A Brief History Of The Unreleased ‘Kenwood

Tapes’ Recorded By John Lennon In His Attic

Home Studio, Weybridge, Surrey, 1967

THE ATTIC STUDIO ‘KENWOOD’

Beatle John Lennon bought his home ‘Kenwood’ on July 15,

1964, on the advice of The Beatles’ accountants, Dr. Walter
Strach, and James Isherwood. Cliff Richard and Tom Jones had
earlier bought homes on the St. George’s Hill estate. Though
reportedly not liking Kenwood (describing it as a “stopover” on
the way to something better) Lennon spent twice the original
£20,000 ($40,588) (£257,200 today) purchase price on renova-
tions, reducing its 22 rooms to 17, landscaping the grounds and
building an outdoor swimming pool. Much of the initial deco-
ration was left to interior designer Kenneth Partridge, whom
Lennon employed after being impressed by his design work
at a lavish party held by Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein to
celebrate the Beatles’ departure for their first tour of the USA.
However, when Partridge had completed his work, Lennon
and then-wife Cynthia immediately made a number of further
alterations which better reflected their taste. Cynthia’s mother
was given an allowance to fill the shelves of the house with
antiques and antiquarian books, and a heavy sliding wooden
door was installed at the gate entrance to keep out fans.

Kenwood has 3 floors: on the ground floor during the Len-

non period the front door opened onto an entrance hall, where
Lennon placed a suit of armor and a gorilla suit. Across the
hall was a large living room, which had black carpets, two 18-
foot sofas and a marble fireplace. To the left of the hall was a
toilet, and through the living room was a dining room, where
purple, velvet wallpaper was put up.[15] Adjacent to the din-
ing room, at the back of the house, was a small sunroom. This
was decorated with various pictures, caricatures and stick-
ers, such as the one from the Safe as Milk debut album (1967)
by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, and one advertising
the Monterey Pop Festival. Photos published by The Beatles
Book Monthly show the shelves of the sunroom filled with ar-
ticles such as a large, ornate cross, a Mickey Mouse doll and
a mortar and pestle, reportedly used by Lennon to mix various
combinations of cocaine, amphetamine, barbiturates and LSD
There was also a yellow sofa or chaise-longue upon which
Lennon would spend much of his time. It was a present from
his aunt, Elizabeth Sutherland (née Stanley) also known as
Mater. Behind the sunroom was the split-level kitchen where
state-of-the-art appliances were installed, so complex that a
tutor had to come and give the Lennon’s lessons in their use.

Completing the ground floor was a smaller lounge, and a

games room. The main staircase to the upper floors was situ-
ated in the entrance hall. The house had 6 bedrooms, with 5
on the first floor. The giant master bedroom featured a huge
double bed, white carpets and an en-suite bathroom com-
plete with sunken bathtub, shower, Jacuzzi and ‘his and hers’
wash basins. Lennon wanted the guest bedrooms to contain
works of art by students of the Liverpool Art College. In par-
ticular, two drawings by former Beatles’ bassist Stuart Sut-
cliffe were hung, for what Lennon described as “sentimental
reasons”. The first floor also had a study. On the top floor was
the attic, which Lennon claimed as his own, painting the ceil-
ing one bright color, then changing to another when the paint
ran out, and installing most of his musical equipment there.
John originally used the space as a painter’s studio but then
reinvented it as his home recording studio. For as a time Len-
non’s errant father Fred and his young wife Pauline occupied
the guest room.

Lennon did much of his now iconic songwriting in the attic,

where he had several German Studer tape recorders. Little
was done with them until Paul McCartney and an engineer
from EMI’s Abbey Road Studios came over and helped re-
install them in sequence, sooverdubs could be made. Lennon
could thus record his own double tracked song demos. The
attic also contained a mellotron, anelectric organ, a piano, a
Vox AC30 and several guitars, all of which were used when
songwriting. Aside from the mini-studio, the attic contained 2
other rooms - a small guest bedroom and a games room used
for recreation. Lennon filled it with three full sets of the model
car racing game, Scalextric.

