WELL WELL WELL

So lately my life has seemed kind of fucked up; it’s more turbulent than it is normally. So for this reason I’ve been listening to John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band LP. Every time I listen to this record it makes me forget all my problems and makes me see that other people go through the same shit; it helps me realize that things will be better. When you think about it that, that’s a pretty heavy thing for music to do. It’s a cathartic experience for you, just as it was for John.

A little background of this: John went primal scream therapy, which is essentially screaming to exorcise your demons. And while he was there I guess he realized he had some major issues to deal with, and what does a great songwriter do with his problems? Put them on a record and create the most personal and harrowing listening experience mankind can ask for. Then get Ringo Starr, Klaus Voormann (who did the Revolver cover) and a little Billy Preston action to cut the tracks. So I guess I’ll just go song for song on this one.

The album starts with “Mother,” which starts with starts itself with a bell. Then “mother you had me, I never had you.” It’s a song about parental neglect and the hurt it causes. When Lennon starts screaming, “Mommy don’t GOOOOOO” toward the end his pain is all too evident. The sparse piano and drum backing only help to propel the words in their despair. Then comes the reassurance of “Hold On.” It’s a call to things getting better and for the future, for John, for Yoko, for the world. “I Found Out” is Lennon at his most cynical. The song is driven by a hard rocking guitar riff and some nice Ringo drumming; John then swears off fake hippy brotherhood (“don’t give me that brother, brother, brother, brother”), masturbation (“Some of you sitting there with your cock in your hand,” which I actually played on my fascist college radio station), “Old Hare Krishna” (which was Beatles-mate George Harrison’s religion of choice), and, ironically, drugs (“don’t let them fool you with dope and cocaine”). “Working Class Hero” deals with the emptiness with everyday life and the bullshit preparations kids go through from their parents and schools and the government. The best part is when John calls the listener “fucking peasants as far as [he] can see.” It’s an indication that John is part of the problem too. “Isolation” deals with John and Yoko’s feeling of loneliness even though they are huge stars and feelings of hopelessness for the world. “Remember” is the acceptance of things past (it also contains a reference to the Fifth of November, kinda like that V for Vendetta movie. It was so revolutionary that it influenced John before it was even written.) “Love” is a description of said feeling and a pretty good one at that. Not much to really be said. “Well, Well, Well” is the crunchy rocker on the album and it is also the prime example of primal scream working. The lyrics are about John’s devotion to Yoko but none of that matters once he starts screaming “WELL WELL WELL OH WELL.” Homes is ripping his vocal chords apart. The song is vehicle for John’s ragged wailing. “Look at Me” is the need for some sort of understanding. “What am I supposed to be?” and “What am I supposed to do?” Then comes the climax of the experience “God.” Which is pissed off and defiant and independent but beautiful and true and romantic at the same time. He swears off everything from the Beatles to yoga to Bob Dylan to Hitler to magic to tarot everything but Yoko and him. “The Dream is Over” he sings; this song is the single reason I can’t take “Imagine” (the song as the quotations indicate, not the album) seriously. How can you go from this to that in less than a year? I know people change and all that jive shit but really I like the idea of an artist being free and independent and not tied down to some scene. So maybe it’s my problem and not John’s. Ends with “My Mummy’s Dead” which is less than a minute long and like some sadistic child’s lullaby. Singing along to “my mummy’s dead/ can’t get it through my head” is weird but fuck it’s catchy.

But enough of standard reviewing. This album makes me feel good. It makes me want to scream out of helplessness and cry and smile and laugh and do everything except skip tracks.