John Lennon: Between The Lines
complete home recordings 1975–1980
Disc 2: Late 1977 – 1979 [60:36]
PLAY the whole disc
- One Of The Boys [take 1] PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 3:08
- recorded: late 1977
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- 8 Arms ID: p.115, #6:a.1
- source: The Lost Sleepy Blind Lemon Lennon Album [89-33]
- One Of The Boys [take 2] PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 3:16
- recorded: late 1977
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- 8 Arms ID: p.115, #6:b.1
- source: Free As A Bird: The Dakota Beatle Demos [88-28]
- Recorded in late 1977 after the return from Japan on October 4 of that year, both takes of John's ironic 'One Of The Boys' have surfaced thanks to the LLT radio series. Maybe John was here partly inspired by Roger Daltrey's track and solo LP One Of The Boys released earlier in 1977?
- Mirror, Mirror (On The Wall) [takes 1-2] PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 8:49
- recorded: late 1977
- instrumentation: piano
- 8 Arms ID: p.115, #4:a.1
- source: Christmas Present [88-24] + LLT 31 [92-06] + LLT program 92-06
- Mirror, Mirror (On The Wall) [take 4] PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 0:31
- recorded: late 1977
- instrumentation: piano
- 8 Arms ID: p.115, #4:b.1
- source: LLT program 89-02
- Mirror, Mirror (On The Wall) [take 5] PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 2:35
- recorded: late 1977
- instrumentation: piano
- 8 Arms ID: p.115, #4:c.1
- source: Christmas Present [88-24] + LLT program 88-24
- Continuing from 'One Of The Boys', Lennon put down five takes of 'Mirror, Mirror (On The Wall)'. As mentioned by him in the introduction, the composition had started as a guitar tune during the Japanese outing — LLT narration indicates that a version possibly laid on tape that time probably doesn't survive. The Christmas Present bootleg has good lifts of takes 1 and 5 as aired in LLT episode 88-24, but the latter is missing the intro and a bit of the fade-out there (here restored from a transcription disc). Takes 1 and 2 were later aired unedited in show 92-06 (from which take 2 was included on Bag's LLT vol.31), but had apparently been treated with noise reduction in the meantime by Westwood One engineers, and sound a bit lifeless (if less hissy) compared to the earlier broadcast.
- Sea Ditties PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 2:54
- recorded: late 1977
- instrumentation: piano
- 8 Arms ID: p.115, #5:a.1
- source: Hidden Archives [91-32]
- Following 'Mirror, Mirror' on the cassette, this medley of music hall favorites, referred as "Sea Ditties" for the sake of convenience, actually consists of 'When I Was Young And In My Prime', 'My Old Man's A Dustman' (a 1960 number 1 hit for Lennon's skiffle idol Lonnie Donegan, adapted from a Liverpool folk ditty 'My Old Man's a Fireman on the Elder-Dempster Line'), 'I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside' (Mark Sheridan's 1909 smash hit, now better known as a fairground tune, and lifted by Queen for the ending of their song 'Seven Seas of Rhye' and the intro of 'Brighton Rock'), 'Leaning On A Lamp Post' (George Formby's most famous song) and 'Chinese Laundry Blues' (the song which made Formby famous). This tape also features the unavailable compositions 'When This Life Is Done (And The Angels Come)' and 'I'm Ready Lord' (maybe John did have a born again phase!), and a piano rendition of 'The House Of The Rising Sun'.
- Maurice Dupont (Act I) PLAY | TRANSCRIPT
- length: 1:58
- recorded: March 22, 1978
- 8 Arms ID: p.115, #7:a.1
- source: LLT program 88-24
- Maurice Dupont (Act II) PLAY | TRANSCRIPT
- length: 1:09
- recorded: March 22–27, 1978
- 8 Arms ID: p.115, #7:b.1
- source: LLT program 88-26
- Maurice Dupont (Act III) PLAY | TRANSCRIPT
- length: 2:46
- recorded: March 27, 1978
- 8 Arms ID: p.115, #7:c.1
- source: LLT program 88-33
- Previously unbootlegged in complete form, here are all of the three broadcast "acts" of Lennon's stream of consciousness narratives of the exploits of Agent Provocateur Maurice DuPont, recorded for the benefit of Elliot Mintz.
- Too Much Monkey Business / Subterranean Homesick Blues PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 1:18
- recorded: late 1978
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- 8 Arms ID: p.116, #1:a.1
- source: Lennon Renumbers [90-47]
- A cassette full of covers, parodies and spoken word ditties of late 1978 vintage begins with this inspired work-out of Chuck Berry's 'Too Much Monkey Business', with a bit of Bob Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' thrown in for a good measure.
- Rock Island Line PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 2:31
- recorded: late 1978
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- 8 Arms ID: p.116, #2:b.1
- source: Gone From This Place [90-47]
- Although the LLT broadcast of the next and previous tracks presented them as if performed continuously, this acoustic version of Lonnie Donegan's 'Rock Island Line' aired in the same program actually belongs here.
