Lennon and Location:
Someone's Time in New York City
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/133567-lennon-and-location-someones-time-in-new-york-city/
By Gabi Tartakovsky
18 November 2010
John Lennon's short life can be roughly divided into two periods: his
first 31 years in England and the remaining nine years since moving
to New York City, as a born-again American. Although the latter
period was significantly shorter, it made a lasting impression just
the same. Most of Lennon's solo career is directly linked to his
relocation, a reality enhanced by New York City which made a great
effort to recast him as its own. Among the famous associated
immortalizations are the christening of a "Strawberry Fields" section
in Central Park, holding a 9/11 benefit concert "Come Together"
dedicated to Lennon's music, releasing a live album recorded in
Madison Square Garden, and the much celebrated Bob Gruen's photo of
Lennon posing in a t-shirt bearing the city's name, which even its
outtake was used to grace the cover of a new compilation.
All are quite appropriate gestures, of course, but misleading as
well. When Lennon arrived in New York on September 1971, with the
intention of settling in, he found himself quickly to be considered a
persona non grata, whose moves caught more of the government's
attention than that of the fans. Lennon's initial term as an American
resident was one of the most frenzied and troubled times in his
post-Beatles days and is mainly discussed on a personal level, while
ignoring the accompanying musical output. None of Lennon's solo
efforts has been more looked down upon as his first album recorded in
the U.S., 1972's Some Time in New York City. It is considered by most
as the least crafted or important collaboration he made with Yoko Ono.
Their previous joint albums, such as Two Virgins (1968) and The
Wedding Album (1969), were deemed too experimental for mass adulation
to begin with, and are often noted for Lennon's way of showing the
world that Ono has also become his new musical partner. Some Time in
New York City' disappointed those who had hoped the follow-up to
Imagine would be another piano-driven album, where politics gave way
to wishful thinking and self-discovery ballads.
Instead, a strictly confrontational record was presented, in which
Lennon sang specifically about the clashes in Northern Ireland,
women's oppression, and celebrating the courage of various activists,
some of whom he personally met and socialized with in New York. His
previous battle cries, singles like "Power to the People", "Instant
Karma", and "Happy Xmas (War is Over)", were popular enough due to
their vague subject matter, similar to Lennon's prior political
manifestation, the "Bed-In"a dazed happening, which never elevated
itself from a media-circus status. The message of Some Time in New
York City was harsher and symbolized Lennon's transition from a hippy
to a radical. Even the casual listener was forced to take sides.
Some would argue that the platform professed had nothing to do with
the fact that the album never caught on. It's easy to point out
lackluster songwriting and hasty production on it, but the energy and
good intentions carry it through by and large. "Angela", composed in
honor of Black Panther Angela Davis, featured one of the few truly
moving melodies sung by Lennon and Ono together in that era,
regardless of the poor chorus: "They gave you coffee/they gave you
tea/ they gave you everything but equality." "New York City" was the
sole track on the album in which Lennon sang about himself and Ono.
It was a straight and most intense rocker, mapping out the sights and
sounds hurled upon the couple since moving to New York. An expected
tale of their night on the town at the city's trendy spots such as
Max's Kansas City is mentioned alongside the warm welcoming by local
scenesters, like singer David Peel. However, Lennon's truly exciting
New York experience, according to the song, consisted of cooler
moments: a bicycle ride in Greenwich Village and standing on a street
corner without being ambushed by press or fans.
If anything truly hurt Some Time in New York City, it was the
indistinctive line between worthy causes, such as supporting national
self-determination or indicating grave social injustice, and plainly
acting to get a pal out of a jam. "John Sinclair" was written about
the underground poet, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for
giving two joints to an undercover policewoman. Lennon performed his
musical bail at the "Free John Now Rally", which included a massive
list of artists, on 10 December 1971. Sinclair was released three
days later, but the obsolete song still found its way on the album.
Lennon and Ono felt comfortable enough with their new circle of
friends and took some of them to perform on The David Frost Show, a
week after the Sinclair rally. They sang "Attica State", a tune about
the recent prison riot which ended with more than 40 dead, inmates
and staff alike. On stage, Lennon and the gang cried: "Media blames
it on the prisoners/But the prisoners did not kill/Rockefeller pulled
the trigger/ that is what the people feel". It turned out that two
audience members felt differently and protested loudly. Frost invited
them to step down from the balcony and share their view up close. A
heated discussion ensued as they took the chance to argue that the
song simply glorified the prisoners. Lennon and Ono fell on the
defensive side and the shouting match was subsided by Frost's call
for Lennon to repeat singing a few verses, so the listeners could
perhaps reach some kind of an understanding, by concentrating more on
the lyrics.