The mellotron is an electronic synthesizer than was a forerun-

ner to the famous Moog synthesizer of the late 1960’s (de-
veloped in Lockport, New York by one Mr. Moog). John had
one of the first made installed in his attic music room in Ken-
wood, along with multiple reel-to-reel tape machines and other
state-of-the-art gadgetry that allowed him to doodle for hours,
making up various pieces. Many ideas and techniques first ex-
perimented with in John’s home studio ended up on finished
Beatles recordings most notably, early “Strawberry Fields For-
ever” home demos. Some of the incidental music heard in the
Magical Mystery Tour film were recorded there, too.
THE ‘KENWOOD’ ‘MIND MOVIE’ TAPES

The tapes currently on offer are some of the many private

home recordings John Lennon made here during his extended
LSD period between 1966 and 1969. These particular record-
ings were made in late 1966. Along with the occasional col-
laboration of friends Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo
Star and, most notably, Beatles aid Terry Doran, Lennon made
these long lost, unreleased historic tapes for his own private
use and experimentation. In early 1969 Lennon gave the one
and only master to his close friend and Apple promotional man-
ager Derek Wyn Taylor. In these extraordinary tapes we see
Lennon the actor, comedian, alchemist, eccentric composer,
LSD disciple and unabashed loon. Here he unwinds his mind
to become a host of strange characters with the obvious goal
of pleasing only himself. A kind of fractured audio diary of the
man behind the Beatles ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Lennon reveals himself
and his private passion for characterization, improvisational
comedy and acting as never before. We see Lennon now the
quirky avantgardest and psychedelic humorist spewing forth
numerous characters inspired, one suspects, by a potent mix
of various drugs including, LSD, hashish, mescaline and god
knows what else. Many of John’s ‘comic kits’ often featured
tape loops and synthesized sounds these tapes however, for
the most part do not. Commercially much of the spirit of the
inspired lunacy of Lennon’s secret spoken word tapes eventu-
ally made their way on to such Beatles songs as ‘You Know My
Name Look Up The Number’,‘Revolution #9’, ‘What A Shame
Maryjane’, The Beatles Christmas LP, among others. Exam-
ples of solo Lennon releases which drew from this well spring
of animated characters created by the pop genius are ‘Once
upon a Pool Table’ and ‘Serve Yourself’ (recorded near the end
of John’s life). Lennon later named the tapes he made in this
offbeat style ‘mind movies’. Derek Taylor has stated that for
a time Lennon considered editing these tapes together (see
handwritten song list included in this lot) for possible release
in conjunction with ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’.
The idea was to re-record them at EMI Studios and mix them
together with sound effects to enlarge the Sgt. Pepper ‘live
show’ concept to include Lennon’s semi-vaudevillian comedy
act. Plans were quickly scrapped and the tapes lay forgotten
for decades. One can draw parallels from Lennon’s wild Wey-
bridge recordings to Lewis Carrol, Dylan Thomas, the Goon
Show, Vivian Stanshall and the anarchic Bonzo Dog Doo Dah
Band and others of a similar mindset. Although John drew
from the same well as his historical peers, whatever he took
he magically transformed and forever made his own. Lennon’s
great time tested music was but the tip of the iceberg of this
certified genius. If you really want to understand this singular,
complex soul then you must also look to his only rarely heard
comedic/avantgarde/poetic/mad home recordings in order to
enter into the vast sphere of the man’s almost Shakespearian
manipulation of words.

ENTER YOKO ONO

In was in this attic studio space that Lennon made his first re-
cording with his future second wife Japanese composer and
conceptual artist Yoko Ono in May 1968.. John’s wife Cynthia
had gone on vacation to Greece, leaving Lennon at Kenwood
with his boyhood friend Pete Shotton. After several days of
taking LSD and smoking marijuana, Lennon convened a meet-
ing at the Beatles’ business HQ to inform the others that he
felt he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Later that day he
phoned Ono, whose own husband Tony (Anthony Cox) was in
Paris on business, and invited her to Kenwood. Shotton left
the two alone, whereupon Lennon invited Ono (who had also
taken LSD) up to the attic to hear his experimental recordings
(including the ‘Kenwood’ tapes). For the rest of the night, the
two collaborated on what became the Two Virgins album, and
then “made love at dawn”, according to Lennon. Cynthia re-
turned early from her vacation, and discovered Lennon and
Ono sitting cross-legged on the floor and staring intently into
each other’s eyes (Ono was wearing one of Cynthia’s bath-
robes). In a state of shock, Cynthia then left to stay with friends
for a few days, although John and Cynthia were reconciled
for a time upon her return to Kenwood. It was during Cyn-
thia’s next holiday in Italy that Lennon and Ono finally entered
into a permanent relationship, and John asked for a divorce.
Cynthia, together with Julian and her mother, moved back into
Kenwood for the summer, where Paul McCartney visited her
to offer his support. On the journey to Kenwood he composed
the song, ‘Hey Jude’, which eventually became The Beatles’
biggest selling single. Lennon and Ono, meanwhile, were with-
out a permanent address for a time. They stayed with McCa-
rtney at his house in Cavendish Avenue (where it is alleged
that a further breach occurred in the Lennon/McCartney rela-
tionship when Lennon discovered a derogatory note written
by McCartney) and withPeter Brown, and then Neil Aspinall,
before moving into an apartment leased by Starr at Montagu
Square in London. They were evicted from this flat by the own-
er following a raid by the drug squad on 18 October 1968, and
subsequent November trial, and so moved back into Kenwood
for a short time, which had been vacated by Cynthia. In the
new year the Ono/Lennons moved into the Dorchester Hotel in
London, leaving Kenwood for the last time.
THE TAPES MOVE ON

