MY TOP 10 JOHN LENNON SONGS

John circa 1965(photo credit:Robert Whitaker)

In celebration of what would have been John Lennon's 75th birthday I neatly compiled what I think are the top 10 of John's finest work both with the Beatles and as a solo artist alike.
I first wrote and published this on my facebook page three years ago and I just decided to put the top 10s over here my website as well.

MY TOP 10 JOHN LENNON SONGS

With the Beatles:



1.ITS ONLY LOVE--written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney;from the album Help!

2.IN MY LIFE--(Lennon-McCartney);from the album Rubber Soul










3.SHE SAID SHE SAID--(Lennon-McCartney);from the album Revolver

4.ANNA (GO TO HIM)--written by Arthur Alexander;covered by the Beatles with lead vocals by John Lennon;from the album Please Please Me

5.ACROSS THE UNIVERSE--(Lennon-McCartney);from the album Let It Be

6.EVERY LITTLE THING--(Lennon-McCartney);from the album Beatles For Sale

7.LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS--(Lennon-McCartney);from the album Sgt Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band

8.STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER--(Lennon-McCartney);from the album Magical Mystery Tour

9.ALL I'VE GOT TO DO--(Lennon-McCartney);from the album With The Beatles



10.YOU CAN'T DO THAT--(Lennon-McCartney);from the album A Hard Day's Night

 AS A SOLO ARTIST


All songs written by John Lennon,except noted:

1.WOMAN

2.OH MY LOVE











3.NOBODY TOLD ME

4.MOTHER













5.IMAGINE
















6.WHATEVER GETS YOU THROUGH THE NIGHT--written by John Lennon with arrangements by Elton John

7.LOVE















8.COLD TURKEY

9.HOW DO YOU SLEEP
















10.GIVE PEACE A CHANCE--written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Photo credits: AP,Getty Images,Bob Whitaker,Bob Gruen

(c) 2015 Keith Vernon Adagio

IMAGINE JOHN AT 75

John Lennon 1971 (photo credit:M.Putland/Hulton Archive)

2015 is actually the year John Lennon would've been 75 years old and one can hardly picture what would've been like for him if he didn't die after being gunned down by a deranged fan on that night of December 8th 1980.

Lennon as we all knew it is the founding member of the Beatles and was even responsible for giving the band its name-when asked he replied with all his magical prowess with the famous lines "A man on flaming pie appeared and said 'from this day on you are the Beatles with an A'".Such prophetic words from the man who is considered to be an icon,or perhaps a saint of the rock n roll industry.And thus,the Beatles,being the rock band who are actually responsible for the world's introduction to Modern Rock and remains the yardstick on which how modern rock music is measured.

As tributes pour down from every rock musician,writers and people from all walks of life-there's been an endless forums of "what ifs" on how it might have looked like if he didn't left us too soon.Some graphic designers even tried to progress his age digitally by trying to see him on how he would've looked like today.Several musicians like Sinead O' Connor to name a few actually pictured him somehow appreciating the rap movement or something like that.While we're on the subject I actually had an argument over with a friend who's stressing the fact that John might have liked rap at all in which Im very much not convinced.There's been a lot of different opinions on how he might have liked the music that came along after he died so this would be a matter of different conjectures with different writers but to be frank with everyone I dont think he would've liked today's music.But then,we dont really know how he would've reacted to it all.

    " I like rock n' roll. I don't like much else"
                                                                     -John Lennon,Rolling Stone magazine interview 1971

So I'm gonna base it on what he has said on the above quote.Though it was actually known that John admired Bob Marley and the Wailers through reggae music but then that is actually a lot different than rap.His one time songwriting partner Paul McCartney was also fond of reggae where his wife Linda actually recorded a reggae track under the pseudonym Suzy And The Red Stripes which was actually their rock group Wings. To be honest, a lot of ex-Beatles were finding it hard to deal with the rave that has came out after the breakup.We all know that John spent much of the seventies in a lazy haze and had actually retired from the business.And when he did wanted to come back he did it by playing with several rock groups at the time with musicians like Jim Keltner,Cheap Trick and several members of REO Speedwagon who played on what supposed to be his last album.

From this writer's point of view which is yours truly I don't think John would have appreciated rap for I honestly based it all on that quote that actually came straight from the horse's mouth,from the man himself,the certified genius,guru and grandmaster of rock music which we all know today.There's not even a hint of recorded material whether in writing or video form that John liked the disco genre as a whole which had actually been budding back in the late seventies,so what more with rap? And to let you guys know the fact that Michael Jackson actually befriended all three other ex-Beatles beginning with George Harrison,then Paul McCartney(which he later collaborated with musically) and Ringo-all of them except John,so what made him different from the rest of the group then? Is it like John is mean back then that MJ got so scared of getting near him? Or was it just like they just didn't have that chemistry at all? Unfortunately,the guy who would've answered that question is gone too.Basing on all those facts,I picture John of hating the Kanye-Paul collaboration as well and all the feud they had in the early seventies would've been ignited again by such collaboration. Like I said,a lot of different writers may vary from each other's opinion and being a blogger for 13 years I would just like to see it that way.

Fifty years have passed since the Beatles changed the course of music forever.And with such amazement,its actually fascinating to know that a lot of us were still under the mania.something that actually has passed down through generations.A lot of us will always have that "what ifs"  and wonder what really could've happened if  John Lennon wasn't taken away from us too soon.We may not know what will really happen by then and what would be on his mind.All we have to do right now is just IMAGINE.

 (c) 2015 Keith Vernon Adagio