John Lennon: Hypocrite?

John Winston Ono Lennon, the founding member of the Beatles, songwriter, and peace activist is widely recognized as a martyr who died for peace and love. While the recognition may be fair, John Lennon was the textbook example of a hypocrite. When Oxford Dictionary revised the definition of a hypocrite in their new edition, they might have possibly described John Lennon without taking his name. Mr. Lennon rose to fame in 1962 with his fellow band members Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.

The Beatles went down in history as possibly the most influential band of all time. In fact, at one point, they were so famous that more than 300,000 people gathered in Adelaide to attend their concert. Due to some ‘creative differences,’ which we will discuss later, he parted from the Beatles in 1969 to start his solo career. In the 1970s, he wrote and sang the most famous songs about peace and love. Already famous from the Beatles, he propelled to even more notoriety and grew a massive fan following as a counter-culturalist.

Before we go any further, we must make two facts clear. Firstly, there is no doubt that John Lennon exemplified the terrific music of his generation. He was one of the more magnificent songwriters of his generation with Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, and Stevie Wonder. This paper aims to elicit his hypocrisy as a human being; it is written with no intention to criticize his music. Secondly, he especially ought to be recognized as a hypocrite because of the lyrics he wrote and did not manifest in real life.

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Keeping in mind that Lennon wrote lines like ‘Imagine all the people, living life in peace and ‘I’m sick and tired of … narrow-minded hypocrites,’ it would be hard for one to believe that he was neither close to a peaceful citizen, nor he was open-minded. Lennon was known to ‘donate’ millions of dollars to fringe groups that condoned violence in the US. His ‘open-man deadness was documented in his biographies, newspaper articles, and friends’ accounts to be limited to what Yoko Ono instructed him. At one point, if we believe Paul McCartney, Yoko was ‘a bit intrusive, she would sit in the recording sessions and tell him what to do’ and ‘the guy was totally in love with [her],’ suggesting that Lennon was not a man of his free will. John Lennon going against what he stood for in his work would be comparable to Emma Watson being a misogynist, Leonardo DiCaprio being an anti-environmentalist, or Hannah Gadsby being a homophobe. Out of all the celebrities, you would expect Watson, Gadsby, and DiCaprio to be the most respectful towards the values and issues that they fight for so fiercely (Feminism, LGBTQ rights, and Environmentalism respectively). In the scenario where they go against their values, it would hurt the cause substantially as the torch-bearers themselves are unable to follow its principles. For this reason, it is crucial to call out Lennon’s hypocrisy and show the world his real face. He does not deserve to be the poster boy of counter-culture.

After producing one solo hit after the other, Lennon had recorded close to 150 songs by 1980. His songs were characteristically full of political messages with subliminal references to the New Left (Revolution from The White Album), support for the anti-war protestors (Give Peace a Chance), and constant demand for peace (Happy Xmas (War is Over)). Unfortunately, the lyrics exhibited little about what he practiced in life. He was a wife-beater who frequently spiked into episodes of madness. When these issues came into the public eye, he went on Dick Cavett Show. He suggested having used violence against various women as a ‘psychological outbreak’ and ‘learned defense mechanism against his strict aunt.’ While one’s condolences are natural for him, he never apologized to his first wife, Cynthia Powell, who fell victim to his constant abuse. The ‘peace-loving’ Lennon was physically abusive towards her since they started dating in school. Cynthia recalled an incident during an interview with Jacqueline Edmondson, a biographer when John ‘slapped her across the face after watching her dance with Stuart Sutcliffe.’ Sutcliffe was the first bassist of the Beatles and did not particularly have interest in the band. He was not inclined to have a relationship with Cynthia, but when Lennon saw her dancing with him, his ‘psychological outbreak’ led him to physically assault his girlfriend, with who he was in love. As sad it may sound, his abuse did not stop there, in the next two years of their relationship, they were ‘either drinking or fighting.’ Lennon was a famous artist who made a comfortable living. It is upsetting to realize that the writer of All You Need is Love would let his life partner, and quite possibly the inspiration of his many songs, rely on monthly checks from the government for survival until divorce settlement. ‘Everything is clear in my heart,’ said one of his solo songs, the song was written in 1968 when Lennon was caught cheating on his wife with Yoko Ono. Lennon’s dismay was not limited to his wife; he begrudged his son Julian, and narcissistically branded him for a marriage that did not work. He disliked his seventeen-year-old son so much that he left Julian with less than one percent of his wealth in his will. The forty-year-old artist was assassinated and became a legend, but the truth about his lifestyle is far from what one might expect from the lyricist of Imagine and Happy Xmas (War is Over). Admittedly, the peace-loving artist was careless towards his first child and was unapologetic about it. Lennon was a frivolous spender and lived more flamboyantly than most other people. At the time of his death, he was worth 800 million dollars. The singer-songwriter mogul frequently asked his audience to ‘imagine no possessions.’ So far, it seems he wrote everything he did in a diary, and when he wanted to write songs, he would just look at his diary to see what not to write in the next song.

