by Joe Bensam
John Lennon - The Music, The Magic
& The Murder
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - The Birth of a Legend
Chapter 2 - Growing Up in Liverpool
Chapter 3 - The Birth of The Beatles
Chapter 4 - The Road To Hamburg
Chapter 5 - On Track For Success
Chapter 6 - Conquering America
Chapter 7 - John Meets Yoko
Chapter 8 - Beyond The Beatles
Chapter 9 - John’s Lost Weekend
Chapter 10 - A New Beginning and a Tragic End
Chapter 1 - The Birth of a Legend
At the time, the St. Peter’s Garden Fete at Woolton, Liverpool, in 1957 did not appear to be a particularly memorable event. Yet at this mundane parish event, an event occurred that was to change the history of modern music for ever...and to catapult the 16-year old John Winston Lennon relentlessly towards fame and fortune on an extraordinary scale - and ultimately towards the horror of his tragic and untimely death.
The day had not started well. When John came down for breakfast on 6 July dressed in his most outrageous Teddy boy gear, Aunt Mimi - who had raised him - was not impressed. She was even less impressed at the fete that afternoon, when she discovered that the entertainment included a performance by John and his band, The Quarrymen. Yet as the young rock-and-roller and his cronies belted out tunes by Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley, even the staid Mimi had to admit that the band was not bad at all.
John and The Quarrymen Playing in Liverpool
After the performance, John and the band retired to the village hall to chat and drink a stolen beer or two. They were joined by a Liverpool lad that John knew by sight, but whom he had never spoken to before. Another member of the band had suggested that this baby-faced 15-year old might be a useful addition to The Quarrymen’s line-up. The newcomer picked up a guitar and gave the band an impressive rendition of Eddie Cochran’s Twenty Flight Rock. He followed this up by switching to the piano to perform ‘A Whole Lot of Shakin’’ by Jerry Lee Lewis. Most impressive of all, the youngster was able to tune all the guitars properly - a feat which was beyond the modest musical knowledge of any of The Quarrymen. As he played, John thought about the possibilities.
‘I thought “he’s as good as me”’, he said later. ‘It went through my head that I would have to keep him in line if I let him join. But he was good, so he was worth having. He also looked like Elvis. I dug him.’
And so the decision was made. The young man who went by the name of Paul McCartney was invited to join John Lennon’s band. The greatest songwriting partnership in the history of popular music was born...and the first page in the epic and extraordinary history of The Beatles was written.
Chapter 2 - Growing Up in Liverpool
John had a complicated and eventful childhood. Born in Liverpool on 9 October 1940 at the height of the wartime blitz, he was raised in a poor but loving family. His father, Alf, was a merchant seaman who spent a lot of time away from home, and by the time John was old enough to aware of his family, Alf had permanently separated from John’s mother, Julia, and - apart from a bizarre episode where he tried to abduct John and take him to New Zealand - was not seen again for many years.
Julia was a warm and loving mother, and she soon formed a relationship with another man, Bobby Dykins, and moved in with him. John was happy with this home life, despite their straitened circumstances, but things were about to change. Julia’s older sister, Mimi, was appalled that Julia was ‘living in sin’ with a man, and even more appalled to find that the young John was sleeping in the same room as Julia and Bobby. She made a complaint to the council’s child-care services, and eventually John was taken away from Julia and sent to live with Mimi.
Mimi’s motivations for taking this action seem complicated. While her conservative middle-class ethics certainly objected to the ‘over the brush’ arrangements at Julia’s house, there may have been a degree of self-interest, too. Remarkably, it became apparent many years later that Mimi’s long marriage had never been consummated - - for reasons unknown - which meant she had no children of her own. By adopting John, she gained a child to love and care for as her own...which is exactly what she did, even if in a straitlaced Victorian fashion.
As a result of this change of ‘ownership,’ John grew up not in working-class Liverpool, but in the much more refined suburb of Woolton. Mimi and her husband George owned a large semi-detached home called Mendips, in posh and aloof Menlove Avenue. The environment here was austere, but nevertheless, Mimi was totally devoted to John’s upbringing and happiness. What Mimi lacked in terms of warmth and affection was compensated for by her husband, George, a big, friendly man who loved John without restraint. John also maintained a good relationship with Julia, often spending time at her home, or enjoying her visits to Mendips. Mimi also took in lodgers to help with the household expenses, and John got on well these part-time residents.
Mendips... John’s childhood home in Woolton, Liverpool
John worked his way through primary school uneventfully, then managed to pass the 11-plus selection exam which entitled him to join the elite of British schoolchildren at a Grammar school. Mimi selected Quarry Bank High School, an easy ride on the bike George had bought him for passing the exam. At High School, John’s previously unblemished record soon started going downhill fast. He and his soulmate, Pete Shotton, had started together in the top ‘A’ stream with bright prospects. However, both showed more interest in having fun and playing pranks than they did in schoolwork, with the result that they rapidly descended to the bottom ‘C’ stream - collecting numerous canings and other punishments along the way.
