http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/9075/
By John Pietaro
10-06-09
On the 9th of this month, the late John Lennon would have celebrated
his 69th birthday. A deranged assassin's bullet in 1980, of course,
forever sealed him into a certain age, place and time. The John
Lennon of 1980 was a husband and a father and a quite touchable New
Yorker who'd just released his first record album in several years.
Those who knew him said he was staring down a long, positive road
ahead, planning a world tour with Yoko and watching his latest single
race up the charts. But none of us who lived through December that
year shall forget where we were when we learned of his passing. The
loss was not only of a popular icon or a rock star, but also of a man
who'd struggled against injustice, war and Nixon and lived to tell
the tale. The imprint of John Lennon the revolutionary is also sealed
forever in our minds and our hearts.
--
In 1969, as the Beatles were in the process of going through a slow,
painful disintegration, John Lennon began to loudly voice his protest
against the Vietnam War and speak out in support of social change,
even as he experienced the full wrath of the Nixon Administration's
ire. Lennon's songs such as "Power to the People," "Give Peace a
Chance," "Working Class Hero," "Woman is the Nigger of the World" and
especially "Imagine" opened up, for mainstream audiences, new realms
of progressive ideals and angry dissidence. Though a "legitimate"
rock star, Lennon by the early 1970s could be found performing at
large peace rallies and also the benefit concert for anti-war
activist John Sinclair's defense, following the latter's framed
arrest for drug possession. Working closely with the Left-wing
radical artist Yoko Ono, his life mate, Lennon replaced his mop-top
image with that of a bearded, long-haired, counter-cultural force to
be reckoned with. Lennon's voice in support of Sinclair, Angela Davis
and the Attica Prison rioters, as well as time spent in the company
of Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and other members of the Yippies, was
of great importance to the movement, adding a credence that
lesser-known artists could not have.
Lennon's endlessly long FBI file clarifies the US government's belief
that he was a political revolutionary, and his eventual ability to
secure citizenship and rebuff the forces of reaction which tried
desperately to deport him were a testament to the power of the youth
culture and the New Left. His crowning achievement of protest art is
the album Sometime in New York City, which includes songs about the
Attica uprising, the Yippie movement, the case against Angela Davis,
the trial of John Sinclair, the struggle for women's equality, the
Black Panthers' fight for survival, the imperialistic violence in
Northern Ireland and other issues of great importance to the
political Left Old and New.
The rock star's battles with the Nixon Administration and the agents
of J. Edgar Hoover were well-documented in the 2006 documentary "The
US vs John Lennon." The film depicts the machinations of Nixon's
increasing paranoia as well as the continued hysteria of the Cold
War, a virtual minefield of Rightist reaction for Lennon as he sought
citizenship. The underground, arch-Right working with elected
officials was a constant threat to any progressive, let alone one of
such high notoriety (we'd seen the same happen some twenty years
earlier as the neo-fascists closed in on movie actors, writers and
directors). Hoover remained closeted, as the case may be, but
all-powerful. COINTELPRO was operating at full force and Washington
was run by this secret government not seen before in the annals of
American history at least not until Cheney went into hiding in his
bunker. Lennon's songs heard in the film, and also seen in historic
performance footage, stand out as deeply relevant to the people's fight-back.
"Power to the People," a song from his Plastic Ono Band period,
stands out as anthemic. With this piece, Lennon was responding to his
own trepidation of just three years before; his Beatles release
"Revolution" refused to actually commit to the action of its own
title. By 1971, he was more than ready. And while "Power" was a great
rallying cry, it went even deeper. This song also addressed the
sexism that is often evident in the movement, so it offered
empowerment and exposition beyond the obvious. Once this song
actually went to the pressing plant, there was no turning back for Lennon.
While "The US vs John Lennon" soundtrack includes the usual suspects,
so to speak, special attention has been placed on rarely heard
numbers. And herein lies the treasure. "Gimme Some Truth," a Plastic
Ono Band number from '71 is a classically angry protest song though
it is slow and deliberate in nature and artfully arranged (including
George Harrison's soaring slide guitar). Surely this selection could
be about rebellion from anyone's perspective, especially that of a
teenager. In this sense it's timeless, yet it's also very much a
timely song, what with the politics Lennon encountered.
"Attica State" is a recording made as Lennon and Yoko Ono performed
at the Michigan rally in support of Sinclair. Supported by acoustic
guitars and, apparently, a thumping foot, Lennon and Ono sound about
as raw as can be expected. Unwelcoming feedback from the sound system
creeps up more than once, but this just adds to the immediacy. Lennon
is even heard commenting on the stripped-down nature of the
performance: "I haven't done this in years". Another song from the
same concert, "John Sinclair," offers some specifics on the case of
the peace activist. But most important is Lennon's opening statement
to the crowd: "We came here not only to help John, but also to say to
all of you that apathy isn't it. We can do something. Okay, so Flower
Power didn't work so what? We start again." With this, Lennon gave
acknowledgment to the gorilla in the parlor the reality that the
youth movement did not immediately change the nation's direction
but in identifying it, he also insisted on the need to maintain the
fight. This is the difference between a musician of social commentary
and one of social protest.
Also present on the CD is "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama, I Don't
Wanna Die" from 1971. Credited to "John Lennon and the Plastic Ono
Band with the Flux Fiddlers," here one can appreciate Ono's effect on
Lennon: repetitive motives with an almost droning harmonic structure,
improvisations atop that structure, with extra musicians added for an
orchestral feel, and emotive vocals all point to Yoko's own
experiments in the Fluxus art movement. 1969's "Bed Peace" is a brief
slice of Lennon and Ono's campaign of "bed-ins for peace." Most
profoundly is the song "Give Peace a Chance," a work which has since
become immortalized due to its use at major anti-war rallies during
the Vietnam era and today. As Nixon and Hoover both knew, a globally
popular rock star with political awareness is perhaps the most
dangerous weapon against the confining, repressive grip of the status quo.
--
John Pietaro is a cultural worker (a musician and writer) as well as
a labor organizer from New York. His website is www.flamesofdiscontent.org.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment