John Lennon is painted in popular culture and on the pages of rock magazines as he was in 1971. John leading marches and preaching a radical, quasi-Marxist revolutionary message. He gave us songs like "Working Class Hero" and "God" on his first solo LP (Plastic Ono Band). His most played track, "Imagine," is John laying out his idealism is more palatable way, but in the context of the time, very radical.
But that was not the John Lennon of 1980. It wasn't even the John Lennon of 1973.
By 1980 John was not the same 1971 revolutionary. He even made comments about "Imagine" that no one seems to acknowledge. John stated that the song was not atheistic (and John certainly was not an atheist by 1980).
John eventually referred to his song 1971 single “Power to the People” as “embarrassing.” He was generally optimistic, but like all of us, his views evolved over time. The context of the material on his Double Fantasy LP (and the Milk & Honey LP) was a world away from what was on the Some Time in New York City LP. Actually, the material on the Mind Games and Walls and Bridges LPs were departures from his 1970 LP, Plastic Ono Band, 1971 LP Imagine, and his 1972 LP, the aforementioned Some Time in New York City (which is an atrocious album and his only solo effort not to go at least Gold).John moved to New York partly to avoid the crushing socialist tax system and wealth taxes in the UK. Moving to avoid socialist taxes for someone who supposedly was opposed to capitalism? Moving to the most capitalist city in the most country in the world and then looking to make a fortune (or use that investment as a tax shield)? The most militaristic country on the planet? Living in the Dakota (where they purchased an entire floor)? Then Yoko fighting for years to avoid taxes (a case she eventually lost and had to pay $600K)? He even said at one point that if he could vote in 1980 he'd have voted for Reagan. From Fred Seaman, Lennon’s last personal assistant:
“John, basically, made it very clear that if he were an American he would vote for Reagan because he was really sour on (Democrat) Jimmy Carter.”
“I also saw John embark in some really brutal arguments with my uncle, who’s an old-time communist… He enjoyed really provoking my uncle… Maybe he was being provocative… but it was pretty obvious to me he had moved away from his earlier radicalism.
“He was a very different person back in 1979 and 80 than he’d been when he wrote Imagine. By 1979 he looked back on that guy and was embarrassed by that guy’s naivete.”
Now, my point is not that John is hypocrite (we all are), but rather that John was never what the industry and his fan base have made him out to be. He tried to be honest, and did things compulsively. He was never a Working Class Hero and he wasn't a very committed Marxist or atheist. I'm sure he held positions like those for a weekend here or there, but overall John was like the rest of us... struggling to understand much of what he saw around him.
Read John's own book, "Skywriting By Word of Mouth." He distanced himself from the revolutionaries and radicals of the early 70s, even mocking them mercilessly. Does that make him a right-winger? No. But he certainly was not the 1971 idealist he's made out to be in pop culture and the media. Personally, I like the idealism and the libertarian bent in his material (whether he meant it that way or not). I particularly like "Bring on the Lucie (Freda Peeple)" from 1973's Mind Games. I'm a small government libertarian. Works for me!
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