Maurice Hindle interviewed Lennon in 1968 shortly after the New Left commented on their song, ‘Revolution.’ In an article published by The Guardian, Maurice Hindle tells readers how misconceived Lennon’s political ideology is in people’s minds. Hindle explicitly writes that ‘[Lennon] was no ultra-left radical’ that his PR team made him branded like. The activist Lennon who organized bed-ins to spread peace in the world called the leaders of the New Left, ‘brothers in endless … prose.’ Lennon was irritated by being ‘ticked off’ by this element of society and hated the way they acted towards him. The activist’s love for incorporating political messages in his songs is eminent. Lennon’s political manifesto is practically in his music, but the rhetorical question that we should be asking each other and ourselves is- Did he care? He might have cared, at least at some point. Lennon-McCartney fiddled with the communist ideology when they wrote the song, Revolution in 1969. Speculation is, over time, they lost interest over time and did not want to lose the audience for being politically inclined. This, of course, changed when Lennon split away from the band. He was independent enough to experiment with politically radical lyrics. Many would even say that Yoko Ono injected her ideas into Lennon, and he leaned towards the left. In any case, he was writing politically charged songs. Gimme Some Truth, Working Class Hero, Power to the People and Attica State are a few of the many political songs that Lennon wrote. But outside the world of creativity and imagination, did he stand for what he sang and wrote? Does not seem like it. In August 1978, when interviewed about his association with the radical left of which 280 members were arrested, he did not think twice to saying ‘The biggest mistake Yoko and I made was allowing ourselves to become influenced by [them], and their insane ideas about killing people to save them from capitalism. We should have stuck to our way of working for peace: bed-ins, billboards, etc.’ How consumed does one have to be to be able to see the remedy for capitalism on billboards? Here is the deal, Lennon was an opportunist poet who could sing at best and a greedy sycophant at worst. He rode a wave for years, and when the time came to stand by the people who spent years creating that wave, he took a U-turn.

John Lennon, who indeed wrote terrific songs, was a hypocrite with little conscience. The writer of songs that romanticized affection, loyalty, and love, was a cheater who once got drunk on a yacht looked at his wife, and said, ‘I have slept with thousands of women.’ Lennon, who wrote a classic love song Grow Old With Me beat his wife relentlessly and had little regard for his firstborn. One cannot stress this enough but the songwriter who influenced the way we feel and describe love was keeping his wife in the dark. More than that, John Lennon is known to have stood by the New Left, and even has financially contributed to their cause. For every dollar that he ‘donated’ he got much more backs. When the time came to stand in solidarity with the ones being arrested and killed, Lennon looked for his way and escaped the cause, taking with him the millions he made. Is it, therefore, not a blunder to consider John Lennon a martyr who died for peace and love?

Bibliography

1. Edmondson, Jacqueline. John Lennon: A Biography. Greenwood, 2010.
2. Hindle, Maurice. ‘Response: I Interviewed John Lennon, and He Was No Ultra-Left Radical.’ The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 2 Feb. 2010, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/feb/02/lennon-lost-interview-radical-left.
3. Lennon, Cynthia. John. Paragon, 2007.
4. Grice, Elizabeth. ”Dad Was a Hypocrite. He Could Talk about Peace and Love to the World but He Could Never Show It to His Wife and Son’.’ The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 1 Apr. 2015, www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4713954/Dad-was-a-hypocrite.-He-could-talk-about-peace-and-love-to-the-world-but-he-could-never-show-it-to-his-wife-and-son.html.