CD Review: Walls and Bridges by John Lennon

John Lennon put out the Walls and Bridges album in 1974 during his famous couple year long "lost weekend" when he was split from Yoko. Not to put too fine a point on it, but this record is pretty sucky. There are no more than two worthwhile songs.

But one of them is among his all time classics. "#9 Dream" has a real tune, and some of that unique Lennon personality. No one but John Lennon would have come up with quite this kind of dreamy flow, and with a much stronger rhythmic pulse than, say, "Across the Universe."

On close examination now after years of casual listening, I can only conclude that the lyric is basically gibberish. I find the main memorable line of the chorus transcribed as "Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé" Of course, I would still prefer my teenaged guess of "pussy, pussy".

But this song is a classic example of a great song carrying a weak lyric. There's such a flow, and such hooks and wrapped up feelings that the meaning is all there. It's just that the specific words are basically merely notes to sing, syllables through which to project the real meaning, which is in the melody.

"#9 Dream" benefits from probably the most imaginative arrangement of his solo career. Somehow, I doubt that John, in mid two-year-long bender, had much to do with this swinging string arrangement, but it really makes a record out of the song. I can't quite make out who was responsible for what here from the liner notes, but those strings and the slide guitar nicely top off what was already a superior tune. This song is WAY the best thing on the record.

This album also had "Whatever Gets You Through the Night", which was something like his biggest solo hit single before Double Fantasy. It is a duet with Elton John, who expressed great confidence that it would be a hit. The well-known live version where John showed up at an Elton show is included here as a bonus track.

This was a pretty good pop song and all, but it doesn't wear that well with me. I'm long since bored by the surface, and there's simply no emotional depth to it. It's a simple commercial contrivance, but I suppose it's a pretty good empty pop song. It's a lot more danceable than "Cold Turkey" at least.

There's really nothing else on this record you need to hear. Die-hard Lennon fans might look this up just to say that they've heard it, but there's little reason to hear any of the rest of this on any musical grounds.

Article Author: Al Barger

Unreformed hawkish Hoosier hillbilly Al Barger runs the still squeezin' down the psychodelic Kentucky moonshine at More Things. What with the paranoid religious visions, the Pentecostal music, visions of God and anarchy running amok and such, somebody …

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