The only area where John showed real talent was in the caricatures he drew of his teachers and classmates. These were not only funny, but they showed real artistic talent and creativity - a foretaste of things to come. As John grew into his teens, he adopted the look of a Teddy boy, a cool tough-guy image that suited his changing personality.
At that time, the first of the two terrible tragedies that marred his teenage years occurred one evening in June 1955. A loud bang from upstairs at Mendips raised the alarm in the household, and it was soon discovered that George had suffered a massive cardiac arrest. He was rushed to hospital, but died shortly afterwards. John was away with family in Scotland at the time, and returned home to a household that now seemed cold and lifeless without George’s hugs and humanity.
Although John missed his lovable step-father greatly, one benefit did emerge from George’s death. Julia now spent more time than ever at Mendips, comforting Mimi and John - with the result that John forged a stronger relationship with his mother than ever before. But the loss of George’s income also meant that money was a problem, and Mimi was forced to scale up the use of lodgers to close the income gap.
Meanwhile, John had discovered that girls were much more interesting than they had seemed to be a few years earlier, and began flirting with young ladies from various schools in the neighborhood. Soon he had a steady girlfriend, and their relationship quickly graduated into a sexual one, but with their intimate moments hampered by the lack of anywhere private to go...with the flat surface of tombs in the local cemetery often doing duty as a substitute bed.
Alongside this sexual awakening, John was experience a musical enlightenment, too. Rock & roll had hit the UK, with the sounds of Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and other US acts blasting from record players and jukeboxes around the UK. John loved the energy and power of this new musical form, and become a rabid fan of American rock & roll. But at first, it did not occur to him or his frie
nds that they could participate in the revolution by playing in a band themselves. After all, none of them had any musical ability, and rock & roll was something that was magically created in America - not generated by local lads in the back streets of Liverpool.
That view of the world changed, however, with the emergence of skiffle as a popular music form in Britain. Pioneered by Lonnie Donegan, skiffle became a craze in the UK that even briefly eclipsed rock & roll in popularity. But what was revolutionary about skiffle was that anyone could play it, even without conventional musical instruments. An old tea chest could be converted into simple double bass, a washboard provided percussion, and anyone who could manage three chords on a guitar could become a frontline performer.
Even more interesting for John, the banjo suddenly experienced a revival as a popular instrument. As it happened, Julia was an accomplished banjo player, and she started teaching him how to play simple tunes. But while the banjo captured his interest initially, he had soon set his heart on playing the instrument that was the key to any skiffle group - the guitar. Julia bought him one by mail order, a Gallotone Champion, and he was able to learn to play on this wondrous new instrument. The problem with this arrangement was that Julia only knew banjo fingering, so the guitar was tuned like a banjo - and John learned to play banjo-style chords.
Mimi was unsurprisingly appalled when playing this guitar obsessively led to him neglecting his schoolwork. The sense of horror mounted when John banded a few of his friends together to form an informal skiffle group. As they were all students at Quarry Bank High, they named themselves The Quarrymen - a reference to a line in the school song. As it turned out, John was the only one who showed any singing ability, so he naturally became the leader of the band. Their initial repertoire included skiffle songs and simple folk songs - anything more complex was beyond the reach of their limited musical skills. The Quarrymen were soon playing gigs at church halls and other venues around Liverpool, hauling their equipment from venue to venue on doubledecker buses. They rehearsed wherever they could, most notably in the bathroom at Julia’s house - where the acoustics were good - with John standing and singing in the bath.
As time went on, the constant rehearsing and gigging led to a rapid improvement in their musical talents. As a result, John felt confident enough to start introducing more adventurous songs into their sets. Soon the skiffle hits were dropped in favor of rock & roll classics, and the band gained a new identity as a serious band of performers.
The young Paul McCartney
As The Quarrymen became better known around the neighborhood, they attracted the interest of a lad who lived nearby, Paul McCartney. He too, was a dedicated rock & roller and a studious guitar player, and was keen to strike up a friendship with John, mainly because he hoped to join the fast-improving group. He asked a mutual friend, Ivan Vaughan, to effect an introduction, but for a while no opportunity for this arose.
Meanwhile, John had developed a sudden interest in religion. This was not borne of any spiritual enlightenment, or even as a reaction to his mother’s death, but from the realization that boys who were ‘confirmed’ in church were showered with gifts of money. Consequently, he developed a temporary religious zeal which impressed the rector of St. Peter’s so much that he invited John’s band to play at the church’s annual garden fete - so setting up the meeting that introduced Paul McCartney to his world.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Chapter 3 - The Birth of The Beatles
Throughout his life, John always seemed to need a close partner - a friend who was not just a friend, but also a confidante and source of inspiration. In his younger years, Pete Shotton had fulfilled this role. Later in life, he would form such an intense relationship with Yoko Ono that it accelerated the break-up of The Beatles. But in 1957, this role was handed to John’s new friend and musical soulmate - Paul McCartney.
