John Lennon Explained His Philosophy of Love
John Lennon wrote about love more than any other topic. While many of The Beatles’ early songs deal with love in a juvenile manner, the “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” singer eventually thought about love in more mature terms. He also explained why he felt compelled to marry Yoko Ono.
John Lennon said being possessive was antithetical to love
The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features an interview from 1980. In it, John was asked how he made his love stay. “Trying to possess it makes it go away,” he said. “Trying to possess somebody makes them go away. Every time you put your finger on it, it slips away. Every time you turn the microscope’s light on, the thing changes, so you can never see what it is.
“As soon as you ask the question, it goes away,” he added. “Peripheral vision is what it is. There’s no looking directly at it. Try to look at the sun. You go blind, right? Now, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to work on it. Love is a flower, and you have to water it.”
Why the singer got married to express his love
John and Yoko were asked why they married each other. “Because we’re romantic,” he said. “And there was a difference.”
The “Imagine” singer compared his marriage to Yoko with his divorce from Cynthia Lennon. “The same way the divorce didn’t seem like divorce until they gave you the papers, I suppose,” he said. “No matter what the intellectual thing is — we lived together for two or three years — when the divorce papers went through and they said, ‘You are free,’ we felt free.”
In John’s opinion, rituals like marriage were significant, even if he didn’t feel that way when he was a kid. He understood that marriage wasn’t considered hip, but he wasn’t concerned with being hip. It’s bizarre to hear a pop star/rock star say he wasn’t concerned with being hip, but it’s also true that John rarely followed musical trends after he left The Beatles.
John Lennon said that society would have to change before adopting his philosophy
It’s no surprise that John had so much to say about love. After all, his band gave us classic tracks like “Love Me Do,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “She Loves You,” “And I Love Her,” “Love You To,” “All My Loving,” “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” and “All You Need Is Love.” The latter song became a bone of contention. During an interview published in PBS’ series Blank on Blank, John noted that some fans made wisecracks about the latter song because The Beatles broke up. The “Power to the People” singer responded by saying he still loved Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr even if he didn’t live with them.
John said he believed in the philosophy of “All You Need Is Love.” However, he felt the song’s title needed to be more than just a slogan. He said society needed to change profoundly before love could become its driving force.
John knew and thing or two about love and he wanted to share his wisdom with his fans.
