John Lennon: The Life

I was asked at the weekend what my favourite period of Beatles music was. In truth that is an almost impossible question to answer, or at least a question that is impossible to provide a consistent answer to.  My answer will vary almost day to day depending on what kind of mood I’m in at the time and what album I’ve most recently listened to.

If it is almost impossible to pin point a period in the development of The Beatles as my favourite then it is actually impossible to provide an answer to the equally oft asked question; who is my favourite Beatle.

The chemistry that existed between the four of them was what made The Beatles so special. It may, initially, have been John’s band, growing as it did from the skiffle days of the Quarrymen, and the song writing partnership he had with Paul was nothing short of musical alchemy, but to dismiss the massive contributions of George and Ringo is to make a big mistake.  

That was the unspoken, but clear all the same, assessment of Philip Norman’s ‘Shout’, which is considered by many as being the definitive book on The Beatles.

It was then with more than a hint of trepidation that I recently purchased a copy of Norman’s biography of Lennon, ‘John Lennon – The Life’.

In ‘Shout’ Norman’s preference for John, no need to ask him who his favourite Beatle is, came through on almost every page.  It was inevitable, therefore, that he would deal with the subject of John Lennon in more detail at some point.

And detail is one thing that this entertaining book of over 800 pages doesn’t lack.

The problem is in where that detail lies, or perhaps more accurately, where it doesn’t.

Much of the detail provided on John’s formative years any Beatle fan is likely to have read elsewhere, maybe even in the pages of the aforementioned ‘Shout’.

There is little shortage of source material when it comes to The Beatles with the result that it is possible to provide a detailed account of them without the tedious task of actually doing the leg work and interviews yourself.

It would be wrong to suggest that this is what Norman did, but as an example his account of Lennon’s first marriage to Cynthia looked to be simply lifted from each of her two autobiographies, the second of which provided an altogether harsher assessment of her marriage.

The weakness in this book comes when there is less easily accessible information on Lennon’s life, in particular the later years of his, tragically short life, in New York. This was a period in his life that I was looking forward to reading about but felt disappointed with the scarcity of information after such a detailed account of the years prior.

Despite the misgivings above this is an essential addition to any Beatles fans’ library. It explores all facets of John’s personality, the good and the bad. He was in many ways a man of contradictions. Aren’t we all too some degree?

This book doesn’t gloss over his flaws. It shows John as a man of great talent and intellect but also impaired by his own insecurities. A man prone to acts of cruelty, yet also a man capable of displaying a generous heart.

In short, the success of this book is in its’ portrayal of John Lennon the man and not merely John Lennon the Beatle.