Almost six decades ago, in an article for The London Standard, Maureen Cleave, a journalist and friend of the Beatles, wrote an article that shared a glimpse of life behind the scenes of the members of Fab Four. It was in this article that the famous oft-misquoted quip by a twenty-five-year-old Lennon—“we’re more popular than Jesus”—was published. In its entirety, Lennon stated, “We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first—rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me” (Cleave). In Lennon’s defense, there is validity to his claim that it’s the disciples’ “twisting” of Jesus that ruins religion for him. It’s also a sentiment that most people today hold. Despite this, his words at the time of publishing were met with widespread outrage and public criticism, particularly amongst evangelical Americans who publicly burned memorabilia associated with Beatlemania.
Nevertheless, Lennon and the Beatles continued on, releasing critically and commercially acclaimed hits that resonated with the audience of his time period. While many of the songs in the Beatles catalog were co-written with Paul McCartney, there are distinctive themes of idealism and iconoclasm as well as activism and absurdity that permeate Lennon’s lyrics. To this day, the complex and fascinating cultural legacy that Lennon leaves behind draws in the younger generation. As educators, we often tend to lean toward texts that we are familiar with, and for me, that was the music of the Beatles—both my dad and my guitar teacher introduced me to them. It may be ironic given Lennon’s stance towards religion, but I as an educator in a Christian school setting now find myself working with Lennon’s body of work as a poetry unit just like we study Eliot or Tennyson. Every time I tell students we’re doing a unit on John Lennon, they are intrigued because of the pop-cultural relevance he holds, and many are excited because they are fans and music lovers like myself. As much as I love the other songs written by the other Beatles members (in particular, “Yellow Submarine” and “While my Guitar Gently Weeps”), this unit focuses on songs where John Lennon was the primary songwriter.
To this day, the complex and fascinating cultural legacy that Lennon leaves behind draws in the younger generation.
Despite his complex legacy and controversy in Christian circles, this article will present what makes John Lennon’s lyrics a compelling and literary-rich body of work to explore in a contemporary Christian high school senior English setting. From his passion for advocacy to penchant for absurdity, Lennon’s lyrics make for a great high school English language and literature unit. I will also comment on some of the difficult questions that his body of work presents, in particular his iconoclastic attitudes towards religion and the personal tragedies that he experienced. Ultimately, Lennon is a pop-culture icon that many are familiar with, and his lyricism and legacy serve well to prompt thoughtful discussion in the language and literature classroom. At the end of this article, I will share a short curated list of different songs that I’ve used in my unit that have worked well in prompting rich discussion and thoughtful student essays and commentaries.
From his passion for advocacy to penchant for absurdity, Lennon’s lyrics make for a great high school English language and literature unit
Activism, Absurdity and Attitudes toward Religion
In his famous bed-in honeymoon protest with Yoko Ono, the couple sang and chanted, “All we are saying is give peace a chance” with a group of friends as a way to use their heightened celebrity platform to protest the Vietnam War. John Lennon presented himself as a dreamer, an idealist, and an advocate, admirable qualities that students with an inclination toward social justice will resonate with. His more politically charged songs such as “Revolution” (1968) and “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” (1971) present various juxtapositions meant to challenge listeners about holding onto what Lennon would deem as violent ideologies. In “Revolution,” he simultaneously challenges extremists on both sides of the political system as well as expresses a general dissatisfaction with the political system itself. In the alternate music video for “Happy Xmas (War is Over), wartime images are shown over the Harlem’s Children Choir singing the chorus of “War is over / if you want it.” This has the intended effect of jarring the viewers. Given the politically charged climate of today, there are opportunities for the lyrics of the sixties to still speak to contemporary issues that students may be interested in.
In order to teach John Lennon well, the cultural context that needs to be discussed includes the Civil Rights era, the Vietnam War, and the counterculture movement of the 1960s. There is a possibility here for cross-curricular connections with history class. Studying Lennon also leads to opportunities to explore approaches to peace and activism by other writers in that time. In recent years, we’ve explored speeches and writing by Martin Luther King Jr. and Angela Davis as a way to draw comparisons and parallels to the respective writers’ approach to peace, equality, and equity.
