The thing about John was he exposed himself flaws and all. He laid himself out to be criticized for all his short comings and faults. He just reached a point where nothing was relevant but just finding his own simple happiness
John Lennon had just come down from the greatest celebrity trip of all time, and he was breaking his life down to the very basics.. he and the woman he loved.. it all comes down to the love between two people and nothing matters more than you and the person you love
Can't disagree, although as I don't take sides I'd put Paul in a solid and very close silver medal position...and Bob Dylan in Bronze. And that is with respect to Ray Davies, Pete Townsend, John Fogerty, and the two main penmen for The Stones.
@@Noel-ji8nm He might have had a great presence and allure to teenagers of his day, thus capturing the zeitgeist prior to those I mentioned in their later era, but as an all-round musical talent? Nah, how many songs did he compose? How many of his singles or albums still to this day sit around the top levels of both critics' and fans' lists? How popular with/enduring to is he in the eyes and eras of today's Gen Z and younger?
Oh, also, there's one line in here which might be obscure. One of the things that Lennon sings that "I don't believe in" is 'Zimmerman,' which is Bob Dylan's real last name.
A fan once asked Lennon when the Beatles were getting back together, which was a question that all four ex-Beatles got all the time. Lennon smiled and asked the fan, "when are you going back to high school?" This song was just another way of saying the same thing.
"Dream is over" was an answer to all those who were asking for a reunion of the Beatles at that time. He said in an interview: "Those were great times, but it's over. It's not the end of the world, you just have to carry on. There you have all our records to listen to."
This song was absolutely devastating when I first heard it, especially as a huge Beatles fan (one who's heard all of their albums and almost every song). Hearing him list off all of these things that he doesn't believe in, and at the end hearing "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me, Yoko and me, and that's reality. The dream is over" and every lyric after that, I nearly cried on my second listen, not my first for some reason. I'd love to see some reactions to other Beatles solo songs as well. Paul McCartney's "Every Night" and George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" are some great ones. Glad you liked this!
@@cuchulainx3125 Now that I think about it, I should've recommended Beware of Darkness instead. My Sweet Lord is great, but so is Beware of Darkness, which is also less popular.
I think he didn't realize how much he loved to be a Beatle, the Mayor Beatle! The dream was over and he couldn't manage this lost... I always feel so sad for John...
Johns heartfelt anthem to Beatles fans to get a grip and move on. The pressure for them to get back together was overwhelming at the time. "The dream is over" still chokes me up all these decades later
John always laid it out for you. His personal trip through life expressed by his music resonated with many people. I think this song showed his intention to focus on his current reality, not on the past. For him, the Beatles had been both heaven and hell.
We are taught to believe in things--God, leaders, heroes, artists, etc.--to make our lives better. When we feel as though the things we believe in aren't working for us, we look for other things. What we should have been taught was to use the intuitions that come from our own souls. They aren't always right, but the more you exercise them, the stronger they get.
I'm sure no one's solo stuff is as great as when they were together but john really did greatest songs later, very original recognizable with such heavy lyrics and honesty. i love this song❤
The first time heard this song, was in Lennon's own documentary film. in the song in God there are the words "The dream is over" I remember so clearly when he sings those words, you can see in the documentary how "john is taken out on a stretcher from the ambulance, it was so incredibly sad.
John was saying that he didn't believe in Beatles as in - the image of him (and all) that being in the "Beatles" had put on them. He wasn't John The Beatle anymore, he was just John. He didn't believe in the personification/image/idolatry of religion, politics or even of R&R, but he was accepting the true message (well, not Hitler) of these things. (Gita = Krishna, Zimmerman = Dylan)
Lennon had the ability to write extremely deep lyrics. As the young Beatles got more and more famous,. They eventually became extremely disillusioned, about fame, money, etc. Harrison once said sometime after they stopped playing life. No one could really never understand the damage done to the four guys nervous systems. In Johns litany of of beliefs. He at various points did believe in many of them, but as life progressed, he became disillusioned about them. Saving the 'Beatles' for last, ,and going to dead silence (just to let it sync in more) was truly profound. Each of them went thru their own horror . For so many years they climbed higher up the ladder, but as thay reached those pinnacles. they found them just another empty acomplishement. It took a long time for them to 'come back down to earth' But they could never really that after all they gone through. Being 75 now, I grew up with them. I actually got to seem them perform in Boston. It' s really fun to watch yours, and others reactions.. Exactly the same as mine and my friend 1/2 a century ago..
