Imagine: John Lennon (1988)
John Lennon: Self, Narration
Photos
Quotes
-
[a homeless-looking young man is found wandering the grounds of Lennon's Tittenhurst Park estate]
John Lennon : Don't confuse the songs with your own life. I mean, they might have relevance to your own life, you know, but a lot of things do. And so we've met, you know? I'm just a guy, man, who writes songs.
Young Man : Yeah, I figured that if we met, I'd know, you know, just by meeting you.
John Lennon : But know what, man?
Young Man : That it all fits, you know?
John Lennon : Anything fits, you know? If you're tripping off on some trip, anything fits, you know?
Young Man : Like when you said "Boy, you're gonna carry that weight for a long time."
John Lennon : That's Paul saying that. But that belongs to all of us. He's singing about all of us.
Young Man : Remember that one, um, "You can radiate everything, or you can penetrate anywhere you go"?
John Lennon : Yeah, I was just having fun with words. It was literally a nonsense song, you know? I mean, Dylan does that. Anybody does that, you know? They just take words and you stick them together and see if they have any meaning. Some of them do. Some of them don't. See, that last album of mine was me coming out of my dream. You can last your whole life on that dream, you know? And then it's all over.
Young Man : You weren't thinking of anyone in particular when you were singing all that?
John Lennon : How could I be thinking of you?
Young Man : Well, I don't know, I don't care, me. But just all--it's all somebody.
John Lennon : I'm thinking about me, or at best, Yoko, if it's a love song. I'm saying, you know, "I had a good shit today" and "this is what I thought this morning" and, uh, you know?" And--or, "I love you, Yoko," or whatever. I'm singing about me and my life, you know? And if it's relevant for other people's lives, that's all right.
[pause]
John Lennon : Are you hungry? Hmm?
Young Man : [nods] Yeah.
John Lennon : Let's give him something to eat.
[John leads the young man inside]
-
[Yoko Ono is preparing tea while George Harrison is visiting]
John Lennon : This is actually a Beatle wife fixing the tea for one of the Fab Four ex-Beatles.
George Harrison : Fab Three.
John Lennon : Fab Three. I'm sorry.
George Harrison : I see Beatle Bill making a pig of himself.
John Lennon : You see much of the Beatles these days, the other Beatles?
George Harrison : I saw Beatle Ed.
John Lennon : Beatle Ed? How is he?
George Harrison : He was all right, but he was just going off on a tour.
John Lennon : Beatle Ed's not doing too well these days, is he?
George Harrison : He's #5 in Sweden.
John Lennon : Oh, in Sweden. That's it.
[John gives a giant wink to the camera]
-
John Lennon : I always was a rebel... but on the other hand, I wanted to be loved and accepted by all facets of society and not be this loud-mouthed lunatic, poet, musician. But I cannot be what I'm not.
-
[the Beatles' press conference at Kennedy Airport]
Reporter : Why does it excite them so much?
Paul McCartney : [on their music] We don't know, really.
John Lennon : If we did, we'd form another group and be managers.
-
John Lennon : I don't believe in magic. I don't believe in Jesus. I don't believe in Kennedy. I don't believe in Elvis. I don't believe in Zimmerman. I don't believe in Beatles. I just believe in me.
-
John Lennon : All we are saying is give peace a chance.
