Line #12 YMMV/JohnLennon


1	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Choose any album and you'll find plenty, except perhaps on his first three experimental albums.
2	* BlackSheepHit: If you didn't already know "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" was a Lennon song, you wouldn't guess it on first hearing. It's more R&B sounding than his usual work, and you can't pick out his voice because the song is for all intents and purposes a full duet with Music/EltonJohn. And it was his only US #1 solo hit during his lifetime.
3	* BrokenBase:
4	** You'll be hardpressed to find a lot of people who like any of Lennon's first three albums, especially ''Music/UnfinishedMusicNo1TwoVirgins'', which is basically NoiseRock (with more emphasis on ''noise'') and a LeaveTheCameraRunning recording. Those who do [[http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22393-unfinished-music-no-1-two-virgins-unfinished-music-no-2-life-with-the-lions-yoko-ono-plastic-ono-band/ appreciate these recordings]] point to their belonging to Sound Collage and [[AvantGardeMusic avant-garde experimental music traditions]], and that John was doing this stuff as far back as ''Music/{{Revolver\|Beatles Album}}'', besides containing some of his best guitar work.
5	** "Music/{{Imagine}}". Anthem to a brighter future or {{Glurge}}y ode to a meaningless and empty life?
6	* HarsherInHindsight:
7	** He mentioned guns a lot. He got shot. Notable examples include "Happiness Is a Warm Gun", the lyrics "First you must learn to smile as you kill" in "Working Class Hero" from ''Music/{{Imagine}}'' and the "shoot me" in "Come Together." He also spoke in interviews about one of his fears while playing onstage was that someone might shoot him.
8	** His observation regarding the DeadArtistsAreBetter phenomenon in the song "Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out" has a bitter irony to it considering his enduring popularity following his murder.
9	** "Beautiful Boy" ends with John whispering "Good night, Sean. See you in the morning." John would be killed mere months after the song's UK release. Sean was only five.
10	** Possibly the fastest turnaround time for one of these -- the last track on ''Milk and Honey'' is an interview recorded on December 8th, 1980, which contains a conversation on how John would like to be remembered "when I'm dead and buried, which I hope is a long, long time from now." This was recorded ''the day he died.''
11	** John had some close calls with GunNut Music/PhilSpector. After Phil shot inches from John's ear while ''Rock 'n' Roll'' was in production, John told him, "Phil, if you're going to kill me, kill me. But don't fuck with my ears. I need 'em."
12	* HilariousInHindsight:
13	** Lennon wrote "How Do You Sleep?" as a musical TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Music/PaulMcCartney, the TropeNamer of SillyLoveSong. Over thirty years later, a [[Music/JesseMcCartney completely different singer with the same surname]] did a silly love song called "How Do You Sleep?". How's that for {{dramatic irony}}?
14	** "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" features the line [[Music/QueenBand "Mama, I don't wanna die!"]]
15	* OlderThanTheyThink: While "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" popularized the line "Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans," it was an adage that had been in circulation for a while. The earliest citation for the line is a 1957 magazine article.
16	* PosthumousPopularityPotential: He had more than his share of critical and popular recognition during his lifetime. Nonetheless, the years following his murder saw his less positive traits, and the unevenness of his post-Beatles career output, largely forgotten in favor of the mythical image (strongly, but not solely, cultivated by his widow) of Lennon as a gentle, saintly prophet of peace.
17	* SignatureSong: As a solo artist, "Imagine". Its universal message of peace has kept it above all his other songs in terms of fame.
18	* SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel:
19	** "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)". Justified in that it's supposed to be a lullaby.
20	** "#9 Dream" has an ethereal, appropriately dreamy atmosphere to it.
21	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: As the Beatle most in tune with the zeitgeist of his era, much of his work has a dated quality these days, particularly the psychedelic later-period Beatles songs, the arts material with Yoko, and his fondness for the ProtestSong in his solo career. It's been suggested that this is a big reason why younger generations who get into Music/TheBeatles seem to gravitate more toward Music/PaulMcCartney (and Music/GeorgeHarrison).

Context YMMV / JohnLennon