Skywriting by Word of Mouth and Other Writings

by John Lennon

Written in its author’s much-imitated, never-duplicated voice, populated with his own illustrations, full of the wit and honesty that helped make him one of the most iconic, polarizing figures of the 20th Century, Skywriting by Word of Mouth is the lost and recovered, posthumously published autobiography of John Lennon.

Genres: Music, Poetry, Fiction, Humor, Short Stories, Art, Literature

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE, was an English singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, and together with Paul McCartney formed one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the 20th century.

Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager, his first band, The Quarrymen, evolving into The Beatles in 1960. As the group began to undergo the disintegration that led to their break-up towards the end of that decade, Lennon launched a solo career that would span the next decade, punctuated by critically acclaimed albums, including John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and iconic songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine".

Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, his writing, on film, and in interviews, and became controversial through his work as a peace activist. He moved to New York City in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by Richard Nixon's administration to deport him, while his songs were adapted as anthems by the anti-war movement. Disengaging himself from the music business in 1975 to devote time to his family, Lennon reemerged in October 1980 with a new single and a comeback album, Double Fantasy, but was murdered weeks after their release on the sidewalk outside his home in the Dakota. Ironically, "Imagine" (imagine all the people, living life in peace) was a featured cut from this album.

Lennon's album sales in the United States alone stand at 14 million units, and as performer, writer, or co-writer he is responsible for 27 number one singles on the US Hot 100 chart. In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth, and in 2008 Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth greatest singer of all time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

--Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia --

Reviews

[Joan Lattanzio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am the biggest Lennon fan in existence so you may find this biased, but if you do (after having read the book that is) then you are a Lennon-hating hipocrit. It is without a shadow of a doubt a-fucking-mazing, I don't know how he does it. We get immersed in the work of one of the most brilliant people to date. Witty, funny, dark, light, heavy, sexy, raw, clever and absolutely entertaining are a few of the adjectives I dare use in description of this work of genius. I am noticing my words and laugh but my heart is full. It makes me so happy to have something so personal and eyeopening in my hands. Lennon proves his worth in a million ways. Such a romantic- complicated-twisty soul in such an advanced before-his-time person that is John. No story line whatsoever, the puns jump faster in ideas than chapters of organised nonsense, with English fit to fullfill his heart (minds desire). Totally completely and overwhelmingly in love with him, his music and now his writing. a must read.

[Butterfly]

Man, I love me some John Lennon but this was just an incoherent string of brain farts and puns. Sure, once you dissect the sentences you find some clever little plays on words and the odd mildly amusing/witty line, but on the whole I found it unreadable. In His Own Write is similar (short nonsense stories), but more enjoyable because each story is illustrated and had more structure/coherence than this.

The first 30-odd pages (the autobiographical stuff: "The Ballad of John and Yoko") is great though: John's thoughts on his relationship with Yoko, protesting for peace, creativity, and breaking up with the Beatles. Those pages are definitely worth a read for Lennon/Beatles fans.

[آرزو مقدس · Rating 3 out of 5]

من همه عمر بیتلزدوستی‌م، مثل همه، از یوکو متنفر بودم. اصلا از اون دسته‌ای که الانا می‌گن رو اسپاتیفای بیتلز گوش نمی‌دیم که نره تو جیب یوکو. سال ۹۲ که این کتابو هدیه گرفتم و اتوبیوگرافی اولش رو خوندم، هنوز جایی کار نکرده بودم که روح و روانم رو ریش‌ریش کنه و دیدن ریخت آدم‌هاش دقّم بده و در نتیجه دوبل از یوکو بدم اومد که شجاعت جدا شدن از گروه رو به شوهرش داد. توی همون اتوبیوگرافی یکی‌دوتا متلک هم حواله‌ی جرج و رینگو می‌کنه که اون زمان لنون رو هم از چشمم انداخت، کرد هم‌پایه‌ی مکارتنی. این بار که خوندم طبیعتاً درکش کردم و آفرین به یوکو. آشتی.

داستان‌هاش هم که اکثراً عالی و بامزه و احمقانه و مسخره و گیج‌کننده و لنون.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would have understood this book better back in the 70's...if you get my drift.