NOW YOU'VE DONE IT. Again you hit on my second favorite song of all time. "Imagine" is #1. Thank You JM. I'll never ask for a bad song, as you are realizing. Try this....Righteous Brothers -- Unchained Melody (Live, 1965) (Picture and Sound Restored)... You will stand and applaud. After I want you to look at your camera and say... Yes, I agree, that is the Greatest Male Live Vocal Performance you have ever seen.
isn't it crazy how John had 10 yrs left as a solo artist , took 5 yrs break as lazy as he was but still deliver the top masterpieces of songs to the point that he could easily be recognized by his solo stuff than the fab 4 era?
I think you nailed it first listen. He doesn't identify with everything he listed. He was going through a pretty rough patch at this time. The Beatles had just ended. He was going through some heavy physiotherapy at the time.
This is one of my favorite Lennon solo songs. It's John being starkly honest, and just saying how he doesn't believe in any of the bullsh*t anymore, INCLUDING the Beatles. One thing that gets missed is the reference to "Zimmerman": This is Bob Dylan, whom Lennon was quite enamored of for a time around 1965-66 ("You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" was his way of doing Dylan). Bob Dylan's real name is Robert Zimmerman. So he's even passing a diss to him.
LOVE JOHN WHEN HE WENT ON HIS OWN... RESPECT HIM ALOT WHAT HE DID PUT UP ABOUT ELVIS.. (BEFORE ELVIS THERE WAS NOTHING ) IMAGINE ....IS A GOOD ONE. AS JOHN WOULD WANT IS PEACE ✨️✨️✨️
This album was his best solo effort (in my opinion) 'after' the Beatles had broken up......I think that's why he used the lyric 'I don't believe in 'Beatles'.......like in the past tense....
As George Harrison was suffering from cancer (lung up to his brain) in 2001, and he was able to record his epitaph, "Brainwashed" that ends his last album, it's like this song by John. But, George had his faith in the Gods of Hindu/Krirshna realm,...and George lists what he believes, and accepts, and prepares for his physical death, to live in the spiritual world. 😌 (George was raised Catholic)
You should check out John's last album "Double Fantasy" which was released just weeks before his death. Incredible songs and production. Thanks for your videos; I like that you don't stop music to comment throughout songs, at least not on videos I have seen.
In those days John was IMO making comments to interviewers to intentionally "stir the drink" and so too with his lyrics he seemed to interject lines to illicit a strong response (good or bad) as the incessant pounding of journalists questions to get "THE" story or the best fodder for their next article was too much temptation for John to leave alone. Most celebrities would just ignore or deny access but John would do the opposite and seemed to enjoy being outrageous and outspoken.
That was a great reaction. And that's funny man I listen to there's a whole lot in high school and I have not heard it since then somehow it went totally off my radar even though I've listen to other songs from this album which by the way I think is a totally fire album. Check out the song I found out for more experience but it's also almost proto-punk to me. It's quite interesting and compelling. But at any rate I had forgotten how emotional this song makes me, wow, I'm not even sure what all is tied up into that.
After John and the band broke up, he seemed compelled to reject everything he had previously believed in. Later in life, he kind of balanced that out again.
Perhaps the greatest principles of Advaita Vedanta is that the most real thing anyone ever experiences is their own perceptual-eye, and everything after that is more and more tentative, more "belief," than it is "knowledge," and more "imagination," or "faith," than than it is experience; everything. Did you know that John basically abandoned, or missed-out on his first born kid Julian's whole childhood? That being a Beatle consumed his identity, and his life. The Beatles once got banned in the south because John casually said the Beatles were more famous that Jesus. There were some people who would show up to events with signs that read "John Saves, not Jesus". Young teens were found living in the woods near his property because they believed John's lyrics were speaking to them. (Ominous considering both Charlie Manson, and Mark David Chapman thought the same). It seemed as if John was the only one who knew that he was just a person. (Someone once said that the saddest thing for Ringo, George, Paul and John, is that for them, they have no Beatles. Its like Ford, from West World said "Everything in the world is magic, except to the magician.) People were killing and dieing and pissing away their life all over the globe each and every day for religious, political, or cultural "beliefs," and fantasies (like status, and money). John saw all these ideologies, belief systems, religions, and dogmas, and fandoms, and followers of fantasies, and dreams as forgetting their real life happen now, right in front of them. He saw himself almost trapped by the same thing.
