Lennon Remembers
by Jann S. Wenner
Verso Press

Twenty years after John Lennon's death, and 30 years after the breakup of the Beatles, Beatlemania continues — "The Beatles Anthology," a gorgeous, sprawling coffee-table book, has been on the New York Times bestseller list for eight weeks now; at least 15 other books on the Fab Four were scheduled for release this fall, joining the 400+ already published in the past three decades. In almost all of these new books — and in everything that's emerged from the "Beatles Anthology" project (six CDs, a TV special, eight 75-minute videos, and the book) — the acrimonious breakup of the band is glossed over, the Beatles' history is sugar-coated and John Lennon — the Beatle most uncomfortable with being typecast as an amiable pop crooner — is deified as an entertainer, an idealist and a Baby Boomer hero.

Amid all the revisionism and gushing remembrances, it is good to be reminded — in the form of Jann S. Wenner's "Lennon Remembers" — of what a complex man and trickster artist Lennon was in life. At a time when much of the press and public were indignant about the Beatles' breakup, Wenner's fledgling magazine Rolling Stone published the Two Virgins photographs, and supported Lennon and Yoko Ono in their peace efforts and solo albums; in 1970 Rolling Stone published the first post-Beatles interview with Lennon. The transcripts of all the conversations that made up the piece, conducted by Wenner with Lennon and Yoko in New York City during 1970, are published here in their entirety for the first time.

The interviews roamed widely — Lennon was voluble on everything from the Beatles to meeting Yoko to the founding of Apple Corps to LSD — and he was remarkably honest and spontaneous in his answers to Wenner's questions. On his guitar playing: "I'm okay. I'm not technically very good, but I can make it fucking howl and move." On how he quit the Beatles: "I said to Paul, 'I'm leaving.'" On whether he's a genius: "Yes. If there's such a thing as one, I am one."

Lennon may not have considered himself a great guitar player, but he was an accomplished illustrator, poet and musician. He was, in the words of Yoko, writing in the foreword, "an Artist, and he had always been innovative." Leaving the Beatles, he moved on quickly to new projects, such as his first solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.

Lennon described the album to Wenner as "the best thing I've ever done. I think it's realistic and it's true to the me that's been developing over the years..." More personal than anything he'd done with the Beatles, Plastic Ono Band served another purpose. Discussing Lennon's song "God," Wenner asked, "When did you know that you were going to be working toward the line 'I don't believe in Beatles'?" Lennon, in characteristic fashion, replied at length on the process — how he came to list the things he did not believe in and how he ended up at the Beatles — and summed up his answer with this:

"Beatles was the final thing because it's like I no longer believe in myth, and Beatles is another myth... The dream's over. I'm not just talking about the Beatles is over. I'm talking about the generation thing. The dream's over, and I have personally got to get down to so-called reality."

Lennon might be surprised by the mythic status the Beatles have achieved at the turn of the century. Although, perhaps not. He seemed to know, and understand, people's need to believe in a God, or many gods, to believe in things bigger and grander than themselves, even as he disdained such beliefs. When he sang:

The dream is over
What can I say
The dream is over
Yesterday
I was the dreamweaver
But now, I am reborn
I was the Walrus
But now, I am John
And so dear friends
You'll just have to carry on

Lennon was declaring his independence from the Beatles, but gently.

It is a shame that Lennon's contributions to the world have been overwhelmingly reduced to his years in a band known for its catchy pop songs and shrieking groupies. That in death, he has been rendered both abstract and saintly, a beneficent musical demigod. Wenner does a tremendous service to fans of the Beatles and Lennon by publishing these interview transcripts, and offers a fitting tribute to Lennon's memory, as well, by reviving the voice of the man — as he truly was, in his own words.

— Jessica Chapel (jnc at flakmag dot com)