[Jolynn Robins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow…what a journey this one is. I picked this up at a thrift store the other day and had no idea the adventure it would take me on. For most people, this would probably be a DNF…it’s full of wild stories with ZERO plot. But, his wit and creativity are unmatched, and these stories give us a small glimpse inside the mind of a genius. The opening biographical chapter, “The Ballad of John and Yoko” is a reflection on his years with The Beatles, Yoko, and the aftermath of Beatlemania. That chapter alone is enough to give this a 4 star rating. He ends the chapter with these words of wisdom:

“All roads lead to Rome. I opened a shop; the public bought the goods at fair market value. No big deal. And as for show biz, it was never my life. I often wish, knowing it’s futile, that Yoko and I weren’t famous and we could have a really private life. But it’s spilt milk, or rather blood, and I try not to have regrets and don’t intend to waste energy and time in an effort to become anonymous. That’s as dumb as becoming famous in the first place.”

Truly a treat to escape into these crazy pages during a stressful semester. What a legend.

[shanghao · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the autobiographical sections on him and Yoko Ono.

Then came his part amusing, part nonsensical musings which gave the reader glimpses into the psyche of this very talented artist. I skimmed through some of those as they can get repetitive, and I gather he might be high on mushrooms or other processed plants when he wrote some of them.

Not to say they weren't fun to read though. They could be, depending on your mood and/or perhaps how much cough syrup/hash you're currently inhaling.

[Leland Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a positive prejudice for the author, since I am a big Beatles fan. It is Lennon at his usual genius. Any true fan of John's will get a kick out of this book. It is a group of short Lennonesque stories along with some of his art work. Witty, unexpected and mischievous. A great book, I will revisit it again in the future.

[Mia Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

what a weird little boy

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Beyond the first part of the book which was autobiographical, this is a nonsensical book that I simply could not understand nor get into. Perhaps his genius is lost on me, or perhaps this is hot garbage. Love me some Lennon, but this is not it.

[Emily Dosal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly witty, honest yet mysterious, refreshing and still ahead of its time. Genius x

[sawah · Rating 3 out of 5]

literally chaotic evil

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very different book that is full of strange beauty and abstract writing techniques.

Huge fan of John’s music and to this day I just don’t know why I have never explored his writing.

[Jayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big Lennon fan. I am also a big fan of him and Yoko Ono, and I didn't, not once in my life, blamed Yoko Ono for breaking up the greatest band ever. This book was special to me because it was written by one of my idols, but that was never enough to give me a million stars for his book. The autobiographical piece, "The Ballad of John and Yoko" was phenomenal. It contained so many things a lot of people didn't know about him and his wife, and it gave me a piece of him as a person and not as the man many people worship. If only the whole book was about his life and his thoughts, this would havr been an awesome, awesome book. However, this contained many short stories and essays that were too deep and too weird for my tiny brain to understand. Some were amusing, but for the most part, reading the stories felt like watching "The Yellow Submarine" all over again - there was a story, but it was like being on a raft letting the current take you where it wants to take you.

Maybe reading the stories one after another was too much for me to digest. If I read one story a day, I might be able to fully understand it. Good thing I own the book. It will allow me to re read some pieces and maybe next time the rating will go up a star higher. For now, I will give it a safe 3 stars... but do know that the first article and his drawings were 5 stars for me.

[Bill Buckley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never heard of this book until wife Tasha got it for me for my birthday a few weeks ago. I knew of John's other 2 books, which I have read. This one is interesting. a lot of it is nonsensical, but funny. It's also thought provoking and cosmic. But my favorite part of it is when he mentions names of other musical artists and songs of the times, which when he wrote this was in the late 1970's.

[marta m.]

abbandonato, john mi dispiace-
carini i primi due scritti, il resto comprensibile solo sotto lsd

[AC Matos · Rating 4 out of 5]

He has an oedipus complex. Also there's just like 30 pages of straight gibberish from him being high out of his mind. Interesting

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Grotesque, perverted drivel sprinkled with plays on words and warped idioms. Reminded me of Naked Lunch, which I didn’t particularly enjoy. Not my style, but I somehow got through it.

[Mike Futcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A successor to (and improvement on) In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works, John Lennon's two books of nonsense verse written during the height of Beatlemania, Skywriting by Word of Mouth is an unexpected joy. Written during the late 1970s during Lennon's 'retirement' from music, and published six years after his tragic death, the book shows Lennon unbound, his mind completely free creatively. As the titular story says in its opening, it is "a novelty in 4/4, in which our hero finds himself, ten years later, older, madder, but definitely CURED" (pg. 47). John is evidently having fun, which, when combined with his previously proven talent for this sort of thing, makes for a surprisingly great reading experience.

Warming up the reader with a breezy and candid bio of his post-Beatles years ("I even wrote and recorded the rather embarrassing 'Power to the People'… We kept the royalties, of course." (pg. 25)), the book becomes an occasionally astonishing and always interesting series of short stories. Deploying great imagery and wordplay, Lennon also shows a maturity and craft that wasn't necessarily evident in his two previous nonsense books, and the reader feels the better for it.

