21 - John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band - 1970

Side One
Mother
Hold On
I Found Out
Working Class Hero
Isolation

Side Two
Remember
Love
Well Well Well
Look At Me
God
My Mummy's Dead


DISCOVERY; From Mr Smith's Box. At the first guitar lesson I was anxious to talk about the albums I'd been impressed by so far. Plastic Ono Band top of the list and still is. Immediately Mr Smith picks up his huge dreadnought guitar launching into a riveting Working Class Hero. He had a huge deep voice to match the tone from the guitar and mesmerizing delivery. I forgot what I wanted to say about the album. I just wanted to listen to him play songs! The guitar lessons were very short actually. He played a verse from the equally impressive Ballad Of A Thin Man by Bob Dylan, showed me how to interpret the chord patterns on sheet music and how to tune the guitar. I already knew notes and scales from piano lessons. My assignment was Yellow Submarine and by the following week I had crudely picked out the melody for Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. He said "I can't teach you. You want to be a lead guitar player. You know have all the basics, all you need is practice." That was essentially his teaching method. We'd talk for a little bit about whatever subject, yoga, philosophy, music and then he'd announce that I already knew it all and didn't need to ask any more questions. I just needed practice. Knowing it all and knowing nothing are essentially the same thing. Two sides of the same coin. So I forgot what I wanted to say about Plastic Ono Band and still can't remember.

WHERE & WHEN; Mr. Smith always encouraged reading. He tried with me but I'm a hard case in that regard. I like to discuss the ideas conveyed in books but actually reading the text is a chore. Words swirl and make me sleepy unless something extremely interesting like the Rolling Stone Magazine interview "Lennon Remembers" published in book form. On loan from Mr. Smith's home library. I managed to read the entire thing in between sleeps, coming to the realisation that pop culture, ie. The Beatles were providing me with an education. A private education not filtered through the school or the church, my friends or Mr Smith. Information and ideas for me to process, mull over, digest and make sense of entirely on my own. You can discuss ideas with people but you'll only ever scratch the surface. Reaching some sort of understanding is something you need to do with yourself and no one else. Again, how does this relate to the Plastic Ono Band album? Just that I remember my 13 year old self being overawed by my good fortune.

HIGHLIGHTS; Hold On - Working Class Hero - Isolation - Remember - Look At Me - God

STATUS; Temporary MP3 copy