It might be hard to grasp this idea if you didn't grow up in the 60's. There was a feeling via the music and the power of a huge generation that something great was about to happen. Some good things did, but overall life continued as it always has.
He was reporting the state he was in at the time but he always wrote that way. And he was in a very fucked up way the Beatles have just broken up. And he is not saying I literally don't think these things exist because of course Kennedy existed but he means as you said he doesn't identify with any of that . At the time!!!!
You basically get the song. Some background though: Lennon who was obviously in the Beatles and one of the most famous people alive came to realize that people´s perception of him and The Beatles were a myth. It´s what people wanted him to be, they projected some superhuman qualities on him/them. His insight was that him and other iconic people who people worship are just myths, it´s not who they really are. So while many celebrities try to keep the myth about them alive, they want to be worshipped, he wanted to kill the myth about himself. So when he mentions Beatles, Elvis, Jesus etc., I believe he´s just mentioning iconic mythical figures who humans worship (and he admired some of them as well), but he doesn´t believe in the myth anymore, it´s not reality. So it´s not some diss towards these iconic people as some believe. I read that Lennon believed that you should worship the art, NOT the artist.
was a great songwriter. this-in my opinion-was an attempt to get beatles fans to realize that they are just people. so many fans could not seperate the men from the band.
For real you seem like such a jolly dude, and open minded, but dang bro, "Mother" and "God"? Lennon was an extremely tormented person, he wrote amazing, amazing songs, revolutionized music, but he went through a very heavy phase after he left The Beatles and was no longer writing to please the crowd, he just was telling everyone off pretty much for a year or 2 after the band broke up... He wrote such jems before and this is him melting down. Well, you have thick skin to listen to such desperate songs, high five man, this isn't for everyone. Good job man! These are def not candy tunes.
This album was his first after the Beatles broke up…. I think he was searching for a new direction… he had given up on his writing partner, Paul…… and now he was brainwashed by yoko…… she was clearly the worst thing that ever happened to music and the Beatles
The thing about John was he exposed himself flaws and all. He laid himself out to be criticized for all his short comings and faults. He just reached a point where nothing was relevant but just finding his own simple happiness
Agree Joe. I got JM started on Lennon, Dylan, Supertramp, Kansas, C.C.R. and several others
John Lennon had just come down from the greatest celebrity trip of all time, and he was breaking his life down to the very basics.. he and the woman he loved.. it all comes down to the love between two people and nothing matters more than you and the person you love
John Lennon…. Most Important Person In Modern Music History. “The Beatles…. Greatest Musical Group In History. Nobody else even comes close.
The greatest of the greats. Love that man.
Can't disagree, although as I don't take sides I'd put Paul in a solid and very close silver medal position...and Bob Dylan in Bronze. And that is with respect to Ray Davies, Pete Townsend, John Fogerty, and the two main penmen for The Stones.
@@bodsnvimtoyes sir
@@bodsnvimto Elvis tops the lot.
@@Noel-ji8nm He might have had a great presence and allure to teenagers of his day, thus capturing the zeitgeist prior to those I mentioned in their later era, but as an all-round musical talent? Nah, how many songs did he compose? How many of his singles or albums still to this day sit around the top levels of both critics' and fans' lists? How popular with/enduring to is he in the eyes and eras of today's Gen Z and younger?
Probably the most important song in my life.
The bible has a better view of god than john lennon
@@roberormondebibles not real.
@@roberormonde ridiculous bigot
John was one of the greatest writers in history. He is missed.
Yep! You got it. This was the song where John declared his independence and let his fans know, in no uncertain terms, that the Beatles were over.
