Intellectual Duel: John Lennon and Bob Dylan vs. The Press
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I watched ??Imagine?? again a couple months ago, and I came away with a couple insights that I wouldn't have had when I watched it as a teenager. 1. John Lennon was the first "Reality Star" of any merit.* 2. John had worked his thinking pattern into his own frenzied logic that wasn't really as deep as we often believe him to be. He often uses a "it means everything, it means nothing" argument - that when he's taken to task for what he has said or done, seems to make him realize that his actions have no effect, or don't really accomplish anything more than to stand as entertainment for the world. In this interview, I actually find myself siding with the interviewer more than Lennon and Ono's blind eyed optimism of "have you ever seen some one smile when they try to kill someone? If you smile, you don't want to kill..." mentality. Of course Yoko's flaky post modernism didn't help with the insulated life that stars of Lennon's fame are forced to (or have to) live in.
I don't fault Lennon for coming off the way he does in this interview. I think that since his "Bigger Than Jesus" comment, he realized that everything he said would be put under the microscope. I think this made him kind of commit intellectual suicide, because he had to over analyze every statement he would make to the press. He's got ??I Am The Walrus Syndrome?? : I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. Spiral logic that spins takes the long way to get to a much simpler point or thought that you kind of started out with.
The Beatles sheer enormity and reach was created by being the multimedia pioneers that they were. They were great music, but they were also merchandise - Beatle boots, figurines, and mop top wigs, too. I think John Lennon's psyche was a casualty of being such a multimedia presence.
John Lennon interview:
Bob Dylan on the other hand seemed a little more aware of the pigeon holing, at least a little earlier than Lennon. Dylan's greatest career move may have been to take on Albert Goldman as a manager. Goldman knew how to manage a talent and catalog such as Dylan's, by having other artists in his stable record Dylan's music, Dylan's thunder was heard way before his lightning was ever seen. The Beatles were everything at once - an image, a sound, 4 distinct personalities, a representation of youth - Dylan on the other hand was heard through the voices of many more suited singers and performers, and then upon the revelation of who Dylan was (a creaky voiced Jewish folkie from Minnesota) there was still so much mystery to try to solve. And once people were pretty sure they had Dylan pegged, he offered himself up to the electric gods - a sure suicide at the time, and still managed to come out the other side, where he wouldn't look back.
Perhaps it's exasperating putting yourself into music, only to have to talk about everything you felt you already said in the song. Perhaps we all need to create a certain image to hang onto in order to describe the person that creates something so abstract as music. Just when you think a song says what it does, someone tells you it says something else. The singer is often the narrator in the 3rd person, even when using the words "I" and "Me" in their music. So when the journalist asks the musician what they actually meant when they said that, it's like Abraham asking God what exactly he meant when he asked him to kill his first born son. Sometimes, if you don't get it, you just don't get it.*I will elaborate on this in the comments section if asked.
I don't fault Lennon for coming off the way he does in this interview. I think that since his "Bigger Than Jesus" comment, he realized that everything he said would be put under the microscope. I think this made him kind of commit intellectual suicide, because he had to over analyze every statement he would make to the press. He's got ??I Am The Walrus Syndrome?? : I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. Spiral logic that spins takes the long way to get to a much simpler point or thought that you kind of started out with.
The Beatles sheer enormity and reach was created by being the multimedia pioneers that they were. They were great music, but they were also merchandise - Beatle boots, figurines, and mop top wigs, too. I think John Lennon's psyche was a casualty of being such a multimedia presence.
John Lennon interview:
Bob Dylan on the other hand seemed a little more aware of the pigeon holing, at least a little earlier than Lennon. Dylan's greatest career move may have been to take on Albert Goldman as a manager. Goldman knew how to manage a talent and catalog such as Dylan's, by having other artists in his stable record Dylan's music, Dylan's thunder was heard way before his lightning was ever seen. The Beatles were everything at once - an image, a sound, 4 distinct personalities, a representation of youth - Dylan on the other hand was heard through the voices of many more suited singers and performers, and then upon the revelation of who Dylan was (a creaky voiced Jewish folkie from Minnesota) there was still so much mystery to try to solve. And once people were pretty sure they had Dylan pegged, he offered himself up to the electric gods - a sure suicide at the time, and still managed to come out the other side, where he wouldn't look back.
Perhaps it's exasperating putting yourself into music, only to have to talk about everything you felt you already said in the song. Perhaps we all need to create a certain image to hang onto in order to describe the person that creates something so abstract as music. Just when you think a song says what it does, someone tells you it says something else. The singer is often the narrator in the 3rd person, even when using the words "I" and "Me" in their music. So when the journalist asks the musician what they actually meant when they said that, it's like Abraham asking God what exactly he meant when he asked him to kill his first born son. Sometimes, if you don't get it, you just don't get it.*I will elaborate on this in the comments section if asked.
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