John Lennon’s friendship with Curt Claudio: The Vietnam War vet who thought he was Beatle
The music of John Lennon and The Beatles is timeless. Why? Well, there are a few reasons. One is very logical, and it revolves around the fact that the four of them completely changed the shape of music, not just what it sounded like but how bands looked, operated and marketed themselves. When you have such an undeniable impact on an industry, it can’t be considered a surprise when that industry doesn’t forget you. However, there is another reason, and it’s much more profound.
“Popular love lyrics present a picture of an imagined social-emotional world, and modern societies tend to ignore this world,” wrote Thomas J Scheff, a sociologist, in his book What’s Love Got to Do with It?: Emotions and Relationships in Popular Songs, “Since modern societies are highly individualistic, the nature of relationships usually takes a backseat. Modern societies focus on the self-reliant individual.”
Scheff is talking about love specifically here, but his take also applies to emotions on a broad scale. The fact is that we do live relatively isolated lives; even when we talk to those around us and surround ourselves with loved ones, our thoughts are done internally, which means whether we want to or not, we live our lives in quite an isolated sense.
Music acts as a bridge to this loneliness, as we have it so that our internal thoughts are all acknowledged by artists in a way that we’re willing to engage with. It’s why we find comfort in sad music when we’re sad, why we listen to love songs when we’re smitten, and why the words of John Lennon continue to resonate even decades after they were written.
John Lennon was always adamant that regardless of what song he was writing, he wanted it to come from an honest place. This meant that irrespective of whether he was in love, angry, confused or sad, it was laid out in his songs, especially his solo work. This honesty reaches fans and touches them, which is why so many people connected with Lennon’s work on a deep level. One person who did so much that he began to think he and John Lennon shared the same spirit was Curt Claudio.
There is a lot of mystery surrounding who Claudio was, and there is still some speculation about it. Lennon and Yoko Ono’s assistant at the time believed he was an army veteran. “Apparently Claudio was a shell-shocked veteran who was due to be released from the hospital,” they said before confirming he had been sending messages to Lennon from hospital and saying he wanted to look into his eyes.
Lennon didn’t think much of these messages, but Claudio ended up showing up at his house. Nothing came of the meeting, as Claudio realised that while Lennon’s music might have been relatable, it wasn’t specifically written about him.
“[Cluadio] looked in my eyes and he didn’t get any answer. He thought the whole thing was about him and I said, ‘No, it’s about me’,” said Lennon, “It might strike a corresponding chord in your experience because we all have similar experiences but it’s basically about me and if it’s not about me, it’s about Yoko. I said. ‘You better get on and live your own life, you’re wasting your time trying to live mine’.”
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