Oh, also, there's one line in here which might be obscure. One of the things that Lennon sings that "I don't believe in" is 'Zimmerman,' which is Bob Dylan's real last name.
A fan once asked Lennon when the Beatles were getting back together, which was a question that all four ex-Beatles got all the time. Lennon smiled and asked the fan, "when are you going back to high school?" This song was just another way of saying the same thing.
"Dream is over" was an answer to all those who were asking for a reunion of the Beatles at that time. He said in an interview: "Those were great times, but it's over. It's not the end of the world, you just have to carry on. There you have all our records to listen to."
The song was released in ‘68 nothing to do with the break up.
@@TheMrcrazy711 Not true. The song was recorded in October 1970 and was released in December 1970
This song was absolutely devastating when I first heard it, especially as a huge Beatles fan (one who's heard all of their albums and almost every song). Hearing him list off all of these things that he doesn't believe in, and at the end hearing "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me, Yoko and me, and that's reality. The dream is over" and every lyric after that, I nearly cried on my second listen, not my first for some reason.
I'd love to see some reactions to other Beatles solo songs as well. Paul McCartney's "Every Night" and George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" are some great ones. Glad you liked this!
Funny how the great every night is overlooked in favour of maybe I'm amazed. The same is true of beware the darkness and my sweet lord
@@cuchulainx3125 Now that I think about it, I should've recommended Beware of Darkness instead. My Sweet Lord is great, but so is Beware of Darkness, which is also less popular.
I think he didn't realize how much he loved to be a Beatle, the Mayor Beatle! The dream was over and he couldn't manage this lost... I always feel so sad for John...
god is a concept by which we measured our pain meaning the more pain we have in life the more we look for god
He is, as you say, leaving his prior life & identity behind. He had left the Beatles & begun his life with Yoko in NY. ❤️ love you JL
Johns heartfelt anthem to Beatles fans to get a grip and move on. The pressure for them to get back together was overwhelming at the time. "The dream is over" still chokes me up all these decades later
John was always pushing the boundaries, in fact kicking them down
John always laid it out for you. His personal trip through life expressed by his music resonated with many people. I think this song showed his intention to focus on his current reality, not on the past. For him, the Beatles had been both heaven and hell.
We are taught to believe in things--God, leaders, heroes, artists, etc.--to make our lives better. When we feel as though the things we believe in aren't working for us, we look for other things. What we should have been taught was to use the intuitions that come from our own souls. They aren't always right, but the more you exercise them, the stronger they get.
John was simply magic. Im glad i was in that era 🤘❤️ sad,its sounds like a goodbye😢 letter
I'm sure no one's solo stuff is as great as when they were together but john really did greatest songs later, very original recognizable with such heavy lyrics and honesty. i love this song❤
Without bragging he’s aware of his place in musical history (I was the dream weaver but now I’m reborn. I was the walrus, but now I’m John)
The first time heard this song, was in Lennon's own documentary film. in the song in God there are the words "The dream is over" I remember so clearly when he sings those words, you can see in the documentary how "john is taken out on a stretcher from the ambulance, it was so incredibly sad.
John was saying that he didn't believe in Beatles as in - the image of him (and all) that being in the "Beatles" had put on them. He wasn't John The Beatle anymore, he was just John. He didn't believe in the personification/image/idolatry of religion, politics or even of R&R, but he was accepting the true message (well, not Hitler) of these things. (Gita = Krishna, Zimmerman = Dylan)
I think he was saying these are all ideas of the past. while love in the here and now is reality.
Lennon had the ability to write extremely deep lyrics. As the young Beatles got more and more famous,. They eventually became extremely disillusioned, about fame, money, etc. Harrison once said sometime after they stopped playing life. No one could really never understand the damage done to the four guys nervous systems. In Johns litany of of beliefs. He at various points did believe in many of them, but as life progressed, he became disillusioned about them. Saving the 'Beatles' for last, ,and going to dead silence (just to let it sync in more) was truly profound. Each of them went thru their own horror . For so many years they climbed higher up the ladder, but as thay reached those pinnacles. they found them just another empty acomplishement. It took a long time for them to 'come back down to earth' But they could never really that after all they gone through. Being 75 now, I grew up with them. I actually got to seem them perform in Boston. It' s really fun to watch yours, and others reactions.. Exactly the same as mine and my friend 1/2 a century ago..
