I believe this article written by Joe Riley goes a long way to try and explain the sometime extraordinary behavior of John Lennon,I have seen John in action on many occasions in the late 50s Early 60s,but,unlike Joe Riley I am reluctant to write or talk about these experiences.......It's all too easy, looking through round,rimless,rose-tinted spectacles, to view John Lennon as a numero uno super-scouser, leader of the world's greatest showbiz phenomenon, weaned at the Cavern, honed in Hamburg, and immortalised in the name of his home- city airport.
But NOWHERE BOY, the movie-in-the making about Lennon's teenage years,has the opportunity to re-examine the Beatle who became the darling of the international anti war protesters synomynous with hippy beads and bed-ins for peace.
And it can begin by busting one myth: young Lennon was not a working class hero. he was a middle class bully.
In reality,he spent 18 years living in one of Liverpool's most desirable middle-class swathes Woolton was not Walton.
John Lennon was not privy to the post war grinding poverty viewed from the front windows of George Harrison and Ringo Starr's childhood terraced homes.
On the contrary,his Aunt Mimi's house -Mendips Avenue- was so surrounded by greenery that it's garden has only this week been declared a long-standing habitat for rare Beetles(sic) and
butterflies.
Lennon also went to a good school,Quarry Bank,with a progressive headmaster.
The fact that he was the last pupil to be caned there says more about Lennon's constantly disruptive nature than the eventual intolerance of his teachers.
It was Lennon's dysfunctional childhood,and the tragic death of his mother,Julia in a road accident in 1958,when he was 17,which made him turn in on himself,and often become aggressive to others.
Not least to art school mate,and ex-Beatle Stu Sutcliffe,who died tragically early.
There's evidence to suggest-that some of the set-to's with Sutcliffe,a far superior painter and draughtsman may have been sparked by jealousy.
And there were the well documented tantrums with Alan Williams,plus the abuse Lennon would hurl at the Cavern Club fans. All this has been obscured by the image of a jovial,cheeky Scouser who told rich punters at the Royal Command performance to rattle their jewellery.
Will the new movie reflect the somewhat different truth about Lennon? We shall see.
Finally I would like to submit parts of an article written by David Charters (David is the chief feature writer for the Daily Post and Echo)
.........They were the crazy days of ban- the- bomb and beatniks,when young artists and poets,musicians and philosophers,slunk around the cellar dive,like prophets in jeans,awaiting the coming of the ones who would bring fame to their city.
And many of them gathered behind the towering bricks of an old butter warehouse.There,you could hear Priscilla White singing Fever with a savage intensity,which was not always respectful to the melody, while blond Fred Fowell had his hair dyed black to add authenticity to his Elvis impressions.
Sometimes John Lennon his tongue fizzing with observations and sly cracks,would mosey in with his art school pal.......
