“Psychologically destroyed”: The worst John Lennon sounded in The Beatles
Every artist is going to be a little bit more critical of their work than the common man. As much as they might like the idea of waiting until their songs are absolutely perfect, there’s hardly any way for someone to chip away at something until it’s a finely crafted musical jewel when they are done with it. And while John Lennon did have more perfectionist tendencies than most, he knew enough to realise when a song was performed correctly but not delivering any sort of musical emotion.
When looking at his body of work, every single thing that Lennon sang had to come from the heart. He was always writing songs for the casual rock and roll fan in his early days, but he was far more content to make tracks that had something to say once he reached his solo career, whether that was political matters or whatever was going on inside his head when making records like Plastic Ono Band.
But for all of the raw pain that he let loose on his proper solo debut, not all of it reared its head when he worked in The Beatles. He was always stronger than most when it came to some of his greatest hits, and even when he did open up a little bit during the band’s prime, it was always a softer affair, like on ‘In My Life’ or ‘Julia’ off of The White Album.
By the time the sessions for their double record had finished, it was up in the air whether the group would play together again. They had gone through all hell trying to figure out why their tunes weren’t working, and since they had strained themselves trying to find the right direction, it was only going to get worse when they had a bunch of cameras on them working on the Get Back project.
On the surface, the idea worked well enough, but when Phil Spector got his hands on the tapes, the idea of a stripped-down affair was thrown out the window when everyone heard the grand orchestrations behind songs like ‘The Long and Winding Road’. But listening to ‘Across the Universe’, all Lennon could hear was him at his lowest point and getting more and more drained by the second.
Compared to the other fantastic tracks on the record, Lennon felt that he had shot himself in the foot by going with the final take, saying, “The guitars are out of tune and I’m singing out of tune ‘cause I’m psychologically destroyed and nobody’s supporting me or helping me with it and the song was never done properly.”
But looking at the performance, the fact that the guitars are a little bit out of tune works in the song’s favour. The whole point behind the track is about finding comis awareness and realising that there’s nothing standing between you and the raw beauty in the world, so if there are a few blemishes in the recording, it only serves to capture the moment rather than take away from it.
If anything, the fact that the song doesn’t sound perfect is its greatest strength. Lennon might not have been in the best headspace for making the song, but it’s usually all worth it if he could get material reflecting his state of mind. Because if there’s one thing that audiences prioritise above everything else, it’s honesty, and you can hear every layer of Lennon’s head whenever this tune comes on.
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