“Something nasty”: The song John Lennon thought would hurt his fans
The Beatles were able to make such innovative music because they all had different approaches to what a good song should be. They were able to work cohesively despite their differences, and as a result, a lot of the music they made was inventive and exciting for the time. Of course, after working together for over a decade, combined with the pressures of being the biggest band in the world, these differences steadily started to cause friction within the band.
Eventually, it became too much, and the band needed to split up. John Lennon grew tired of Paul McCartney constantly trying to write a hit single. George Harrison was fed up with his music getting put on the back burner because it didn’t fit the Lennon and McCartney sound that the Beatles had made famous. They dispersed and ventured off into their own solo projects, which meant they could write without boundaries for the first time.
When Lennon suddenly had free reign to make whatever music he wanted, he could explore subjects he otherwise might have been restricted from visiting. It’s clear when you learn more about his favourite Beatles songs Lennon just wanted to make music that accurately reflects him as a person.
“I meant it, it’s real,” he said when justifying picking ‘Help’, ‘In My Life’ and ‘Strawberry Fields’ as some of his favourite Beatles tracks. “The lyric is as good now as it was then, it’s no different, you know. It makes me feel secure to know that I was that sensible or whatever—well, not sensible, but aware of myself. That’s with no acid, no nothing… well, pot or whatever.”
He continued: “It was just me singing ‘help’, and I meant it, you know. I don’t like the recording that much, the song I like. We did it too fast to try and be commercial.”
It’s no surprise that Lennon opted to write much more open and honest songs when he embarked on his solo career, but he was worried that some of his honesty might be a bit too much for his fans. This was the case with the track ‘Mother’. He was concerned it might be more than his average fan could stomach.
At the time of writing the track, Lennon was undergoing “Primal Scream” therapy, and he was dealing with a lot of the problems that are mapped out within the lyrics. He wrote the song about his childhood, how his mother was killed in a car accident, and his father left him for the sea to work.
“Many, many people will not like ‘Mother’; it hurts them,” said Lennon, discussing the song, “The first thing that happens to you when you get the album is you can’t take it. Everybody reacted exactly the same. They think, ‘fuck!’ That’s how everybody is. And the second time, they start saying, ‘Oh, well, there’s a little…’ So I can’t lay ‘Mother’ on them. It confirms the suspicions that something nasty’s going on with that John Lennon and his broad again.”
