK alone, they released more than 40 number one singles and albums.

    But their impact extended well beyond their music. Their clothes, hairstyles, statements, and even their choice of instruments made them trend-setters from the 1960s to this day, while their growing social awareness – reflected in the development of their music – saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s.

    Following the painful collapse of The Beatles, John came out a wiser but angrier person. Together with his wife Yoko Ono, he attempted to transform the world through non-musical means. Their bed-in in Amsterdam and Montreal, their black bag appearances on stage, their innocent flirting with political activists and radicals, all received massive media attention. These events were in search of world peace.

    John Lennon was shot dead by a mentally disturbed fan outside his New York apartment building on December 8, 1980.

    Featuring previously unseen photographs, this truly is the definitive John Lennon.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins UK
    Release dateSep 3, 2009
    ISBN9780007344086
    Author

    Philip Norman

    Philip Norman grew up on Ryde Pier, Isle of Wight. His bizarre childhood as the son of an unsuccessful seaside showman inspired his memoir Babycham Night. Norman went on to win the Young Writer of the Year Award contest organized by The Sunday Times Magazine (London), where he became a star interviewer, profiling celebrities ranging from Stevie Wonder to Libyan President Moammar Gaddafi. Norman’s early career as a rock critic led to his first biography, Shout!, which received critical acclaim and sold more than a million copies. He is the author of numerous highly praised works, including John Lennon: The Life; Paul McCartney: The Life; Slowhand: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton; Rave On: The Biography of Buddy Holly; Wild Thing: The Short, Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix; and a memoir of his Sunday Times years, We Danced on Our Desks.

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    Reviews for John Lennon

    4/5

    118 ratings6 reviews

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    • 2/5
      This 12.5 hour long unabridged audio book is good for long drives. Interesting, but with frustrating gaps in narrative, skipping over large portions of history. I was irritated when it jumped from the release party of Magical Mystery Tour to John & Yoko's miscarriage, skipping over much of the development of the last three albums, etc. Did the author assume everyone knew what happened in every moment of Beatle history? With as much detail as he belabored about the development of Rubber Soul and Revolver, I wanted to hear the same about the White Album or Abbey Road. Totally skipped--and no, I didn't seem to be missing any CDs in the set.