After the informal audition at the Woolton garden fete, Paul soon became good mates with John, and they realized they had a great deal in common. Apart from a shared interest in music, especially rock & roll, they both liked the same books and movies, and shared in interest in nonsense verse. More significantly, Paul had also lost his mother in the last year, and the two were able to gradually share their feelings about their losses, revealing emotions that neither would normally expose to the outside world.
Paul now took his place in the line-up of The Quarrymen, and the band recommenced a gigging schedule around the clubs and halls of Liverpool. John’s prediction that the new member would strengthen the group proved correct, with Paul’s ability to imitate Eddie Cochran, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard adding a whole new dimension to their performances. What came as a something of a surprise, though, was the new era of professionalism that Paul ushered in. Soon the previously-chaotic band were turning out for gigs in matching black jeans, white shirts and bootlace ties.
Between gigs, John and Paul frequently met at each other’s houses to rehearse and try out new songs as potential gigging material. At first, they worked through the proven catalog of rock & roll classics. The problem with this arrangement was that they were playing the same songs as every other band in Liverpool. There were only two solutions to this problem - to play obscure ‘B’ sides that no-one else was playing...or to write their own material. As Paul had already started experimenting with their writing his own songs, they chose this route - figuring that if Buddy Holly could write his own songs, they the could, too.
Both have freely admitted that their early efforts were nothing to get excited about. But as time passed, they learned fast, and found that they worked well together as a songwriting team. Paul’s melodic ideas and neat lyrics contrasted perfectly with John’s raw but unpolished creative drive. The result was songs that were both inspired and melodic - a potent combination that was to produce some of the greatest songs ever written.
Although John and Paul could both play guitar competently, neither of them qualified as a lead guitarist, and any serious band needed to have a good lead player if they were to be taken seriously. Paul had a solution in mind. He had a friend who was becoming pretty adept at playing guitar solos, so Paul suggested that John should audition him. John was reluctant, however, as the guitarist was his junior by over two years - a huge chasm when you are in your teens But Paul persisted, and finally managed to get John to listen to his friend play as they travelled on the top deck of a double decker bus. John was was won over, and the youthful George Harrison was invited to join the band.
George Harrison practices for his future career
Meanwhile, John was struggling to figure out what he was going to do next in the world of education. Having failed his exams in spectacular fashion, he was not destined to move onto six-form studies with the rest of his pals. The only redeeming light in his educational history was the flair he had shown for art in his caricatures. So with some reservations, and a great deal of coaxing from the determined Mimi, John was recommended as a candidate for the Liverpool College of Art - despite having failed his art exam, along with most other subjects.
Consequently, John turned up at college in September, ready to commence a four-year course for a National Diploma in Art and Design. However, if Mimi was hoping for a sudden conversion from school layabout to studious scholar, she was to be disappointed. John started his college career in much the same way as he had ended his school life - turning up more out of duty than commitment, and failing to find any subject where his talents were put to good use. Once again, only his surprisingly good caricatures and private drawings stood out as being exceptional, and helped him to keep his place in the student world.
John did make some new friends, though, including the artist Stu Sutcliffe, easily one of the most talented artists in the college. John was impressed by Stu’s raw talent as a painter, and also by his cool and enviable presence. Stu was equally impressed by John’s irreverence and humor, and the two became great friends.
In July 1958, the second and gre
atest tragedy of John’s youth occurred. One day, Julia came over to Mendips to visit Mimi, and at the end of the evening she left to catch a bus home. Mimi was too busy to walk her to the bus stop, as she usually did, so Julia walked part of the way with one of John’s friends, who lived nearby. Shortly after they parted company, she started to cross the road to head for her bus stop. A moment later, she was struck by a car driven by an unaccompanied learner drive and hit high in the air. She was dead on arrival at hospital.
John with his mother, Julia
John, of course, was devastated when he head that his mother was dead. Unable to express his emotion in any other way, he locked himself in his room for days and consoled himself with his guitar. Eventually, time began to heal the wounds, and John resumed life in Mimi’s house, which now seemed colder than ever without Julia’s high-spirited visits to relieve the gloom.
College resumed in September, and John turned to alcohol to suppress his feelings about Julia’s death and the other complications in his life. His poor performance in most subjects the previous year left him few choices in subjects, and he found that he had no option but to take the Lettering class. He duly turned up in class with his guitar strapped over his shoulder, and found there was only one seat available at the back of the class. He sat down grumpily, little realizing that the mousy-haired and bespectacled young woman in front of him would soon become his wife.
***
Cynthia Powell was not an immediate candidate for a relationship with someone like John. Despite his middle-class upbringing, John was undoubtedly a rough-and-ready Teddy boy with Trouble as his middle name. Cynthia, by contrast, had been brought up in the ultra-respectable suburb of Hoylake. This was only a short distance away across the Mersey river, but a million miles away in terms of class. And in the class-conscious Britain of the 1950s, that mattered a lot.
