The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 492

Number 492

John Lennon

"#9 Dream"

(1974)
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Genre:Pop

I use to love winter, now it just seems to long and way to cold. You have to understand, New Zealand's weather is only two seasons, Summer for 3 months and Winter which lasts for an astonishing 9 months! Worse of all, it gets dark at 5.00pm. Hard to believe a little Island in the Pacific Ocean (which should conjure thoughts of bikini clad women serving booze in coconut shells while tanning away to a nice chocolate colour) could be so depressing. New Zealand is the closest country to the south pole, and to be blunt, its like living next to a refrigerator with the door left open! Oh well, only 6 months till Summer comes again. (ack)

John Lennon was my first influence into music, there was something about him that he appeared almost mystical. Whether it was his songs or his spoken words, poetry, written words, interviews, & even his arguments with Paul, there was always something intriguing about the man. Sometimes, but not that often, I wonder where he would be musically today if he was still alive. Just a thought.

prototype apple Ipod?

"#9 Dream" is a song written and performed by John Lennon and featured as the seventh track on his 1974 album Walls and Bridges. In January 1975, it was released as the second single from that album backed by another album track, "What You Got". It continues Lennon's fascination with the number nine (he was born on October 9). On The Beatles' White Album he and Yoko Ono contributed a track titled "Revolution 9". The backing vocal is provided by May Pang, Lennon's mistress at the time. According to Pang's website, two working titles for the song were "So Long Ago" and "Walls & Bridges". Pang also states that the phrase repeated in the chorus, "Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé", came to Lennon in a dream and has no specific meaning. Lennon then wrote and arranged the song around his dream, hence the title and the atmospheric, dreamlike feel of the song including the use of cellos in the hook. In an interview Lennon said the song was written in the spirit of 'craftsmanship' rather than true inspiration. He liked the string arrangement he wrote for Harry Nilsson's rendition of Many Rivers to Cross so much that he decided to write a song around it. "#9 Dream" was the result of this process. The arrangement forms the vocal melody during the verse. ~ [source:wikipedia]

Walls & Bridges

Walls & Bridges 1974

Walls and Bridges was recorded during John Lennon's infamous "lost weekend," as he exiled himself in California during a separation from Yoko Ono. Lennon's personal life was scattered, so it isn't surprising that Walls and Bridges is a mess itself, containing equal amounts of brilliance and nonsense. Falling between the two extremes was the bouncy Elton John duet "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night," which was Lennon's first solo number one hit. Its bright, sunny surface was replicated throughout the record, particularly on middling rockers like "What You Got" but also on enjoyable pop songs like "Old Dirt Road." However, the best moments on Walls and Bridges come when Lennon is more open with his emotions, like on "Going Down on Love," "Steel and Glass," and the beautiful, soaring "#9 Dream." Even with such fine moments, the album is decidedly uneven, containing too much mediocre material like "Beef Jerky" and "Ya Ya," which are weighed down by weak melodies and heavy over-production. It wasn't a particularly graceful way to enter retirement. ~ [Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide]

For more John Lennon see Number 639

For Elton John see Number 531

For the Beatles see Number 587, #894 & #947

For Harry Nilsson see Number 599

What does Rolling Stone think of John Lennon?

Walls and Bridges shows John Lennon to be as mercurial as ever. I anticipated an unbearable suffering occasioned by the collapse of one of this century's most public love affairs — after all, Yoko Ono was presented as the membrane between agony and peace for Lennon, between illusion and reality. Yet the relative clear-headedness of this album suggests that she may have been only the most recent in a series of causes from which Lennon is extricating himself with customary agility. He seemed more pugnacious, more doctrinaire, more vulnerable when Yoko was supposedly supplying him with bliss than he is today.

Have you seen my glasses?

The first two songs on side two, "#9 Dream" and "Surprise Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)" prove that Lennon is resilient and can still love. They make his claims of suffering in some sense pro forma, and they make Walls and Bridges diverse and spirited. Untouched by the recriminations and breast beating of side one, these songs display the musical as well as lyrical evidence of John's new lease on life. Whereas the soft edges to Lennon's band elsewhere rob his music of its necessary incisiveness, on "#9 Dream" they contribute to a perfect meringue of sound. "Surprise Surprise," whose pungent harmonies and fadeout recall "Drive My Car," pulses with equally strong vital signs. ~ [Source:Rolling Stone]

Rolling Stone magazine deemed their '492nd Song of all Time' was "Runing On Empty" by Jackson Browne. Jackson Browne has not appeared in The Definitive 1000.