![]() ![]() I used to wonder whether I'm a genius or I'm not, which is it? I used to think, well, I can't be mad, because nobody's put me away, therefore, I'm a genius. When I was about 12, I used to think I must be a genius, but nobody's noticed. In the same interview, Wenner-always the straight-shooter-asked Lennon if he considered himself a genius. This is pretty heavy stuff coming from a guy whose life was shaped by being a Beatle, but it's also indicative of the man behind the tinted glasses: John Lennon always had, even through his years in the band, considered himself more of a solo artist, and finally in 1970, was able to make that dream into a reality. "I don't believe in the Beatles"-there is no other way of saying it, is there? I don't believe in them whatever they were supposed to be in everybody's head, including our own heads for a period. I don't believe in the Beatles, that's all. WENNER: You say on the record, "I don't believe in the Beatles." How could they be? We all had our roles to play. George was a separate individual singer, with his own group as well, before he came in with us, the Rebel Rousers. Brian Epstein wasn't the Beatles, neither is Dick James. In a famous 1970 Rolling Stone interview, Jann Wenner asked John Lennon, "Are you the Beatles?" to which he replied: However, Yoko and Lennon felt that it was time again for music to return to the heartbeat, that simple, true 4/4 that follows the rhythm of our souls. Ragtime, with its syncopated beats, and impressionism, with its incredibly long measures, all broke the original 4/4 scheme yet we still appreciated them for their beautiful abstraction. ![]() It is highly complicated and interesting-our minds are very much like that-but they lost the heartbeat." ( Source) Rhythm became very decorative, like Schoenberg, Webern. She said, "Classical music was basically 4/4 and then it went into 4/3, too, which is just a waltz rhythm and all of that, but it just went further and further away from the heartbeat. ![]() ![]() Just as Shakespeare discovered that the iambic pentameter rhyme scheme in poetry most closely mimicked the rhythms of natural English speech (and the human heartbeat), so too did musicians understand that 4/4 was their innate beat.Īs Yoko, who was classically trained in piano, explained in the same interview, classical music started out in 4/4 with the Baroque and Classical periods, but then later changed to 3/8, 6/8, 2/2, and all sorts of other odd time signatures as we crept into the modern period. Essentially, each measure of music comprises an entire second and it's the steadiest, most recognizable, most natural form of meter. That just means that there are four beats to every measure and a quarter note (1/4 of a second) receives one beat. ( Source)Īs far as time signature and rhythm go, "Imagine" also happens to be written in the most regular, even beat that exists in music: 4/4. I think the backings on mine are as complicated as the backings on any record you've ever heard, if you've got an ear. I had a few ideas to do this with "Mother" and that with "Mother" but when you just hear, the piano does it all for you, your mind can do the rest. I was influenced by acid and got psychedelic, like the whole generation, but really, I like rock and roll and I express myself best in rock. Well, I've always liked simple rock… I always liked simple rock and nothing else. He'd had enough of tricky melodies and complicated harmonies that marked songs like " I Am the Walrus," and wanted to return to the core of the music: In his 1970 Rolling Stone interview with Jann Wenner, Lennon remarked that he was gearing up to get back to the basics. "Imagine" remains one of Lennon's few solo masterpieces composed solely on the keys (the strings that back him up in the final track are not his doing). I hardly know what the chords are, so it's good to have a slightly limited palette." ( Source) He once said, "My piano playing is even worse than me guitar. Speaking of which, Lennon has said in many interviews that he's no good on the piano. But just like"Lean on Me," "Do-Re-Mi," "Heart and Soul," and "Have You Ever Seen the Rain," "Imagine" proves that C Major is one of the most feel-good, enduring keys that exist on piano. Not only does "Imagine" possess some of the simplest lyrics in rock music, but it also was written in the most basic key, C Major. ![]()
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