Mother

We begin the second half of our odyssey with John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970), John Lennon's debut solo album. The album involved him, Yoko Ono, Klaus Voormann, and Ringo Starr as the main musical contributors. Different tracks on the album featured various musicians and others including Phil Spector, Billy Preston, and more.

The album as a whole is considered one of Lennon's best accomplishments of his entire solo career. He explores many themes throughout; we'll examine them more closely as we go, but the Wikipedia article gives us an interesting tidbit (from Lennon Revealed by Larry Kane, 2005):

After the Beatles' break-up in April 1970, both Lennon and Ono undertook primal therapy with the guidance of Arthur Janov for four months in Los Angeles. Janov's therapy technique emphasized emotionally reliving repressed childhood traumas rather than analytical discussion. Lennon's experience in primal therapy strongly influenced both the lyrical content of the album, pushing Lennon towards themes of child-parent relationships and psychological suffering, and the simple but intense style of the album's music.

It makes me wonder what percentage of the world's music was written at the encouragement of the musician's therapist. 

Today's song is the first track from John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, "Mother". As noted above, the song was inspired by Lennon's experiences in therapy post-Beatles, specifically his sense of abandonment by his parents. His father left the family when he was very young, and his mother, often absent from his life, was killed by a car when John was 17.

The song opens with the tolling of bells, funereal and ominous. While the music overall is fairly simple-sounding (no complicated riffs or solos), the piano stands out. If I didn't know better, I'd say Ringo's drums sound like a synthesizer or drum machine--they're so perfectly steady. John's singing could more accurately be called a lament, and over the course of the song we hear his voice degrade further into a more visceral, ripping cry. It's definitely the most prominent aspect of the song and I think it defines the mood even more than the lyrics.

Overall a good, slow, sad song; I can see already how Lennon's experiences in therapy influenced him, and I'm interested to hear more and see where it takes him. 

More tomorrow!

Also: I'm going to restart the Heard It tally, to be fair. :)

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Heard It Tally: 0

Songs Completed: 1