The 1971 concert John Lennon knew he would regret: “I left it all”
Being in The Beatles was bound to start feeling like something John Lennon was shackled to after a while.
Even though he liked the idea of making some of the greatest music that he could with his mates, there came a point where he was going to want to do something else other than float an idea to Paul McCartney every time he started working. He needed something a bit more whenever he worked on his tunes, and right when he got his freedom, he wasn’t about to suddenly go back and see what his old mates had to offer.
Then again, history tends to tell the story a little bit differently than what actually happened. Even though McCartney was the first one to actually say that The Beatles were completely done, Lennon was the real one who broke the whole thing up when the band began having problems. He was far happier making songs with Yoko Ono in his solo career, and even if Macca’s first album came out before Lennon’s could, he and Yoko were already playing shows well before any statements were made.
But there was one word that followed every single member of the band around during that time: IF. ‘If The Beatles decided to get back together…’, ‘If The Beatles were to play one more show’, ‘If The Beatles were to be paid X amount of money to reunite’. It was certainly an interesting idea for fans to think about, but Lennon knew that that one word could spell disaster if he ever decided to make the wrong move.
And as much as he loved the idea of playing for a good cause, that also included working on the Concert for Bangladesh with George Harrison. ‘The Quiet One’ was already willing to do something to aid Ravi Shankar’s home country, and while Ringo Starr seemed on board, Lennon was ready to go before he started to realise what he was getting himself into should he turn up with a guitar in his hand.
Because, really, he wasn’t signing up to play any new songs. If he went down, it wouldn’t be billed as ‘The Concert for Bangladesh’ anymore. To many fans, it would have simply been a Beatles reunion that happened to be done for charity, and while Lennon wasn’t going to say no to helping out his friend, the idea of him going out onstage and playing some of Harrison and Starr’s solo numbers wasn’t all that appealing to him.
He had asked for their help on numerous occasions on his solo efforts, but Lennon wasn’t in a position to show the world that the band was in good spirits again, saying, “At first I thought, ‘Oh, I wish I’d been there,’ you know, with Dylan and Leon… they needed a rocker. Everybody was telling me ‘You should have been there, John,’ but I’m glad I didn’t do it in a way because I didn’t want to go on as ‘The Beatles.’ And with George and Ringo there it would have had that connotation of Beatles — Now let’s hear Ringo sing ‘It Don’t Come Easy.’ That’s why I left it all. I don’t want to play ‘My Sweet Lord.’”
But even if Lennon had shown up, just the idea of him being there to cosign everything would have been enough for Harrison. He was only looking to make some money for Shankar’s cause, and even if he was quickly tiring of Allen Klein getting in the way of everything, there was never a moment during this time when Harrison and Lennon were looking to fight over anything behind the scenes.
It would have been great, but Lennon was always willing to think three steps ahead of everyone else whenever working on his next move. He didn’t like the idea of making music to get the fans riled up anymore, and even if he hoped that people would like his music, those screaming fans were something that he thought would be best left in the past rather than going out for one more go-around.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.