The hilarious day John Lennon “nearly killed” Brian Jones
In the early 1960s, John Lennon didn’t bother getting a driver’s license until he penned ‘Ticket to Ride’ from Help!. He was used to being chauffeured around, and his aversion to wearing glasses probably contributed to his reluctance to learn to drive. Once he did get his own car, however, he gave it the signature Lennon touch by making it appear as psychedelic and vibrant as possible.
During this time, Lennon was tinkering with his new car when their perceived rivals, The Rolling Stones, were undergoing a transformation. After years of playing second fiddle to their Liverpool counterparts, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had propelled the band to a level where they could compete head-to-head, churning out hits like ‘Paint It Black’ and ‘Under My Thumb’.
Despite rumours of numerous feuds between the two bands, Lennon and Brian Jones were friendly with one another, enough for Lennon to regard Jones as a worthy subject for his notorious pranks. After painting his Rolls Royce to his liking, Lennon added a number of additional physical modifications that meant he could up the ante on his mischievous endeavours.
Some of the alterations he made were installing a record player alongside a special horn that blared ‘Lilli Marlene’ when honked and a microphone linked to speakers in the front wheel wells. With these speakers, Lennon could interact with passersby, chatting with them or playing the sounds of trains and aeroplanes to startle or confuse them. Of course, he once came across Jones while driving, which seemed the easiest of targets.
As Paul McCartney recalled in The Beatles Anthology: “We were in John’s Rolls, and we’d just come from his house in Weybridge. Suddenly, we pulled up behind Brian Jones, sitting quietly in the back of his Austin Princess. John was a very funny guy, and he shouted through the microphone: ‘Brian Jones, do not move! You have been under surveillance — you are under arrest.’”
“Brian leapt up about eight feet and went as white as a sheet, going, ‘Oh my God! Oh my God!’” McCartney continued. “Then he saw it was us — ‘You bunch of bastards!’ It nearly killed him that day. John was so official-sounding.”
The icing on top of the cake was the fact that Jones already had a substantial record of previous arrests, making this incident appear more authentic and believable. He had his first arrest in 1967 after authorities discovered drugs at his residence. The following year, he was arrested again for possessing cannabis. Lennon wasn’t entirely squeaky clean either, considering his arrest for a similar reason the same year.
How did Brian Jones die?
By 1969, Jones had gotten himself into such a mess with drugs and booze that his gigs were a horror, and he couldn’t be counted on in the studio. As a result, he left the band, and Mick Taylor stepped in as the new guitarist. In a statement at the time, Jones explained: “I no longer see eye-to-eye with the others over the discs we are cutting. I want to play my kind of music, which is no longer The Stones’ music.”
Less than a month later, at the age of 27, Jones was discovered dead at the bottom of the pool on his property in East Sussex, England. His death was officially ruled as “death by misadventure” due to heavy intoxication at the time of drowning. However, there have been various theories and speculations surrounding the circumstances of his death. Some believe it was a result of drug and alcohol abuse, while others suggest foul play or suicide.
Despite ongoing debate, the exact circumstances of Jones’s death remain unclear. What we do know is that he held a party the same night at his house, where he consumed a lot of alcohol and baked goods packed with hashish. As a result, the autopsy revealed that Jones died “while under the influence of alcohol and drugs”.
