Airdate: Classic Albums: John Lennon

If you are a fan of John Lennon, there are two notable programmes coming up on SBS.

The first is a documentary, Classic Albums: John Lennon, which features interviews with musicians from the Plastic Ono Band album, his wife Yoko, Ringo Starr, a Beatles historian and the co-founder of Rolling Stone. The album’s title refers to the conceptual band Lennon and Ono had formed in 1969 of various supporting musicians they would use on their various solo albums. There is archival footage and detailed analysis of original multi-track masters. It screens Saturday, 8th November at 10.00pm.

But possibly the more interesting find, buried in the guide on the same night, is the short film, I Met the Walrus. In 1969, during John & Yoko’s “bed-in” phase, a 14-year-old Beatle fan snuck into their hotel room and convinced John to do an interview. Thirty years later he produced a film about it. Nominated for an Academy Award in 2008. It airs as part of SOS: Shorts on Screen that night at 12:30am (Sun Nov 9) on SBS.

Press Release:
John Lennon’s first solo album Plastic Ono Band was recorded during a period described by many who knew him then, as a time when John was “finding himself.” He had just left The Beatles, and was searching to find his own identity — both personally and musically — removed from the madness that often surrounded the biggest band in the world at the time.

On Saturday November 8 at 10.00pm, SBS will screen Classic Albums: John Lennon, a documentary which reveals more about John’s search for individuality, his love for Yoko Ono and his new approach to song writing. Featuring in-depth interviews with Klaus Voormann (bass player), Ringo Starr (drummer), Yoko Ono, Mark Kewisohn (Beatles historian/author) and Jann Wenner (co-founder of Rolling Stone), the documentary examines the music and lyrics of songs such as God, Mother, Working Class Hero and Isolation.

One of the most undeniably profound influences on John was his relationship with Yoko Ono, who reflects on their relationship in the documentary saying, “I actually didn’t want to fall in love with him because there were so many other concerns, and I’m sure that John had the same sort of hesitation. We had baggage. It was not just like falling in love with someone you met in a corner street…there were so many different aspects of the situation. But we stimulated each other and opened the kind of world we didn’t know for each other, and it was very fruitful”.

Plastic Ono Band is a very personal album containing songs about more than John’s relationship with Yoko. It also has personal songs about his difficult relationship with his parents, and his inner struggle to find himself. Many of the tracks on the album were written while John was going through an intensive period of therapy with Dr Arthur Janov (co-founder of The Primal Institute), who says “little by little all of the veils were being pulled away. All of the ideology, all of the people he thought were just incredible… and he realised when all is said and done, you only have yourself”.

The documentary also includes archival footage and detailed analysis of original multi-track masters.

Saturday Nov 8 12:30am (Sun Nov 9): SOS: I Met the Walrus – In 1969, during John & Yoko’s “bed-in” phase, a 14-year-old Beatle fan snuck into their hotel room and convinced John to do an interview. Thirty years later he produced a film about it. Nominated for an Academy Award in 2008.