A Head Full of Wishes is a site for Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi, Dean & Britta and Dean Wareham. With news, articles and lists of releases and past and future shows.
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Celebrating what should have been John Lennon's 85th birthday
This week John Lennon should have reached his 85th birthday so let’s have a look at where he has touched A Head Full of Wishes…
Rain
Rain was written by John (credited as with all their Beatles songs to Lennon-McCartney) and recorded by The Beatles in April 1966. In Revolution in The Head Ian McDonald says that it “expresses the vibrant lucidity of a benign LSD experience”, something that Dean did later with Decomposing Trees. The Beatles released it as the b-side to Paperback Writer and is I guess the most notable b-side in the band’s canon.
It is very much a product of the studio, and George Martin’s, studio experimentation, with varied speeds, and reversed tapes make George M very much the fifth Beatle (or The Beatles’ Kramer) on this (and so many of their more experimental songs).
There was a film clip made for the song (and for the single’s a-side Paperback Writer) in the gardens of Chiswick House, not far from where I lived/worked for many years… we visited many times and I sort of wish we’d been more attentive to the locations used in the films - but here’s a pic of the boy near one of the locations… probably!
… and here’s a clip of outtakes from the film shoot…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFd4zozNl9I
Galaxie 500 included Rain in their live sets during 1989, and it most notably turned up in a live version, recorded at CBGBs in May 1989, on a Caff single:
https://galaxie500.bandcamp.com/track/rain-dont-let-our-youth-go-to-waste
You can also hear them playing it at their ICA show in London in September 1989.
My database also has a record that shows that Luna played it (at least) once in Eugene, OR in 1995 .
Hold On (John)
Hold on was on John Lennon’s debut solo album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band released in 1970 John Lennon - Hold On (play on YouTube)
I'm saying 'hold on John' because I don't want to die...I don't want to be hurt and please don't hit me...Hold on now, we might have a cup of tea, we might get a moment's happiness any minute now. So that's what it's about, just moment by moment. That's how we're living now, but really living like that and cherishing each day, and dreading it too. It might be your last.
Quoted on Wikipedia from The Complete Guide to the Music of John Lennon by Johnny Rogan, 1997
Luna never released a version of the track but covered it quite frequently in 1994, this post has an mp3 of a live radio recording made for KCRW on the 4th April, and during a live show in London.
Jealous Guy
Jealous Guy started out as Child of Nature, written after The Beatles attended a lecture by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and demoed at Harrison’s home in Esher in 1968. The Beatles - Child of Nature (Esher demos) (play on YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGAw_k3maXs
The track never made it onto a Beatles album and was rewritten as Jealous Guy for Lennon’s Imagine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wADRRYNHhOA
Luna recorded the track for Noah Baumbach’s 1997 film Mr Jealousy - here’s a promo video with Luna playing it accompanied by clips from the film - it’d be nice if a better quality version of this turned up some time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JAyONBVOhE
Happy Xmas (War is Over)
John Lennon first released Happy Xmas (War is Over) as a single for Christmas 1971 in the US (and released a year later for the following Christmas in the UK).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN4Uu0OlmTg
Dean & Britta debuted their cover of the song in their 2020 livestreamed show on the 19th December and later re-recorded it with Sonic Boom for their 2024 Christmas album A Peace of Us.
https://deanandbritta.bandcamp.com/track/happy-xmas-war-is-over
The Lennon single of Happy Xmas (War is Over) had a Yoko track on the flip and since John played guitar of that…
Listen, the Snow is Falling
Here’re are Dean & Britta doing both sides of that single during that Christmas live streamed show in 2020:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKzbZ3KcuuI