NOW YOU'VE DONE IT. Again you hit on my second favorite song of all time. "Imagine" is #1. Thank You JM. I'll never ask for a bad song, as you are realizing. Try this....Righteous Brothers -- Unchained Melody (Live, 1965) (Picture and Sound Restored)... You will stand and applaud. After I want you to look at your camera and say... Yes, I agree, that is the Greatest Male Live Vocal Performance you have ever seen.
isn't it crazy how John had 10 yrs left as a solo artist , took 5 yrs break as lazy as he was but still deliver the top masterpieces of songs to the point that he could easily be recognized by his solo stuff than the fab 4 era?
Beautiful
A song that still has the power to stop you in your tracks.
You got it, very well. The dream everyone else had about him he declared was, "over."
I think you nailed it first listen. He doesn't identify with everything he listed. He was going through a pretty rough patch at this time. The Beatles had just ended. He was going through some heavy physiotherapy at the time.
I believe in the Beatles! Thank you!
That's John just saying 'I had a good $h!t today'...Lennon fans will know where and when that quote is from and why it's relevant
No! He said, you must believein you. Not other things. That is the Massage…
"And That's Reality"
This is one of my favorite Lennon solo songs. It's John being starkly honest, and just saying how he doesn't believe in any of the bullsh*t anymore, INCLUDING the Beatles. One thing that gets missed is the reference to "Zimmerman": This is Bob Dylan, whom Lennon was quite enamored of for a time around 1965-66 ("You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" was his way of doing Dylan). Bob Dylan's real name is Robert Zimmerman. So he's even passing a diss to him.
I believe in Lennon.
Spitting facts.
Really like your reactions and your commitment to understanding the music
LOVE JOHN WHEN HE WENT ON HIS OWN... RESPECT HIM ALOT WHAT HE DID PUT UP ABOUT ELVIS.. (BEFORE ELVIS THERE WAS NOTHING ) IMAGINE ....IS A GOOD ONE. AS JOHN WOULD WANT IS PEACE ✨️✨️✨️
You nailed the meaning. Great job!
It was saying farewell to the beatle John straight after the breakup
This album was his best solo effort (in my opinion) 'after' the Beatles had broken up......I think that's why he used the lyric 'I don't believe in 'Beatles'.......like in the past tense....
Should check out Cold Turkey by John. Raw, powerful, painful. Drawn from his own experience. Doing a great job!
Ringo sounding great on this too! ❤
As George Harrison was suffering from cancer (lung up to his brain) in 2001, and he was able to record his epitaph, "Brainwashed" that ends his last album, it's like this song by John. But, George had his faith in the Gods of Hindu/Krirshna realm,...and George lists what he believes, and accepts, and prepares for his physical death, to live in the spiritual world. 😌 (George was raised Catholic)
I wonder how Bob Dylan felt that John Lennon doesn't believe in him. Although he is in good company (Zimmerman)
You should check out John's last album "Double Fantasy" which was released just weeks before his death. Incredible songs and production. Thanks for your videos; I like that you don't stop music to comment throughout songs, at least not on videos I have seen.
In those days John was IMO making comments to interviewers to intentionally "stir the drink" and so too with his lyrics he seemed to interject lines to illicit a strong response (good or bad) as the incessant pounding of journalists questions to get "THE" story or the best fodder for their next article was too much temptation for John to leave alone. Most celebrities would just ignore or deny access but John would do the opposite and seemed to enjoy being outrageous and outspoken.
That was a great reaction. And that's funny man I listen to there's a whole lot in high school and I have not heard it since then somehow it went totally off my radar even though I've listen to other songs from this album which by the way I think is a totally fire album. Check out the song I found out for more experience but it's also almost proto-punk to me. It's quite interesting and compelling. But at any rate I had forgotten how emotional this song makes me, wow, I'm not even sure what all is tied up into that.
Great observations.
After John and the band broke up, he seemed compelled to reject everything he had previously believed in. Later in life, he kind of balanced that out again.
