John Lennon 1940-1980




Two of the tracks on Anthology were recorded live in December 1971 at a benefit at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem for the families of the prisoners who were killed during an insurrection at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York... explaining to the rapturous crowd that "I lost my old band - or left it," Lennon delivers a gorgeous rendition of "Imagine" solo on acoustic guitar. In that gritty context the song�s yearning for a better world takes on powerful new meanings. ...on the stark version of "Nobody Loves You (When You�re Down And Out)," Lennon howls, "Then I�m lying in the darkness and I know I can�t get to sleep," almost as if he were a child in the clutches of a nightmare�s terror. The song makes apparent the degree to which Lennon�s outbursts of anger, bitterness and cynicism ("Everybody�s hustlin�for a buck and a dime/I�ll scratch your back and you knife mine") were his hard-shelled defense against his fears of being left alone. "But still you ask me do I love, what it is, what is/All I can tell you is it�s all show biz," he sings in a voice that sounds weary of life itself. It�s a song unlike any other he ever wrote - delivered from the standpoint of a broken-down hack entertainer at the very bottom of his game - and it�s a chilling performance to match. ...this Anthology removes Lennon from the realm of myth that he so despised, and reveals the splendid making of his works and days... This is the unadulterated Lennon, a man who wrote brave, timeless songs out of his struggles in the world and inside himself, as well as in his rare, precious moments of peace. His death is a loss from which we have yet to recover - as if we ever could. His work inspires and consoles, but there is one sad truth it cannot change:� We shall not look upon his like again.



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