It is also genuinely funny, not only in its wordplay, but in its daftness and occasional bawdiness, forging yet another mysterious spiritual link between the Beatles and the Pythons. (You could imagine "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you something to chew on, followed by a short pause" (pg. 49) being recited by John Cleese.) Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear are obvious analogies, but it notable that Skywriting by Word of Mouth does not feel diminished by the comparison. This is a book that would stand even if its author was not John Lennon.

[Mauro Aragón · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this book for free; thank God.

It's broken up into about 3 sections. The most interesting section is the first, "The Ballad of John and Yoko." As I've not read any Beatles, Lennon or Ono books on Beatles-related topics, it was slightly interesting to read some of this coming from John's mouth.

A few times it was disheartening as he didn't use quotation marks when calling Ono an "Oriental" or a "nigger." It would have made it more clear as to which way he was using these derogatory labels.

I also think a lot of this was a front and he was trying to convince readers that it was only his way while others might have viewed these experiences differently. Especially when the person writing them was drinking or on drugs.

The most obnoxious part of this book was the "Skywriting" part which made Monty Python seem high-brow. It wasn't humorous or smart or witty. It was simply dumb and stupid and boring.

I've always thought I'd admired John Lennon because he's a good song writer and from all appearances fought for what was right and liked Peace and all that. But after reading this book, I realize he's no better than you or me. He just wrote some decent songs and sang them well. He should have stuck to that.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Lennon was by no means a great writer, but he was a master wordsmith, and in his two published books we get to see a more playful side to his personality, along with some serious insights into the way in which he viewed his own life.

Skywriting by Word of Mouth is arguably his most serious work, with passages about his relationship with Yoko and the autobiographical ‘Two Virgins‘, which garnished its fair share of notoriety elsewhere. You’ll also get to see some of John’s drawings, which are crude but entertaining, as well as the sinister, scathing side of Lennon that perhaps he would’ve preferred for you not to see.

He always intended for this book to be published, but it was stolen shortly after Lennon’s death and not recovered and published until 1986, six years after his passing. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure he would’ve wanted you to read it. Don’t let John Lennon down, and don’t let me down – get a copy, now. It’s basically a piece of history, but in print form – history you can touch.

[James Murrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great at showing how to use conjunctions in a more creative way and therefore scores and seven years ago I first read it. I suggest this book to everybody of evidence as an example of John Lennon's genius.
The humor is very dry witted and anyone of the best examples of John's sense of it. That is his sense of the humor thereof that which he possessed within & out of itself made man. Just read it -
Peace,
James Murrell
http://www.jamesmurrellgtr.com

[Meema · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of witticisms is what I would call this. You need a different kind of stamina to read this in one go. May invoke memories of Spike Milligan, if you are familiar with him that is.

There were haha moments, hahaha moments and some sombre eloquence that only a Brit can come up with.

There are some neat drawings, the writings on which were scribbles from a scripture so I gave up deciphering those.

Hope I have written enough to pique you red.

[Neil Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another rare glimpse into the mind of John Lennon.

With his witticisms and doodles laid bare for everyone to see.

In some of the pages you can think that they are just mad ramblings but if you look into the words more closely you can see his imagination run wild and realise how funny and sometimes profound the stories can be.

Enjoyed the book and like finding new avenues that showcase the genius of Lennon.

[Mar · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I'm made mostly of music...Lennon has shaped most of my curves. I grew up with his songs but it wasn't till a lot later that I got to experience fragments of his beautiful mind. This book is awesome! made me feel like parts of him and his twisted humor still live on. His sketches are heartfelt and you can really get to see his strong opinions on life and politics.

[Dita Baarová · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nádherný formát, skvělý začátek, který nás uvede do situace a Johnova života, dojemný konec by Y. O. Lennon, ale to je asi vše. Na tuhle knížku asi nemám mozek. Bylo to jako číst učebnici jaderné fyziky. Nevermore.

[Marjon · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were bits that I liked, especially the first part in which he reflects back on the Beatles times and the bed-ins and such. But I can't help but thinking that the more absurdist parts would not ever have been published had John Lennon not been John Lennon.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kurt Vonnegut + Douglas Adams + Lewis Carol (without the tormenting love for the little girl) + Italo Calvino + any written work by any Dadaist artist = John Lennon's Skywriting by Word of Mouth.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this, it is no surprise that this is the same guy who wrote the lyrics for Come Together, I Am The Walrus and Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds.

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read- typical Lennon!!!

[kplusk · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Lennon at his best! John Lennon is by far the King of Experimental Literature.