- Brown Eyed Handsome Man / Get Back PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 2:43
- recorded: late 1978
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- 8 Arms ID: p.116, #3:a.1
- source: Lennon Renumbers [90-47]
- Another Chuck Berry tune, this time combined with — yes, Paul's 'Get Back'. At the end, John advises us not to go away as he'll be back in just a minute.
- Beyond The Sea / Blue Moon / Young Love PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 4:08
- recorded: late 1978
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- 8 Arms ID: p.116, #4:a.1
- source: Hidden Archives [88-19]
- John continues with more covers — a medley of 'Beyond The Sea', 'Blue Moon' and 'Young Love' complete with French lyrics and accent! The spoken word bit at the end of the track (heard after some voice-over in the LLT broadcast) may also originate from the end of the cassette rather than this juncture.
- Satire 1 PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 2:20
- recorded: late 1978
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- 8 Arms ID: p.116, #5:a.1
- source: Dreaming Of The Past [88-18] + Anthology
- The Anthology version is a hair longer at the beginning than the LLT airing (which has not been treated with heavy noise reduction).
- Satire 2 PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 4:32
- recorded: late 1978
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- 8 Arms ID: p.116, #6:a.1+2
- source: News Of The Day [88-18] + Anthology
- Anthology is again more complete, having a longer ending, but also has a dubbed musical bed in the fade-out, evidently to mask the side effects of the noise reduction.
- Satire 3 / Maggie Mae PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 1:24
- recorded: late 1978
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- 8 Arms ID: p.116, #7:a.1+2 / p.117, #8:a.1
- source: LLT program 88-31 + Anthology
- These renditions are actually separate tracks (and discs apart) on Anthology, but closer inspection reveals they were actually performed back-to-back. Like the previous 'Satire', the official release has added the musical bed.
- Falling In Love Again PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 1:31
- recorded: late 1978
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- 8 Arms ID: p.117, #9:a.1
- source: LLT 34 [92-13]
- Another parody, delivered this time in pseudo-German.
- I'm A Man PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 1:50
- recorded: late 1978
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- 8 Arms ID: p.117, #10:a.1
- source: LLT program 88-19
- This blues rendition was originally slated for inclusion on the 2004 official release Acoustic, but was unfortunately dropped at the last minute.
- ["'twas a night like Ethel Merman"] PLAY | TRANSCRIPT
- length: 1:03
- recorded: late 1978
- 8 Arms ID: p.117, #12:a.1
- source: LLT program 88-19
- A vocal improvisation somewhat in the same vein as the Maurice DuPont bits, containing some references to the poems of Rabbie Burns in the Scottish part.
- [dialogue for a silent TV] PLAY | TRANSCRIPT
- length: 1:13
- recorded: late 1978
- 8 Arms ID: p.117, (#9)
- source: LLT program 91-26
- This spoken word nonsense was apparently recorded as an improvised dialogue for a TV program with the sound turned off.
- The Great Wok PLAY | TRANSCRIPT
- length: 3:03
- recorded: late December 1978
- 8 Arms ID: p.117, #11:a.2
- source: Hidden Archives [91-32]
- Recorded around the New Year, the 1991 LLT airing of 'The Great Wok' is unedited and untampered compared to earlier broadcasts and its appaerance on Anthology. As recounted in Fred Seaman's memoir, the Great Wok made a return a year later, as John contemplated including a similar (if shorter) written message in the Lennons' annual Christmas gift baskets.
- I Don't Wanna Face It [take 2] PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 0:45
- recorded: c. 1979
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- 8 Arms ID: p.123, #16:a.1
- source: LLT program 90-04
- I Don't Wanna Face It [take ?] PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 1:47
- recorded: c. 1979
- 8 Arms ID: p.123, #16:b.1
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- source: LLT program 89-35
- I Watch Your Face PLAY | LYRICS
- length: 2:17
- recorded: c. 1979
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- 8 Arms ID: p.123, #17:a.1
- source: LLT program 89-35
- The recording date of this sequence of 'I Don't Wanna Face It' and 'I Watch Your Face' is open to question, but the book Lennon In America reports that the former was composed in Japan in August 1979; it was also demoed on piano on the "Real Life tape" (see disc 3), which certainly fits with that information. In any case, "Face It" must therefore have been in existence at this point, and we have thus elected to present these recordings here. Listen for the melody of 'My Life' making an apperance towards the end of 'I Watch Your Face'.
- It's Real PLAY | TRANSCRIPT
- length: 1:05
- recorded: c. 1979
- instrumentation: acoustic guitar
- 8 Arms ID: p.124, #23:a.1
- source: Anthology
- The exact recording time and origin of this pleasant instrumental, appearing as the closing track on Anthology, is unknown.