Either Bless You was a big influence on Bowie or Bowie was on it, I'm not sure. Bowie was maybe working on the Young Americans album at the same time? Bless You could fit right on it.
― piscesx, Thursday, November 16, 2017
Lennon claims it was an influence on Jagger's writing "Miss You."
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 November 2017 03:40 (six years ago) link
yeah when i finally heard sometime in nyc i was really expecting nothing since its reputation is so bad, but given that i was surprised how much i enjoyed it. the lyrics are pretty bad for the most part but the music has way more life to it than most of lennon's subsequent stuff. "new york city" in particular is a fun song.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 17 November 2017 03:45 (six years ago) link
We got to got to got to got to got to got to got to got to got to got to got to got to got to got to...
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, 17 November 2017 07:02 (six years ago) link
Regarding Double Fantasy, which I don’t particularly like, it’s mostly considered overproduced yet the stripped down version doesn’t work better... It all comes down to the material being weak to begin with, I guess (with a few exceptions like « Woman » which is cheezy but really nice).
― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, 17 November 2017 10:11 (six years ago) link
Yeah - it’s a bit sad because he was giving these interviews saying how he’d recovered his muse, but I suspect he knew the quality was very thin.
― Luna Schlosser, Friday, 17 November 2017 11:36 (six years ago) link
I'd say "Nobody Told Me," "I Don't Wanna Face It," "Watching the Wheels," "I'm Losing You," "Cleanup Time," to name five, are his best songs in a decade.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 November 2017 11:37 (six years ago) link
5 years of said decade being spent “baking bread”.
― Luna Schlosser, Friday, 17 November 2017 12:34 (six years ago) link
“i can imagine a parallel universe where he never got back together with yoko and just kept making one samey so-so album after another, getting thrown out of nightclubs, getting drunk with ringo, occasionally scoring hits w/ catchy but instantly forgettable shit “Sounds like a pretty ok life
― calstars, Friday, 17 November 2017 14:31 (six years ago) link
The “Bless You” / Bowie idea is interesting. I can imagine Bowie doing the vocal, esp in the lower register
― calstars, Friday, 17 November 2017 14:33 (six years ago) link
yeah I dislike the idea that lennon's contributions to Double Fantasy are work. Beautiful Boy, Losing You, Watching the Wheels, Woman, starting over...these songs are so good. WTF.
― akm, Friday, 17 November 2017 14:46 (six years ago) link
are work? I obviously haven't woken up yet. weak, I meant.
― akm, Friday, 17 November 2017 14:47 (six years ago) link
well, I find none of these songs great. Some are nice and alright. But I mean, we're talking about Lennon so no, they're not what I call great Lennon songs !
― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, 17 November 2017 14:54 (six years ago) link
I'll keep 'Nobody Told Me', 'Woman' and 'Watching the Wheels' and maybe 'I'm Losing You', but that's about it.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, 17 November 2017 15:08 (six years ago) link
agree
― calstars, Friday, 17 November 2017 17:05 (six years ago) link
But my assessment - like some upthread - is biased due to hearing them when I was a kid
― calstars, Friday, 17 November 2017 17:06 (six years ago) link
"Watching the Wheels" is probably the best of the bunch.
back to Sometime in NYC, this one in particular struck me as a pretty decent Spector-pop gem. Yoko does 60s girl-group!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe4jyGk3qIY
― Οὖτις, Friday, 17 November 2017 17:19 (six years ago) link
like there's actually a decent hook there
― Οὖτις, Friday, 17 November 2017 17:20 (six years ago) link
and feminist-call to arms-as-girl-group-ditty is p clever imo
There's some not bad tunes on that album, as long as you don't listen to the lyrics.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, 17 November 2017 17:25 (six years ago) link
Watching the Wheels acoustic demo is his last masterpiece
― flappy bird, Friday, 17 November 2017 17:42 (six years ago) link
"Whatever Gets You Through the Night" is a depressing experience to listen to: fagged-out, a submission to the sounds of the times
Is submission the right term, though? Lennon was quite enthusiastic about the era's hip discofied grooves in contemporary interviews. (I believe he did want a chart topper badly at the time, true.)
― Scape: Goat-fired like a dog! (Myonga Vön Bontee), Friday, 17 November 2017 19:37 (six years ago) link
and it worked! his only #1 single. (which is sort of crazy)
― Οὖτις, Friday, 17 November 2017 19:39 (six years ago) link
his first #1 ("Starting Over" hit #1).
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 November 2017 19:43 (six years ago) link
In the 1980 BBC interview he's quite touched that Elton helped him get his first #1 and John helped Bowie get his.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 November 2017 19:44 (six years ago) link
that was after he died, right?
