John Lennon - Acoustic

Working class hero

I picked up John Lennon’s ‘Acoustic’ disc today. It is quite an interesting bunch of songs. The bulk of which can be best described as ‘demos’. In fact, that is what the disc should be called. So, you get some inspired insight into the master of songwriting, (like Watching the Wheels with just John on acoustic). Also, you get a whole bunch of raw and sometimes terrible leftovers and throw aways.

I bought it because I just recently heard ‘watching the wheels’ from this disc off a friend’s bootleg collection from the internet… downloaded years ago. It alone is worth the price of admission, but little else is, in my opinion.

There is a strange ditty which is new to me, called ‘Luck of the Irish’. Check out this chorus “if you had the luck of the Irish, you’d be sorry and wish you were dead. If you had the luck of the Irish, you’d wish you were English instead’. Seems brutal, eh? Somehow though, it becomes a song celebrating the Irish and wishing them their own land to keep from the British.

You get to hear the origins of the great ‘God’ – “I don’t believe in Elvis, I don’t believe in Beatles” etc. The title of one of the demos ‘Working Class Hero’ really seems to genuinely sum up Lennon’s feelings. He seems to have distaste for the music industry and hold up as a model simple people trying to live a good life in spite of injustice on every side. There is also a beautiful rendition of Lennon live by himself performing 'Imagine' on the... you guessed it... acoustic. It is a vocally emotive performance, as good as the studio version for passion.

There is one really super cool thing on this CD that I have NEVER seen in the history of published music. Inside the liner notes are the lyrics and the guitar chords for the song! It is so cool, you can play along with these songs as you hear them the first time. Well, maybe the second. Though much of the album seems like a throwaway or Yoko cashing in… if you are a serious Lennon fan, or even a fan of songwriting, this would be a good buy. For a few magical gems that carry the whole disc, I rate the actual retail purchase price you should have to pay at: full market value ($13.49 at Amazon, currently)

Article Author: Lono

Lono rambles on about everything at his home page I am Correct and more specifically about music here at the Phantom Blog . He lives in Colorado, and pretends he doesn't care what you think... but I think we both know he secretly does.

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