Monday, December 09, 2024

John Lennon and the number 9


 We remember another anniversary of John Lennon's tragic death in 1980.   

 
 
In my case, I heard it in a Mexico City hotel when the clock radio woke me up at 6 a.m.

After The Beatles broke up, John went solo and recorded a lot of songs.   
 
Some were good ("Instant Karma") and others were not, like the woke "Imagine" or "How do you sleep," a nuclear attack on Paul.   
 
George, Ringo and John had spent the 1970s watching Paul record one hit after another.  
 
As I remember, it was really rare to hear anything by John, George or Ringo on the radio at that time.  
 
I'll never forget shopping for music for my parents in early 1980 and seeing George's and Ringo's LPs on the sale rack. I asked the store manager and he said "nobody is buying that stuff anymore."   
 
Blame it on "Disco Duck" or some bad solo from a couple of guys who used to play with a band called the Beatles.

Back to John, "# 9 dream" was one of my favorites.   
 
It turns out that John Lennon had a fascination with the number nine.   

According to The Beatles Bible, there were many references to the number nine in John's life:  
 
Lennon travelled on the number 72 bus to Liverpool Art College, where he was friends with Stuart Sutcliffe.
His first meeting in 1957 with Paul McCartney proved a pivotal role in Lennon’s life. McCartney’s surname has nine letters, as does Sutcliffe’s.
The group became The Beatles in 1960, and Lennon left in 1969, nine years later.
The Beatles’ first appearance at the Cavern Club was on 9 February 1961.
Brian Epstein, The Beatles’ manager, first saw them perform on 9 November 1961.
The group’s contract with EMI was confirmed on 9 May 1962.
The Beatles’ debut single, ‘Love Me Do’, was on Parlophone R4949.
Their record-breaking debut appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show was on 9 February 1964.

Keep reading because it gets better:

In April 1969 he changed his name to John Ono Lennon. There are nine ‘o’s in the combined names of John Ono Lennon and Yoko Ono Lennon.
Lennon and Ono lived for a time in an apartment on West 72nd Street, New York City.
Their first apartment in the Dakota Building was number 72.
Their son, Sean Lennon, was born on 9 October 1975, John’s 35th birthday.
#9 Dream was a song on Lennon’s 1974 album Walls And Bridges. The album was his ninth non-Beatles album, and was issued in the ninth month of the year.
The album’s cover featured a painting done when Lennon was 11 years old. It depicts a footballer with a number nine on his back.
When released as a single, #9 Dream peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. The refrain in the chorus – ‘Ah! Böwakawa poussé, poussé’ – featured nine syllables.
Mind Games and Rock ‘N’ Roll, the albums released before and after Walls And Bridges, each contained nine letters in their titles.
After he was shot, Lennon was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital on 9th Avenue, Manhattan. Roosevelt and Manhattan both have nine letters.
 
He was killed late night December 8 but when it happened, it was December 9 in his native U.K. 
 
Remember that when you hear that famous lyric "Number 9, number 9" from the White Album.


 

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