John Lennon Had No Time for This WWII Music Conspiracy Theory
John Lennon‘s death has inspired conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory. Interestingly, John dismissed conspiracy theories about the death of another famous musician during World War II as irrelevant. Regardless of what actually happened there, the musician’s life and untimely death remain fascinating.
John Lennon didn’t care about a Nazi-related conspiracy theory from World War II
During a 1980 interview from the book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, John had a lot to say about celebrity gossip. “I will read anything that comes out — I like archeology, anthropology, anything ancient like that,” he said. “I love it. I would dig going on a dig. But everybody has their own place. Mine is to do, and other people’s is to record. I can’t do both.
“I mean, who cares whether Glenn Miller was killed by the CIA or the Nazis or what the hell?” he added. “The point is he’s dead. Does it matter how many drugs were in Elvis’ body? I mean, it’s interesting and it will make a nice Hollywood Babylon someday about Brian Epstein’s sex life, but it’s irrelevant, absolutely irrelevant.” For clarity, Hollywood Babylon is a book about the sex lives of the stars and Epstein, The Beatles’ manager, was a gay man from a time when the LGBTQ community was far more stigmatized.
Glenn Miller’s disappearance supposedly inspired a United States government coverup
Miller was an American big band leader known for hits such as “In the Mood,” “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” and “Pennsylvania 6-5000.” During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Miller was roughly as popular as The Beatles were in the 1960s. The BBC reports that, like many celebrities of the era, he enlisted during World War II. On December 15, 1944, he got on a plane headed for Paris while the sky was foggy. The plane had no parachutes and its passengers were never seen again.
Miller’s death inspires conspiracy theories to this day. One is that his plane was shot down by the Nazis. Another is that he was executed because he was about to expose the gay sex lives of American officers. Most bizarrely, some have asserted that the star was abducted by extraterrestrials! According to all these theories, the United States government staged a coverup because the truth might hurt morale.
John Lennon discussed why people liked to come up with Glenn Miller conspiracy theories
During the interview from All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, John theorized why people psychoanalyzed him. “It’s only games for people to play,” he said. “Some people like Ping-Pong, other people like digging over graves. They are all escapes from now. People will do anything rather than be here now. It’s irrelevant. If some people want to do it, let them do it. They put all their fantasies on other people, whether it’s The Beatles or Elvis or Glenn Miller.”
Whether or not you agree with John’s take on the situation, Miller’s music meant a lot to numerous people and his disappearance remains the source of public speculation.
