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TL;DR:

  • John Lennon felt fans were playing games when they psychoanalyzed him.
  • He said “People will do anything rather than be here now.”
  • He discussed a rumor that a famous musician was killed by the CIA.

Some of John Lennon‘s fans liked to psychoanalyze him. The former Beatle rejected “fantasies” about himself and Elvis Presley. Despite this, he had a different attitude toward fans who believed gossip that The Beatles would reform.

John Lennon felt fans who psychoanalyzed were doing something ‘irrelevant’

The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features a 1980 interview. In it, John was asked about fans who wanted to psychoanalyze 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.”

John dismissed any attempt to understand celebrities from the outside. “It’s irrelevant,” he said. “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.”

John Lennon talked about rumors about Glenn Miller, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles’ manager

In the same interview, John dismissed poking into celebrity’s personal lives. “But everybody has their own place,” he said. “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.” For context, Miller was a band leader who was declared missing in action during World War II, leading to many theories about his death.

“Does it matter how many drugs were in Elvis’ body?” John asked. “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.” Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon is an infamous book about the sex lives of the stars, while Epstein was The Beatles’ manager.

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What the singer thought about fans anticipating a Beatles reunion

John also gave an interview to the Los Angeles Times in 1980. In the interview, he said he could sympathize with fans who believed Beatles rumors. In his youth, John would hear gossip that Elvis was going to perform in England. Then he would save up all his money to see the show. However, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll never performed anywhere near John’s Liverpool home.

The “Imagine” singer anticipated Beatles rumors would fly for years to come. Despite this, he said he had no intention of reuniting the band. He never thought about the possibility unless others asked him about it. While the anticipated Beatles reunion never happened, two spruced-up versions of John’s demos were released as Beatles singles in the 1990s: “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.”

John didn’t like fans psychoanalyzing him, but he sympathized with those who believed in Beatles rumors.

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