Ticket 2 Ride

Several weeks ago I did a Paul McCartney post where he played piano on Beatles songs. It’s only fair to give equal time to John Lennon. There are songs Lennon wrote on piano, and songs that McCartney wrote, but Lennon contributes a keyboard part. McCartney was the more skilled piano player than Lennon, but according to some Beatles authorities, Lennon was more experimental and used non traditional elements in composing his songs.

Whether Lennon wrote or just played a keyboard instrument, here are five Beatle songs that I identify with John Lennon.

“Hey Bulldog” The intro to this song is so cool, especially the way the guitar and bass underscore the piano. This song was a “leftover” that ended up on the Magical Mystery Soundtrack, not a regular Beatles studio album. That’s a shame because this is a rockin’ song. Lennon could really surprise you with his chord structure and use of rhythms.

“I Am the Walrus” (1967) Magical Mystery Tour. Lennon plays the electric piano on the track. Without the backing instruments, one can distinctly hear Lennon’s playing. From the Beatles Bible, it quotes a section from Hunter Davies’ biography of the Beatles: “The chord sequence was described by critic Ian MacDonald as ‘the most unorthodox and tonally ambiguous sequence he ever devised.’ He ingeniously referred to the looped sequence as ‘an obsessive musical structure built round a perpetually ascending/descending MC Escher staircase of all the natural major chords’.”

“Because” (1969) Original song on Abbey Road. This version is the instrumental of the electric spinet Baldwin harpsichord played by producer George Martin. Lennon composed the music on piano, after hearing Yoko Ono playing Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 – the Moonlight Sonata. According to the Beatles Bible, Lennon was lounging on the sofa as she played it. He asked for to play it backwards, which he configured into the music for “Because.” He played the guitar on the recording, while He, McCartney and Harrison double-tracking their vocal harmonies.

“A Day in the Life” (1967) Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Written by joining separate parts of Lennon and McCartney songs together. Both Lennon and McCartney play the piano on this song, as George Martin plays the harmonium. The version hyperlinked in the song title is listed as “Take 1” which is a working version without the orchestra, sound effects and McCartney’s vocal part. You get a feel for the importance of the piano to the song, which is somewhat buried beneath the orchestra in the released version.

“The Night Before” (1965) Help. Written by McCartney for the film. Lennon played a Hohner Pianet electric piano. Guitar duties were handled by Harrison/McCartney. This is just the instrumental version of the song. It’s a rocking good song, overlooked because of the other great songs. Lennon also played the electric piano when the band played this live.

---

There are other songs where Lennon has a significant piano part, his “Sexy Sadie” and McCartney’s “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” as examples.

As a solo artist, Lennon would play the piano on numerous songs, “Imagine” and “God” being two examples.

Piano:

“Mother”, “Isolation”, “Remember”, “Jealous Guy”, “It’s So Hard”, “Oh, My Love”, “How?”, “Ya-Ya”, “Scared”, “Old Dirt Road”, “Instant Karma!”, “Watching the Wheels”, “Grow Old With Me”, “Power to the People”

Organ: “Isolation”

Clavinet: “Mind Games”, “Out of the Blue”, “Only People”,

Mellotron: “Mind Games”