    • 5/5
      Philip Norman has produced a remarkably detailed and (I believe) accurate depiction of the life of John Lennon. He conducted in-depth research of the previously produced material about Lennon including books, newspaper and magazine articles, and widely distributed audio and video recordings, etc. However, he went beyond the public record of John Lennon through in-depth interviews and conversations with Lennon’s family members, friends, business associates, and even those who had infrequent and casual encounters with him. The result provides a fascinating look at a man who had major impacts on not only popular music, but also on the wider culture of our world and billions of individuals who were either aware of The Beatles and John during the 60s and 70s or have listened to his music, read his books, or watched his movies since his death. Norman reveals a very complex person who struggled with much insecurity throughout his life. Although he reached a pinnacle of success that would be the envy of most people, he endured the pain of much tragedy from an unstable early childhood life due to unreliable relationships with his father and mother, the death of his mother during his teenage years, his difficulty and lack of success with formal education, and the death of his close friend and early member of the band, Stu Sutcliff. However, Norman also reveals an extremely talented song writer and musician who was determined to succeed and control his own life and who was socially conscious and willing to use his celebrity and influence to try to make a difference. John Lennon was an avid reader, which supplemented his previous lack of interest in education, and may have broadened his perspectives. However, to me it seems like he could not control his idealism and antiauthoritarian beliefs enough to develop a satisfying and productive lifestyle and problem solving approach that would have enabled him to really make a difference. To me, Norman’s book reveals a John Lennon who could not control his excessive lifestyle including drug and alcohol abuse, sexual promiscuity, or social and business relationships. Nevertheless, the book shows that Lennon seemed to be beginning figure out his life and could have made many more significant contributions had he not been murdered. As a fan during the 60s and 70s I admired John Lennon as a songwriter, musician, and performer. However, I did not understand some of his behavior. After reading this book I realize that he had a troubled and messy life, which certainly precipitated much of his strange behavior. Most of us could say the same about our lives, and I still admire him. The book also made me realize that Yoko did not deserve much of the criticism she endured in the past. Norman’s book is a very worthwhile although lengthy read (860 pages). It will undoubtedly change some opinions about the life of John Lennon for all readers.
    • 4/5
      Boy howdy! That took a while - but was worth every page. I'm not a fully fledged Beatlemaniac, but I do enjoy a good biography and Philip Norman's authorised in all but name study of the former Beatle definitely qualifies. True to his acknowledgements, Norman 'reconstructs his life completely afresh, writing for a hypothetical reader who has never heard of him or listened to a note of his music, ignoring all preconceptions, including [Norman's] own'. He is fair to both Lennon and Yoko, who I actually admire now, and although he seems to indulge in a fair bit of Paul bashing, the other Beatles too. I now want to read more about Brian Epstein, the Beatles' tragic manager, and buy John's albums, which is the mark of a good bio - inspiring the reader to learn more about the subject.
    • 4/5
      This is an informative and entertaining biography, but I can't help but think I would have been better going with the actual enormous tome as opposed to the audiobook. The audiobook is made up of "chapter selections," which I am led to believe are individual, unabridged selected chapters from the book. As a result, the CDs feel very thorough in a really patchy way! The best material is to be found early on, examining Lennon's early life and the lives of his parents. After that, the CDs start jumping around at an alarming rate: completely skipping Lennon meeting McCartney or Harrison, going straight from Germany to the recording of "Help!", from "Magical Mystery Tour" to the Beatles' breakup, and from 1974 to Lennon's last days in 1980. What I did hear over those ten hours was truly interesting but definitely incomplete. My only complaint about the actual material would be Norman's penchant for pop psychology; ranging from John's apparent desire to sleep with Paul to John "clearly" basing lyrics on his childhood favorite of Lewis Carroll, Norman's claims rarely seem to have much evidence behind them. Thankfully they are relatively fleeting, and the bulk of the biographical content is based on actual, first-hand interviews.
    • 4/5
      It's big, but totally worth it for a Beatles/Lennon fan.
    • 3/5
      "In September 2003, I suggested to John's widow, Yoko Ono, that I should become his biographer," writes Philip Norman in the Acknowledgements section of John Lennon: The Life. However, after reading the final manuscript, "Yoko Ono was upset by the book," Norman tells us, "and would not endorse it . . . [saying] I had been 'mean to John.'" I actually don't think Yoko's got anything to worry about; Norman's book is both clear-eyed and appropriately sympathetic as it traces the arc of Lennon's all-too-brief life and career. While there's much in here that's familiar, Norman uses both old and new sources to revisit apocryphal or second-hand stories -- most of which are familiar to Beatle fans -- and determine their veracity. He puts to rest, for example, the Did they or didn't they? question that has surrounded Lennon's vacation in Spain with manager Brian Epstein (they didn't), and accepts as fact many of the stories that expose John's darker side, such as his brutal beating of Cavern DJ Bob Wooler, or the lurid sexual fantasies involving his own mother. There's also quite a bit that's new in here, too -- or, at least, was unfamiliar to me. Norman explores, for example, exactly what "business" Yoko was doing during Lennon's househusband years -- she was dealing mostly in mundane real estate transactions, but is also given full credit for shrewdly negotiating music contracts that maximized John's profits and protected his copyrights. He also examines some of the theater pieces that were based on Lennon's writings in the 1960s -- a hidden gem in the literate Beatle's career -- exposes a charming addiction to board games, and explains about as well as one can the complicated legal wranglings that finally dissolved the band and led to years of hard feelings. For perhaps the first time, too, some of the supporting characters in Lennon's story finally come into their own. John's Aunt Mimi -- who can often come off as a bit of a shrew -- gets a bit of her own narrative, as Norman uses letters Mimi wrote regularly to a young female fan named Jane Wirgman to reveal just how thoughtful and protective of John Mimi could be, even as she continued to be embarrassed by his antics or appearance. You'll also have a better understanding of Freddie Lennon, John's seaman father who abandoned his wife and son, then rematerialized after John made it big. Freddie has his own reasons -- excuses -- for his actions, but for the first time, you'll have his own words and private correspondence to help you decide whether you buy it or not. If there's a complaint I have about this otherwise thorough biography, it lies in Norman's narrative voice. Norman's prose isn't ever stilted -- he's too good a journalist for that -- but it can be somewhat stodgy (he calls the lyrics to "Twist and Shout," for example, "dippy"). He also inserts way too many clunky moments of foreshadowing of Lennon's fate, often resorting to eye-rollingly lame declarations of irony that are a stretch, at best. For example, as the Beatles frolic for a photo session in New York during their first American tour in 1964, Norman can't help but indulge in dramatic voiceover. "Hindsight gives this routine scene a horrible irony," he writes. "Just across the park lies a craggy Gothic pile known as the Dakota Building" where John would be shot to death in 1980. Later, Norman tell us that for the 1972 U.S. Presidential campaign, "John pinned high hopes on the Democratic candidate, George McGovern, senator for South Dakota -- an omen if ever there was one . . . " It took me a moment to figure out why this was "an omen" -- until I realized it was the use of the word "Dakota" in the sentence that was supposed to be so ominous. Perhaps even more annoying -- especially to the biographer in me -- there's no sign of a bibliography, sources, or endnotes, only an index. There were several times in Norman's book when I found myself saying "Where'd you get that?" and turned to the back looking for his source, only to come up blank. Perhaps, at 851 pages, there simply wasn't enough room left. But I'm sure I'm not the only one missing it.