Jmboy do Bob Seger: LIKE A ROCK, NIGHT MOVES, AGAINST THE WIND, ROLL ME AWAY and other of his songs
John Lennon's epiphany on the 60's.
No.9 Dream is also about it all being over. As is Watching The Wheels. This though is the hardest to hear.
Perhaps the greatest principles of Advaita Vedanta is that the most real thing anyone ever experiences is their own perceptual-eye, and everything after that is more and more tentative, more "belief," than it is "knowledge," and more "imagination," or "faith," than than it is experience; everything.
Did you know that John basically abandoned, or missed-out on his first born kid Julian's whole childhood? That being a Beatle consumed his identity, and his life. The Beatles once got banned in the south because John casually said the Beatles were more famous that Jesus. There were some people who would show up to events with signs that read "John Saves, not Jesus". Young teens were found living in the woods near his property because they believed John's lyrics were speaking to them. (Ominous considering both Charlie Manson, and Mark David Chapman thought the same). It seemed as if John was the only one who knew that he was just a person. (Someone once said that the saddest thing for Ringo, George, Paul and John, is that for them, they have no Beatles. Its like Ford, from West World said "Everything in the world is magic, except to the magician.) People were killing and dieing and pissing away their life all over the globe each and every day for religious, political, or cultural "beliefs," and fantasies (like status, and money). John saw all these ideologies, belief systems, religions, and dogmas, and fandoms, and followers of fantasies, and dreams as forgetting their real life happen now, right in front of them. He saw himself almost trapped by the same thing.
Holy shit you go for the heavy shit. That's him saying goodbye to The Beatles... Not a happy song lol
Have you done 'While my Guitar Gently Weeps'? If not, you could give it a listen - it's a great track!
The message I take is: fuck all y'all. I'm gonna be me
It might be hard to grasp this idea if you didn't grow up in the 60's. There was a feeling via the music and the power of a huge generation that something great was about to happen. Some good things did, but overall life continued as it always has.
By this time the Beatles were gone' they split up.
What's cool about you is you do not interrupt the song
He was reporting the state he was in at the time but he always wrote that way. And he was in a very fucked up way the Beatles have just broken up. And he is not saying I literally don't think these things exist because of course Kennedy existed but he means as you said he doesn't identify with any of that . At the time!!!!
You basically get the song. Some background though: Lennon who was obviously in the Beatles and one of the most famous people alive came to realize that people´s perception of him and The Beatles were a myth. It´s what people wanted him to be, they projected some superhuman qualities on him/them. His insight was that him and other iconic people who people worship are just myths, it´s not who they really are. So while many celebrities try to keep the myth about them alive, they want to be worshipped, he wanted to kill the myth about himself. So when he mentions Beatles, Elvis, Jesus etc., I believe he´s just mentioning iconic mythical figures who humans worship (and he admired some of them as well), but he doesn´t believe in the myth anymore, it´s not reality. So it´s not some diss towards these iconic people as some believe. I read that Lennon believed that you should worship the art, NOT the artist.
Zimmerman is Bob Dylan.
It was Lennon letting go of it all
Zimmerman is Bob Dylan
John Lennon wa
was a great songwriter. this-in my opinion-was an attempt to get beatles fans to realize that they are just people. so many fans could not seperate the men from the band.
This song was made after The Beatles broke up. So there were no Beatles.
Nice succint he doesn’t put his identity in anything
For real you seem like such a jolly dude, and open minded, but dang bro, "Mother" and "God"? Lennon was an extremely tormented person, he wrote amazing, amazing songs, revolutionized music, but he went through a very heavy phase after he left The Beatles and was no longer writing to please the crowd, he just was telling everyone off pretty much for a year or 2 after the band broke up... He wrote such jems before and this is him melting down.
Well, you have thick skin to listen to such desperate songs, high five man, this isn't for everyone.
Good job man! These are def not candy tunes.
Zimmerman = Bob Dylan
This album was his first after the Beatles broke up…. I think he was searching for a new direction… he had given up on his writing partner, Paul…… and now he was brainwashed by yoko…… she was clearly the worst thing that ever happened to music and the Beatles
Don't pigeonhole don't label
Oh, I think John believed in The Beatles. He loved them.