Sunday

John Lennon at Tittenhurst Park: 'Gimme Some Truth' (6/7) John Lennon meets trespassing fan.



There's a scene in the documentary "Gimme Some Truth" that finds John Lennon face to face with one of his most persistent fans. I've included the scene in the video above, it starts with John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band recording "How Do You Sleep?" and ends with "Mother" in Ascot Sound Studios, Tittenhurst Park.

(4:00 minutes into clip) The dazed-looking young man has been caught trespassing on the grounds of Tittenhurst Park, and is now awestruck to be in the presence of his hero. So he wants to talk about Beatles songs. He thinks that when John Lennon sang the line ''Boy, you're gonna carry that weight/Carry that weight a long time,'' he himself was the ''Boy'' the singer had in mind.''That's Paul sang that,'' John Lennon says wearily. But the fan remains convinced that John Lennon's songwriting is directed specifically at him. Finally, John Lennon begins to sound exasperated as he tosses off as good a definition of contemporary popular songwriting as anyone might want. Still, the fan looks dubious; he truly believes that the Beatles touch him in some extraordinarily pure and unprecedented way. It's the most poignant moment, obviously on a bit of a head trip spiritual journey, and having been found by Dan Richter Tittenhurst Park Estate, under the delusion that Lennon's songs were a deeply personal story about him… That somehow Lennon was writing for and about this stranger's particular journey through life. To see Lennon on his porch, trying to tell this man that the songs were not grand statements about anything more important than Lennon's life, right down to the mundane - including pointing out that a perceived profundity was merely a nonsense song - is a revelation. You literally see this young man's delusions breaking down as Lennon speaks - quite kindly to him, as Yoko looks on. And then John asks him if he's hungry. The man, obviously shaken, says yes… And Lennon invites him in for tea.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.