The kindness of John Lennon and the shaping of B.B. King
John Lennon was the first to admit that he owed his career to artists of Black origin, who defined rock ‘n’ roll. With The Beatles, Lennon helped the genre take over the world, and he never forgot the icons like B.B. King, who laid the foundations to make his journey possible.
On many occasions, Lennon paid tribute to those who were the scene’s forefathers. In the early days of The Beatles, they regularly covered an array of Black musicians, including Little Richard. They also shared a residency with him in Hamburg, which taught them the ropes of the art of performing.
Speaking in 1972 with JET, Lennon opened up about the life-changing influence of Black music on him. He explained, “I grew up with blues music, country and western music. The sailors came in, brought folk music, -all kinds. I was at college and listened to the music. It was an easy progression to rhythm and blues via Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and Little Richard.
“First, I heard Leadbelly, then Robert Johnson and Sleepy John Estes; from there I went to Chuck Berry and the other R&B (rhythm and blues) artists in 1958. I did not discover B. B. King, Mary Wells, T. Bone Walker and Albert King until in the 1960s.”
Although the arrival of King into his life didn’t happen until later, he quickly became a guitar hero for the Fab Four member. When the news got back to King about the Beatle’s infatuation, he couldn’t believe it and almost collapsed in astonishment.
In Rolling Stone’s ‘Guitar Heroes’ issue in 2008, King was asked, “When did you realise that your style was having a wide influence?“ which elicited this response, “Well, I was watching TV one night, and the lead singer of the Beatles’ John Lennon said he wished he could play like B.B. King. I almost fell out of my chair. And that started me to thinking, ‘God, what am I doing? The greatest group on Earth, and the guy is saying that to me?'”
He sincerely added: “I tried not to let it go to my head. But I sure thought about it. That was like Jesus Christ coming down and saying, ‘Yeah, B., you’re pretty good.'”
King was a successful artist in his own right, deservedly inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, but his fame was incomparable with Lennon. Therefore, it took him by surprise to hear how greatly he was admired by the Beatle, a performer and pop star, who had the world in his hands.
Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to find the clip of Lennon saying this comment on television. However, in a print interview with Rolling Stone in 1971, he said: “One part of me says yes, of course, I can play because I can make a rock move, you know. But the other part of me says well, I wish I could just do like B.B. King. If you would put me with B.B. King, I would feel real silly.”
Watch the footage below of BB King performing at Montreaux Jazz in 1993, and understand why Lennon wanted to play like him.
