John Lennon: 1980 Playlist

by Tim English

For the first time, John 1980 Playlist examines the music this legendarily figure was listening to in the year of his creative rebirth, and how that music impacted his life. Reggae, new wave, blues, country, R & B, early rock and roll, ambient and gospel; John listened to it all and loved it all. Readers will • What John thought about punk bands like the Clash and the new wave music so popular in 1980. • That John's eclectic musical taste made him an unlikely fan of Bing Crosby, Noel Coward, and even Morris Albert’s schmaltz classic “Feelings.” • How Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Bob Marley each inspired John to write a new song of his own in 1980. • How songs by Queen and the B-52s inspired John to re-enter the recording studio for the first time in five years. • The event spurred John and Yoko to return to the studio just a couple of weeks after Double Fantasy was released. • The Doobie Brothers track that lent its title to one of John’s Double Fantasy songs. • The rock, disco, funk, country, and pop songs John was listening to that year. John 1980 Playlist examines the music of an incredibly diverse list of artists that provided the soundtrack to John's final year including David Bowie, Dolly Parton, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Presley, Jermaine Jackson, the Knack, Kate Bush, Devo, B.B. King, Yoko Ono, Elvis Costello, the Vapors, Donna Summer, Tina Turner, Bobby Darin, Christopher Cross, Olivia Newton-John and the Cars, to name but a few. In John 1980 Playlist readers will learn not only what John had to say about these artists, but how their music resonated in John's life, sometimes even influencing crucial decisions he made that year. All of this is placed in the context of the time, the turbulent year of 1980. Even the most jaded of Beatlemanics will learn something new in John 1980 Playlist! "A fascinating read." - KRON TV, San Francisco "It's a fantastic book." - The Strangebrew Podcast "Gives insight into what John's life was like during one of his most creative years." - NBC 10 TV, Philadelphia "I got sucked in from the very first page...Well researched and well presented...The stories are fantastic." - Stuck in the '80s Podcast "John 1980 Playlist is chock full of great musical anecdotes and oddball surprises. Carefully researched...it's a great addition to anyone's Beatles bookshelf." - Culture Sonar "Excellent...Paints a revealing portrait of Lennon the knowledgeable music fan." - Psychedelic Baby Magazine "If you think you know everything about Mr. Lennon you will be gobsmacked when reading this book." - Evan's Gate Blog "I thought there wouldn't be much new ground to unearth regarding the last days of John Lennon (but) I've been proven wrong...An engaging read with fresh revelations." - BookPleasures.com

254 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 23, 2020

Reviews

[Wesley Britton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forty years after his murder, I thought there wouldn't be much new ground to unearth regarding the last days of John Lennon. On that point, I've been proved wrong twice this week. On Friday, Oct. 16, ABC's 2020 aired "John Lennon: His Life, Legacy, and Last Days" featuring new interviews with friends and associates of the influential musician.

At the same time, this week I read Tim English's new John Lennon 1980 Playlist, an analytical history lesson with many surprises for me, a lifetime Lennon aficionado. The book made me remember what I was doing and how I felt on December 8, 1980 and the days and nights that followed. Forty years later, I'm surprised at the emotional impact of revisiting those times.

Part of that emotional resonance I felt while reading Playlist is due to how English captures the musical and cultural times of 1979 and 1980, focusing, of course, on what impacted and influenced John Lennon to come out of retirement and work on Double Fantasy. I wasn't surprised to hear of his interest in New Wave music by The Clash, Blondie, Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, and Elvis Costello. I was interested to learn how Lennon responded to "Rock Lobster" by the B52s. He was delighted to hear singer Kate Pierson's stylings clearly based on the warbling vocals of Yoko Ono. This sort of appreciation for his wife was a major kick-starter for his own musical revival.

I admit discovering there was music I missed back in the day--I never heard of The Vapors "Turning Japanese." The title alone tells me why Lennon would have responded favorably to that hit. I hadn't known that "Coming Up" from his ex-partner Paul McCartney ignited Lennon's competitive juices.

I already knew of Lennon's interest in the growing importance of Bob Marley and reggae, but I would never have guessed that he liked disco in general, and Donna Summer in particular. Wanting to get Yoko Ono's music on the disco floor had much to do with his work on her "Walking on Thin Ice" dance number. Christopher Cross and the soft pop of the era was never my cup of tea, but I could understand Lennon's love of "Sailing" as that song had special meaning for a man who had just been sailing to Bermuda where his musical torch was relit.


To be fair, Playlist is more than a recital of popular tunes and which songs were on Lennon's personal jukebox. English offers many anecdotes about the origins of many tunes Lennon had liked back in his formative years like Sanford Clark's 1956 rockabilly hit, "The Fool." Lennon had a well-known fondness for straightforward, old style rock 'n roll and the styles being revitalized as in Queen's 1979 "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." No surprise that "(Just Like) Starting Over" had obvious nods to Elvis Presley and the rockabilly era.

So, even if you think you know it all, odds are 1980 Playlist should provide knowledgeable readers with fresh revelations into the process of how Double Fantasy and it's follow-up, Milk and Honey, came to be. I love this sort of stuff and found Playlist to be a fast and engaging read. It took me back to a place of wonderful memories before the December 8 crash in so many lives. It's no spoiler to reveal the abrupt last two sentences of the book:

"Perhaps John would have sung "Liverpool Lou” to Sean that Monday night. If only he’d made it home."


This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Oct. 19, 2020:

https://waa.ai/uPke

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a trip down memory lane that book was! I was a teenager in the 80s, and so of course I love the music of that era. I discovered and rediscovered songs and reminisced with every chapter of the book. Finding out how those songs influenced John and his musical rebirth of 1980 was great. Reading all those anecdotes about his relationship with many of his fellow musicians was great, and even though I've read quite a few books about John over the years, I still learned quite a bit.

The book draws a very nice portrait of John as he was, with his insecurities but also his incredible energy and creativity, and what he wanted to accomplish with Double Fantasy. It was also nice to (re)discover the genesis of songs that he wrote in 1979-1980, including those that where never officially released, like Help me to help myself.

Two flaws : 1) The book is riddled with typos, grammatical mistakes and other errors (words missing, words in the wrong order and so on and so forth), and it becomes really annoying pretty quickly, and at times will make you doubt the accuracy of the data presented. (There is also an error on the date John came back from Bermuda, indicated as July 28 on one page, and August 28 a few pages later). Let's hope the publisher will invest in a good proofreader for the next edition.

2) The references are supplied as page footers, but there is no list of references at the end of the book, forcing the reader to leaf through the whole book again whenever we want to find one of those references again. Again, let's hope this will be corrected for the next edition, should there be one, as this would add to the credibility of the book.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed that book, reading with YouTube on the side to listen to all the different tracks as I progressed. I find this book is a nice companion to Kenneth Womack's John Lennon: 1980 The Last Days in the Life.

[Shaun Hand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raced through and loved this book as it's exactly my level of Beatlegeekery. Offered some fascinating insights into Lennon's last years and, importantly for me, helped to contextualise Double Fantasy (and Milk and Honey) both in terms of contemporary music and Lennon's love of 50s music. Put me on to some great music too!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually quite enjoyable and informative. Could use some copy editing, but if you are a child of the 80s or just a music fan, I think you’ll enjoy this.