MANILA, Philippines - “I thought I was crazy or an egomaniac for claiming to see things other people didn’t see,” John Lennon, whose 74th birthday was on Oct. 9, told Playboy in 1980. “I always was so psychic or intuitive or poetic or whatever you want to call it, that I was always seeing things in a hallucinatory way.”
Lennon received Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland as a present on his 11th birthday. The children’s book neither educates nor moralizes, its only end is pleasure. With its narration of a broad range of plots of fantasy, the book left a lasting impression on Lennon. “I was passionate about (it) and drew all the characters. I did poems in the style of ‘Jabberwocky.’ I used to love Alice...”
Realizing that he was not insane at all, Lennon thought of having adventures like Alice. By 15, he wished he could write something like it. But Alice had a mixed effect. He started to rebel, freed himself from parental stranglehold, and, thus, was ostracized by the community.
To escape the unverbalized pain of a dysfunctional childhood, he organized the Quarry Men at 17 from among gang mates and played skiffle. This made him discover rock ‘n roll, which eventually led to his putting together the Beatles.
Alice’s early effect in Beatles’ songs appeared in the motive of Do You Want To Know A Secret that he based on Wishing Well of Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. His mother, Julia, used to sing it to him as a child. The secret? That he made his girlfriend, Cynthia Powell, pregnant.
The innovative opening line “Imagine I’m in love with you” of I’ll Get You draws the listener immediately into the story. Caroll’s early influence on Lennon was an indication that Alice in Wonderland would be central to the imagery of his lyrics, aside from being the basis of many of his songs.
During Beatlemania, Lennon’s ambition to have a book was fulfilled in his collection of drawings, humorous pieces, poems and satirical sketches In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works have Alice in Wonderland-like sentence construction and jumbling of images.
The major influence of fantasy in Beatles’ songs was first noticed in Yellow Submarine. Lennon and Paul McCartney collaborated on the verses while the latter wrote the catchy chorus. The sound effects create the matchless innocent excitement, capturing the simplicity that defines children’s songs.
The theme of loss in Strawberry Fields Forever is similar to the book’s “going down” device from Alice Goes Down in the Rabbithole. The shrunk Alice gets sleepy. “It doesn’t matter much to me” of Strawberry Fields Forever is reminiscent of “It didn’t much matter which way she put it...” of Alice Goes Down in the Rabbithole.
Lennon lifted “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” from the Wool and Water chapter of Through the Looking Glass’ chase concept where Alice is taken down a river in a row boat by the Queen, who had suddenly changed into a sheep.
The Magical Mystery Tour film is a Caroll-inspired fit of playfulness. Lennon rehashed “I Am the Walrus” from The Walrus and the Carpenter. The refrain “I am the Egg Man” instead of “I am the Walrus” shows a dichotomy, an example of Through the Looking Glass’ Jabberwocky.
The Beatles album had Caroll influences in Glass Onion and Cry Baby Cry. Even McCartney was influenced. Helter Skelter’s “Will you, won’t you want me to break you” was nicked from The Lobster Quadrille’s “Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you join the dance?”
The Beatles would even have their own fantasy film, the animated feature with an eponymous title based on the Yellow Submarine song.
Caroll’s last influence appeared in Across the Universe. The phrase “pool of sorrows” largely recalls Alice Goes to the Rabbithole where she wept “in the pool of tears,” growing nine feet high.
For sure, Lennon grew nine feet high with Caroll’s impact!
Notes: Visuals are winners in ARTlead Facebook art group’s Tareptipism Challenge: John Lennon in Wonderland. Copyright reserved by the artist.