The John Lenon Letters Part II

I am now continuing with The John Lennon Letters edited by Hunter Davies from where I left off and the entrance of Yoko into John’s life.

John met Yoko in 1966 and moved in with her in 1968. Much was happening at this time with the Beatles, too. John’s correspondence deals with establishing his and Yoko’s credentials as artists promoting world peace via the acorn project, which involved the mailing of a pair of acorns to world leaders to plant in an east-west axis in the name of peace. This may be where John begins his rest of life quest to promote world peace. The letters that do exist show some tension and are few and torn in some cases. Perhaps the letters are symbolic of John’s life at this time.  They include nude drawings of him and Yoko.

John’s whimsy is continually seen in the surveys he fills out and in the misspellings in postcards and letters. Post Beatles is spent introducing Yoko to family and traveling by air and car, which isn’t advisable for John, as he seems to be a bad driver.  Primal Scream becomes a part of his separation and release from the Beatles and past life. He uses the Scream to segue to his next stage and shares this with family and friends via mail and music. I find Maynard Ferguson’s version of Primal Screammore palpable albeit later.  A lot of legal stuff ends Beatles and puts distance between him and Paul. Not pretty.  Much time and mail spent on promoting Yoko and her work as well as re defending himself at times as author of some music and resurrecting statements about Jesus. Also more time spent in America, as they slowly become New Yorkers. He and Yoko are living downtown as he burns the bridges at home and continues his battles with Paul. Better the combatants use words (lyrics) rather than bullets. It seems as if John is tying lots of loose ends before breaking away from his motherland for NYC.

The whole bit with Paul is interesting as it is Linda doing the writing for Paul to John and John doing his own writing. Her involvement, especially with the Eastman lawyers at the end of Beatles caused lots more trouble than Yoko did.

The next and last review will be his NYC days.