Another quality of John Lennon’s lyricism that students are drawn to is the absurdity of his lyrics—we have great discussions about whether his lyrics are “deep or dumb.” Are they deep because literary meaning begs to be found under layers of symbolism? Or are they dumb, existing ust for the sake of just being goofy and entertaining? Lennon himself was amused to hear that at his old school, “Senior English students were now made to dissect and analyze the lyrics of ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Knows,’ just as they themselves once had analyzed the poems of Wordsworth and Shelley” (Norman). This prompted him to write a song simply to throw off the teachers and the students. He came up with “I Am the Walrus,” a song that is a cacophonic blend of misunderstood allusions to Lewis Carroll’s poetry, disdain for established authority figures, and the drug culture of the 1960s. In exploring this song with students, they find it both equally stupefying and hilarious at the same time, especially when framed with the question “Is this song deep or dumb?” Often, the class comes to the conclusion that it’s fine to appreciate something for the sake of it, even if it makes no sense.
[W]hat makes for interesting conversation, especially in a faith-based school, is the exploration of Lennon’s attitudes towards religion.
Finally, what makes for interesting conversation, especially in a faith-based school, is the exploration of Lennon’s attitudes towards religion. In a nutshell, Lennon holds a complex, angry, and agnostic view toward institutional religion. Consider the iconic line in “Imagine” that has prompted many evangelicals to dismiss Lennon: “Imagine there’s no heaven / it’s easy if you try / no hell below us / above us only sky.” The entirety of the song “Imagine” is iconoclastic at its core, but ironically, it’s accepted in the mainstream today, sometimes sung alongside national anthems. Lennon himself is said to have pointed out “[The song] is anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic… but because it is sugar-coated, it is accepted.” At the same time, Lennon is drawn to the spiritual practices that some of the Eastern religions offer as evidenced by influx of Indian instrumentation and Sanskrit mantras in the album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Later on in his singles career, Lennon distances himself from believing in anything, bluntly singing in the song “God” that he doesn’t believe in “Bible,” “tarot,” “Hitler,” “Jesus,” “Kennedy,” or “Buddha” amongst a number of many other things, all in the same verse.
However, it’s also clear that Lennon is someone who is looking for truth, something he shouts repeatedly in “Just Gimme Some Truth.” Throughout his career, Lennon demonstrates a complicated and at times contradictory view toward religion. For Lennon, religion is very closely tied to authority, which he holds a rebellious attitude toward. While most Christians would largely not agree with or share Lennon’s disposition toward religion, Lennon’s questions and attacks on religion as an institution are likely similar to what our students today grapple with.
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Anthony Bigornia is a teacher and the student life coordinator at White Rock Christian Academy in Surrey, BC, Canada who currently teaches IB DP Language & Literature 11 and 12. Writing for the CEJ keeps him sharp as a teacher working in Christian education. When he is not teaching, he can be found playing lead electric guitar for church or spinning party tunes as a DJ for the occasional event. IG: @aye.bigs
Works Cited
Cleave, Maureen. “How Does a Beatle Live?” The London Standard, 4 Mar, 1966.
johnlennon. “HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) (Ultimate Mix, 2020) John & Yoko Plastic Ono Band + Harlem Community Choir.” YouTube, 10 Aug, 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN4Uu0OlmTg
Lennon, John. The John Lennon Collection. Parlophone, 1982.
Lennon, John. “John Lennon: The Last Interview.” Interview by Jonathan Cott. Rolling Stone, 23 Dec 2010. https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/john-lennon-the-last-interview-179443/
Lennon, John. “Playboy Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono.” Interview by David Sheff. Playboy Press, Sept 1981.
Magical Mystery Tour. Directed by The Beatles, performances by The Beatles, BBC1, 1967.
Norman, Philipp. John Lennon: The Life. Harper Collins, New York. 8 Sept, 2009.