Double Fantasy – John and Yoko

Last Saturday evening we watched John And Yoko: Above Us Only Sky a documentary film on Channel 4 which tells “the untold story” of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’. The film also “explores how the art, politics and music of the pair are intrinsically entwined.”

I was particularly interested to watch the documentary as only a few days before we’d visited an exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool – Double Fantasy – John & Yoko – which covered much of the same ground. 

The multi-media exhibition covers John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s relationship from when they  first met in November 1966 at an exhibition of Yoko’s work at a London gallery right up to John’s death in December 1980. Like the film, it tells their story in their own words, but also includes personal objects alongside art, music and film produced by both John and Yoko drawn from Yoko’s own private collection, and which

explores the personal and creative chemistry of this iconic couple and their ongoing Imagine Peace campaign (exhibition website)

In many ways John and Yoko were an unlikely couple. John a famous popular music star from a lower middle background from a working class city in the north of England, and Yoko a Japanese avant-garde artist from an upper class background. But they clicked with John, perhaps, seeing in Yoko what he really wanted to be (a cosmopolitan avant-garde artist, not an upper class Japanese woman!). The exhibition shows how they influenced each other’s work, with Yoko perhaps having a bigger influence on John than John on Yoko.

For many Beatles fans, Yoko was not popular, to say the least. Many of them blamed her for the breakup of the band. John took her with him to recording sessions and she, allegedly, offered her own musical suggestions and tried to join in on some of the songs. This certainly didn’t go down that well with other members of the band and probably widened rifts that were already starting to open.

My own view is that Yoko’s input probably accelerated what would have happened in any case rather than being the primary cause. It’s rare for a creative partnership to last forever and the Beatles were already starting to drift apart as they developed their own interests. Yoko was, for many, an easy scapegoat, and some of the antagonism was no doubt because she was Japanese. There was an underlying racism and the memories of WW2, which only ended just over 20 years before, meant that many people had a dislike of the Japanese.  Attitudes have mellowed over the years, but probably hasn’t completely gone away.

The exhibition was chronological, taking in all the key events of their relationship from their first meeting at Yoko’s exhibition illustrating them with artefacts, works of art and song lyrics, a rolling programme of films and music videos and a music room, overlooking the Mersey, with tracks from albums playing and featuring album cover art. 

Exhibits included costumes they wore at their wedding

Art works by Yoko and reproductions of drawings by John

handwritten drafts of song lyrics

Their politics were really rather naive, but well intended and their Bed-Ins for Peace protests in Amsterdam, not surprisingly, featured prominently in the exhibition

The story of the music that John created after he left the Beatles, in most cases working with Yoko, featured heavily. It was an opportunity to reappraise what John had achieved after he had left the Beatles. Inevitably not everything was a classic (and that’s true of every act, including the Beatles) but there were some songs which were as good as anything he had created during his partnership with Paul McCartney,   –  Mind Games, Jealous Guy, Watching the Wheels, Woman, Happy Xmas (War is over)  and, of course, Imagine

Colin’s Magical Mystery Tour

We spent last Saturday on a tour of Beatles related sites in Liverpool organised by our friend Colin. He’s a really keen Beatles fan and spent quite a bit of time organising the tour, researching and scouting out locations. So on Saturday morning we drove over to his house where, together with a bunch of Colin’s family and friends boarded a mini bus ready for the relatively short drive over to Liverpool.

First stop was Huyton Village Cemetery

Where Stuart Sutcliffe, the Beatles’ original bassist, is buried.

Then on to the Jewish cemetery, to visit Brian Epstein’s resting place

Then on to Penny Lane

Look closely and you can see Macca’s autograph

In my first year at University, I lived in Student Halls, just at the bottom of this famous street, so it brought back some memories.  I used to go to the chippy half way down the street.

The Beatles song really describes the shops on Smithdown Square at the top of Penny Lane. This is where there’s a bus terminus where buses from the centre of the city with the named destination stop.

Here’s the bus stop

and the barber’s shop

We popped into the pub across the road from the chippy for half an hour and then, suitably refreshed set off for our next destination, Strawberry Field (note that Field is singular).

Strawberry Field, which isn’t far from where John Lennon grew up, used to be a Salvation Army children’s home.  According to Wikipedia, he

would often scale the walls of Strawberry Field to play with the children in the Salvation Army home. The proprietors complained to his school about his antics but to no avail. Finally, they took him to his Aunt Mimi with whom John was living. She told him if he continued to do this, they would hang him. He continued anyway. Thus, the line in the song, “Nothing to get hung about, Strawberry Fields forever”

Construction work is taking place at the moment, so we were only able to take a look at the gates, which are actually replicas of the originals,  installed May 2011.

Next stop was Mendips, on Menlove Avenue, where John Lennon lived with his Auntie “Mimi”

Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s childhood homes are owned by the National Trust and it’s possible to visit them and go inside on a National Trust tour. We’d done that some years ago. But on Saturday we could only look at the outside.

Then on to Woolton Village, to see the hall where John and Paul first met

and then into the churchyard

to see Elanor Rigby

and also to pay homage to the great Liverpool football manager, Bob Paisley.

Back on the bus and on to another cemetery, the final one of the day, to visit the very modest, but beautiful, grave of Julia Lennon (John’s mother)

Cilla Black is also buried in the cemetery so we had a look at her headstone too. Not as simple and modest as Julia’s.

Then back on the bus and on to Paul’s childhood home at 20 Forthlin Road

 We then drove into Liverpool city centre and stopped for refreshments in the Jacaranda Club on Slater Street

The club was founded by Alan Williams, the Beatles first manager, and they used to perform here in their early days.