In the early 1980’s Derek Taylor quietly passed on several

items from his mountain of precious Beatles memorabilia to
friends. One prominent Beatles related personality purchased
‘the Kenwood Tapes’ from Taylor in Henley–On-Thames, Ox-
fordshire for an undisclosed, but hefty sum. Derek made this
individual promise to never reveal their sale or release them
until well after his death. That promise has been well kept as
Taylor died from cancer on September 8, 1997. Unreleased in
any part or form from the time they were made by Lennon dec-
ades ago the sole and only copy remarkable tapes are not up
for commercial sale.

TRACK LISTING FROM ORGINAL LENNON TAPE LOG

• Trousers Off (Harris Tweed)
• Stoned Ringo In The Parlor (with Ringo Starr)
• Don’t Be Stupid Mam, I’m A Christian
• Radio Oxfam (with Terry Doran)
• Morning Shave, Weybridge, Surrey
• A Nice Little Trick
• Here’s The Harp (Inlay Of The Room)
• Lord & Lady Pimple & The Saga Of Sir Starchy (with Ringo Starr)
• An Abbey Road Slash (with The Beatles)
• A Slight Interjection
• When Dimlery Was King (The Running Doctor with Arnold of Eden)
• A Faint Resemblance
• The Shipping Strike (with Ringo Starr)
• Radio Play #2 (The Not So Amazing Mr. Williamson)
DESCRIPTION
Media: Cassette
Recording: Analog
Date Of Recording: Late 1966 and possibly early 1967
Lot: The Tape, History, COA

COA

Background & History Of Original Audio Recording

CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY
December 12, 2008
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN,
Re: John Lennon / Mind Movies (The Kenwood Tapes) Circa 1967

This is to certify and formally attest that the audio recording

known as ‘JOHN LENNON / MIND MOVIES (THE KENWOD
TAPES)’ is a wholly unreleased late 1966 recording project by
the renowned artist. I further warrant that this is the original and
only copy in existence (with the exception of the enclosed CDR
listening copy). No copies whatsoever have been retained and
the only digital copy created to make the CDR was personally
deleted by myself following burning the aforementioned CDR.
This original, unreleased recording was created by John Len-
non in Weybridge, Surey at his ‘Kenwood home. The record-
ing of these tapes were produced by, engineered and feature
John Lennon (and also the other Beatles). He recorded them in
the third floor attic art studio he had constructed in his subur-
ban estate. He did so after engaging audio professionals from
EMI’s Abbey Road Studios to hook up several German made
two track reel- to- reel tape recorders so he could work on pri-
vate recording projects such as this. He later recorded the infa-
mous ‘Two Virgins’ LP with Yoko Ono in the same studio. This
tape comes from the private collection of the late Beatles Ap-
ple Corps Press Officer, Derek W. Taylor. Taylor told the original
buyer that Lennon meant to record and release this as a com-
panion piece to the seminal ‘Sgt. Peppers’ Lonely Hearts Club
Band’ LP but the idea was scraped. The Beatle also admitted
that both he and Ringo Starr were under the influence of LSD
and Mescaline during the projects extended sessions.
I hereby declare that all of the above is true and correct in
every regard and detail.

Sincerely,

Susanna Rachel Nunn Esq.

Audio Archivist & Curator