That proved to be a harder task, once the album was in stores. The
cover of Some Time in New York City was designed to resemble a
newspaper, published by "Joko Press", in which the lyrics were
printed as articles. It also bared The New York Times motto, "News
That's Fit to Print" to mock the establishment and other slogans,
such as "Register to Vote", "There Are No Birds in Vietnam" and
"Don't Think They Didn't Know about Hitler" for that underground
paper vibe. One of photos overshadowed the entire gimmick cover by
showing then-reigning President Richard Nixon and his nemesis
Chairman Mao dancing in the nude; an image made to illustrate the
lyrics of Ono's "We're All Water", which dealt with mankind's
suppressed similarities.
The message, although unifying, did not cross over well as Lennon
angrily recalled, years later in an interview for David Sheff:
"...The stupid retailers stuck a gold sticker over it that you can't
even steam off. At least you could steam off that Beatles cover (a
node to the 1965 compilation Yesterday and Today featuring the band
in bloody butchers' clothes with large pieces of meat and decapitated
dolls around them). So you see the kind of pressure Yoko and I was
getting, not only on a personal level and the public level…but every
time we tried to express ourselves, they would ban it, would cover it
up, would censor it".
In order to broaden its obvious limited appeal, Some Time in New York
City was made into a double album, consisting of one volume of
Lennon's live recordings. It captured a set performed in London and a
more updated guest appearance at a Frank Zappa show from June 1971.
That collector's treat didn't upgrade sales and was unsuccessful in
diverting another controversy from the album. Its lead single, "Woman
is the Nigger of the world", was a bold statement which was
unpleasant to both feminists and radio DJs. It missed the target of
raising collective thought and was too explosive for airtime. Yet,
the song still stands as one of Lennon's great vocal performances in
the seventies; its phrase "we make her paint her face and dance" was
just as heartfelt as the regret expressed on "Jealous Guy".
Only three months after their arrival, Lennon and Ono were not just
facing concerned citizens and confused fans but also a suspicions
government. FBI agents were in attendance at the Sinclair rally,
taking notes to be included in the Bureau's flourishing Lennon file.
His criticism on U.S. policies was deemed by officials as ungrateful
and inflammatory. At one point, Lennon and Ono were notified by the
immigration office that they have exceeded their stay as visitors and
are expected to leave the country on their own by March 1972, if
wishing to avoid deportation. Countless appeals were made, and as the
legal battle tangled, Lennon was advised by his lawyer to keep a
lower profile. The re-election of Nixon, by an unprecedented
landslide, crushed much of Lennon's poignant political spirits anyway.
The marriage crisis he faced in the mid-seventies made it easier for
him to escape to L.A., to hang out with fellow musicians far from the
radical clique. His next albums bore personal themes again, one being
so trivial as to consist only of rock-n-roll covers. Lennon and Ono's
one evident political statement around that period was flying to
Washington in order to witness the Watergate hearings; by doing so,
reminding a remorseful nation that he was also somewhere on the Nixon
administration's enemy list. A green-card declaring permanent
residency was finally issued to him on July 1975.
Lennon tended to avoid acting as a voice of a generation years before
going a step too far with the government. His initial remarks on
Vietnam were mild, and he suggested the "bigger than Jesus" statement
wouldn't have upset as much had he replaced the word "Beatles" with
"Television". Lennon also often diminished the band's influence after
their break-up, portraying the group as young men simply caught in
the eye of a hurricane. Some Time in New York City was Lennon's only
consistent attempt to be tied to any specific political ambitions,
operating through a strong sense that it was his artistic duty.
Despite it being his most political and urban album, it did not
receive the proper credit for both. Nearly 40 years after the initial
release of Some Time in New York City, it is easier to embrace Lennon
and Ono on separate grounds, as a loving couple or avid activists who
by chance happen to be die-hard New Yorkers. That album brutally
embodied it all and that is its enduring power; still, too much to
take for many who feel they cherish the two for being themselves.
.
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