I loved the old Juke box

In the upstairs bar they have a record shop selling new and second hand vinyl discs, together with several turntables where you can listen to them (the second hand ones, anyway)

This Pete Best’s drum kit (the Beatles’ original drummer who was replaced by Ringo Starr)

Then it was back on the bus and down to the Pier Head to take a look at the statue dedicated to the Fab Four and pose for pictures

We had someone take a group photo, which is at the top of this post. I don’t normally post personal pictures but you’ll have to guess which one of the group is me!

A short drive from there and we were dropped off on Matthew Street

I used to hang out here and drink in some of the pubs in my student days. It was quite different then, much quieter, before it became a tourist attraction.

We called into the Cavern Pub for a drink and watched the band for a while – they were VERY loud

Before crossing the road and paying our £2-50 apiece to descend into the Cavern Club itself

There was a band on playing Beatles tunes

The Club opened on 16 January 1957 as a jazz club, but later became a centre of the rock and roll scene in Liverpool in the 1960s.  It  closed in March 1973, a few years before I went to Liverpool University and was filled in during construction work on the Merseyrail underground rail loop. It was excavated and reopened on 26 April 1984 to become a major tourist attraction (although the original entrance is long gone, replaced by an electrical substation.

We stayed the rest of the evening in the area, eating in a nearby restaurant. After the group split up with some choosing to sample the local pubs. We went with a smaller group for a drink in the Hard Day’s Night Hotel. Around 11 we all got back together to take the minibus back down the M58 to Wigan.

It was a good day out. Colin had done a great job pulling together the itinerary and keeping us entertained with quizzes and a commentary while we were on the bus. Well done Colin!

Summer of Love Bugs in Liverpool

We were in Liverpool on Monday, the last Bank Holiday until Christmas. It was a warm sunny day and while we were strolling through the Liverpool One shopping centre we spotted this rather jazzy Beetle.

Liverpool never misses a chance to take a collection of objects, paint them up with different designs and leave them in strategic locations around the city – all starting with the 125 two-metre-high Superlambananas  during Liverpool’s Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008. So this looked like it might be another series.

Not quite. In this case there were only 3 VW Beetles that had been decorated to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, when 100,000 musicians, artists and hippies flocked to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district. Three artists had been commissioned by Liverpool One to create images on the cars. The first one we saw, on Thomas Steers Way, was painted with a psychedelic design by Kieran Gorman from Zap Graffiti.

The other two cars, both on Paradise Street, were painted with Beatles related themes by Krishna Malla .

One based on the Beatles song, Penny Lane, selected following a vote for the Liverpool public’s favourite song from 1967.

I lived near there for a year when I was at University. I loved the green Liverpool Corporation buses – but they all went when the “deregulation” was enacted by the Thatcher regime. Now all the local colour of  municipally owned bus companies has gone, replaced by the 2 or 3 national monopolies with their uniform liveries across the country.

And the second Beatle Beetle, celebrating the Sergeant Pepper LP that was released in 1967

Here’s the Fab Four

and a list of the songs on the LP

Four Lads

Interesting how John Lennon is walking slightly apart from the other three

Peter Blake at the Lowry

I hadn’t been keeping an eye on what was going on at the Lowry at Salford Quays. But when I spotted in a post by John of Notes to the Milkman that they were showing an exhibition of works by Peter Blake inspired by pop music, Peter Blake and Pop Music, I thought I should get along before it finishes at the end of February. So we drove over to Salford Quays last Saturday and called into the Lowry to take a look at the exhibition.

To be honest, I didn’t know that much about Peter Blake’s art. I guess’ like most people I’m mainly aware of his iconic design of the cover of the Beatle’s Sergeant Pepper album. And, of course, that featured in the exhibition.

Picture source: Wikipedia

I was also aware of his cover design for another album I own, Paul Weller’s Stanley Road.

And he has designed album artwork for a number of other bands, and many of them featured in the exhibition together with other works inspired by pop and rock musicians

The exhibition website explains

Blake has worked closely with some of the most influential musicians of his generation, most famously co-creating the iconic album cover for the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In more recent years his designs for albums by Paul Weller, Eric Clapton and Oasis are equally celebrated, and are shown here against a soundtrack of killer pop music. Peter Blake is a true fan, and this exhibition is a compelling tribute to one of Britain’s most important artists.

The first picture you see on entering the exhibition is his Self-portrait With Badges (1961), featuring the artist wearing his denim jeans and a denim jacket covered with badges, wearing Converse trainers and holding an Elvis album.

Moving round the exhibition space, there were pictures and collages inspired by performers he admired, including several featuring Elvis Presley– Blake was clearly a massive fan. A number of these works were collages and mixed media incorporating “found objects”. There were a number of references to Marcel DuChamp who was clearly a major influence on his work.

One of my favourites in this section was his oil painting on wood and mirror glass featuring Lavern Baker. I also liked his print of Chuck Berry in his trademark “duck walk” pose. Blake had incorporated diamond dust into this print and he’s used this in a number of the other works on display.

One room featured prints and paintings of his album art and items related to the Beatles and the Sergeant Pepper album cover. It’s hard to believe that he only received a flat fee of £200 for his design. Of course that was a significant sum in the late 1960’s, but given the number of sales of the album I couldn’t help but feel he’d been treated badly.

Another rock artist Blake was connected with was Ian Drury, who’d been a student of Blake at Waltham Forest College. The two became friends and Blake produced album covers for him and painted his picture. Dury wrote a song in honour of Blake – “Peter the painter” – which featured on his album, “4,000 Weeks’ Holiday”. 

No photography was allowed, but he gallery have  Flickr site which includes a set of pictures from the exhibition (including the above photograph).

I’m glad I found the time to go over to see this exhibition. Peter Blake is an important British artist and this was a good opportunity to see some of his work. And as a music fan myself, I the themes certainly resonated with me.