― Οὖτις, Friday, 17 November 2017 19:46 (six years ago) link
"Starting Over" hitting #1, that is
right
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 November 2017 19:46 (six years ago) link
Both Lennon and McCartney kept their eyes on the charts to check out the competition from the beginning, really... they were still doing this in the mid '70s, but Lennon was obviously paying more attention to US trends as a consequence of living there, where McCartney was paying attention more to the UK chart - he carried on doing this until at least Flowers in the Dirt, and never stopped working with contemporary producers.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, 17 November 2017 19:51 (six years ago) link
Lennon was a fan of "Coming Up."
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 November 2017 19:52 (six years ago) link
Can't remember where I read this but apparently "Coming Up" and the music video are what inspired Lennon to start writing songs again
― flappy bird, Friday, 17 November 2017 19:59 (six years ago) link
He was writing songs throughout his "house husband" period, though!
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, 17 November 2017 20:03 (six years ago) link
was he? i thought he was pretty dormant creatively, busy "baking bread"... wasn't all of Double Fantasy/Milk & Honey written in 1980?
― flappy bird, Friday, 17 November 2017 20:04 (six years ago) link
'Free as a Bird' was written in 1977, for one.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, 17 November 2017 20:05 (six years ago) link
I mean, if anyone thinks a songwriter with instruments lying around the house can just switch off their creative impulses for five years, then y'know, that's just naive.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, 17 November 2017 20:09 (six years ago) link
you're just talking metaphysical nonsense
― brimstead, Friday, 17 November 2017 20:15 (six years ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/y4YErKh.jpg
― Karl Malone, Friday, 17 November 2017 20:17 (six years ago) link
I understand what you mean and agree in a way but it is totally possible for a songwriter to go through a long period in which, for whatever reason, nothing gets done.I mean, not comparing, but I have always made songs but at some times (personal issues, work, family, whatever), you can really spend years without making songs although there are instruments and all available.
― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, 17 November 2017 20:19 (six years ago) link
Free as a Bird is not on Double Fantasy or Milk & Honey.
yeah obviously he probably noodled around but he was busy "breaking bread." i'm pretty sure he wrote most of if not all of DF & MH in 1980
― flappy bird, Friday, 17 November 2017 20:20 (six years ago) link
No, but 'Free as a Bird' was still written in 1977, as was 'Now and Then', not to mention numerous other demos from 1975-1979 that have been heavily bootlegged and are out there if you can be arsed to seek them out.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, 17 November 2017 21:06 (six years ago) link
But even though proof of Lennon writing songs during his "house husband" days exists, you're quite welcome to believe the mythology of him baking bread for five fucking years.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, 17 November 2017 21:08 (six years ago) link
lol you realize that's a euphemism right? he was blasted on smack for many of those years. besides, the question was when he was inspired to make a new record, and it was the "Coming Up" video, and none of those bootlegged songs (to my knowledge) made it onto Double Fantasy or Milk & Honey.
― flappy bird, Friday, 17 November 2017 21:53 (six years ago) link
idgi what's the basis for assuming he was "blasted on smack" while raising Sean
― Οὖτις, Friday, 17 November 2017 21:55 (six years ago) link
There was no "question", you out-and-out stated "apparently "Coming Up" and the music video are what inspired Lennon to start writing songs again", and I pointed out, correctly, that he'd never stopped writing songs. You're now changing this (because you're wrong) to "making a new record" which is something completely different.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, 17 November 2017 22:01 (six years ago) link
(x-post, obviously)
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, 17 November 2017 22:03 (six years ago) link
The fact that the likes of 'Free as a Bird', 'Now and Then' and 'Real Life' didn't make it onto Double Fantasy or Milk and Honey is neither here nor there. They still got written.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, 17 November 2017 22:06 (six years ago) link
it's fairly well documented, Jann Wenner says as much in his new bio, there's Robert Rosen's Nowhere Man (sourced from Lennon's diaries). even the Philip Norman bio has allusions to it. obviously the truth lies somewhere between the baking bread myth and the nightmare that Albert Goldman concocted. anyway the question is when did he write the songs on DF & MH - I don't know of any songs on those records written before 1980.
― flappy bird, Friday, 17 November 2017 22:07 (six years ago) link
& should've been clear initially: it inspired him to start writing songs for a new record, with the intention of releasing it, not puttering about writing a song every six months or something
― flappy bird, Friday, 17 November 2017 22:10 (six years ago) link
I can't imagine raising a baby while smacked out but I guess ppl do
― Οὖτις, Friday, 17 November 2017 22:11 (six years ago) link
Kurt & Courtney
also they obv had help, nannies, etc.
― flappy bird, Friday, 17 November 2017 22:11 (six years ago) link
and what a bang-up job they did
― Οὖτις, Friday, 17 November 2017 22:12 (six years ago) link