John Lennon citations célèbres
I suppose if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I would have gotten away with it. I'm sorry I opened my mouth. I'm not anti-God, anti-Christ, or anti-religion. I wasn't knocking it or putting it down. I was just saying it as a fact and it's true more for England than here. I'm not saying that we're better or greater, or comparing us with Jesus Christ as a person or God as a thing or whatever it is. I just said what I said and it was wrong. Or it was taken wrong. And now it's all this.
en
Conférence de presse à Chicago, le 11 août 1966 en réponse et en excuses aux réactions outrées et violentes à travers les États-Unis suite à l’interview de l’Evening Standard.
“Dieu est un concept / Par lequel nous pouvons mesurer / Notre douleur”
God is a concept / By which we can measure / Our pain
en
John Lennon Citations
Everybody seems to think I'm lazy/I don't mind, I think they're crazy/Running everywhere at such a speed/Till they find there's no need (there's no need). Please, don't spoil my day, I'm miles away/And after all I'm only sleeping.
Imagine there's no heaven / It's easy if you try / No hell below us / Above us only sky / Imagine all the peopleLiving for today... Imagine there's no countries / It isn't hard to do / Nothing to kill or die for / And no religion too / Imagine all the people / Living life in peace... Imagine no possessions / I wonder if you can/No need for greed or hunger / In a brotherhood of man / Imagine all the people / Sharing all the world... You may say i'm a dreamer / But i'm not the only one / I hope some day you'll join us / And the world will be as one
en
Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first — rock and roll or Christianity.
en
Propos recueillis par la journaliste britannique Maureen Cleave pour le périodique Evening Standard dans son édition du 4 mars 1966
On the next number, would those in the cheaper seats clap your hands ? All the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelry!
en
Déclaration faite en annonce du titre Twist and Shout lors de la prestation des Beatles au «Royal Variety Performance» le 4 novembre 1963 au théâtre «Prince of Wales» de Londres devant la Reine Elisabeth, la Reine Mère, et la Princesse Margaret.
John Lennon: Citations en anglais
“If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry.”
1972 Mike Douglas Show http://www.thebeatlesrarity.com/2012/06/11/beatles-rarity-of-the-week-john-lennon-performs-with-chuck-berry-1972/, quoted in: Lawrence, Ken (2005) John Lennon: In His Own Words, p. 107.
Asked how he felt about a Beatles' Shea Stadium concert not selling out; Pop Chronicles: Show 38 - The Rubberization of Soul: The great pop music renaissance. (Part 4) https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19797/m1/#track/6, 22 August 1966 http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/db1966.0822.beatles.html.
Letter to Oral Roberts in 1972, as quoted in Oral Roberts : An American Life (1985) by David Edwin Harrell, p. 310; later published in How to be a Successful Teenager (1994) by Rick Jones, Ch. 5 : The Secret About Material Things, p. 54; the accuracy of this is disputed in "The Gospel of John Lennon" in This Land Press (7 March 2011) http://thislandpress.com/03/07/2011/the-gospel-of-john-lennon/
Disputed
Source: The Beatles: All These Years Vol. 1: Tune In by Mark Lewisohn (2013), p. 62 Lewisohn remarks: "(He would have faced prison on his return.)"
“I really thought that love would save us all.”
As quoted in The Philadelphia Inquirer (10 December 1980) http://www.rubylane.com/shops/timemachinecollectibles/item/6475?gbase=1
On the song "Yesterday", written by Paul McCartney
Playboy interview (1980)
Source: The Beatles Anthology (2000), p. 9
"Revolution" (Single version)
"Revolution 1" - The Beatles [White Album] version (in this recorded performance of the song, Lennon interjects "in", after saying "count me out").
Lyrics
Variante: You say you want a revolution,
Well, you know, we all want to change the world...
But when you talk about destruction,
Don't you know that you can count me out — in.
“I want you to make love, not war — I know you've heard it before.”
"Mind Games" — the final fading statement on the track.
Lyrics, Mind Games (1973)
"Ballad of John and Yoko" (1969)
Lyrics
“First you must learn to smile as you kill.”
"Working Class Hero"
Lyrics, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
You may say I'm a dreamer,
But I'm not the only one;
I hope some day you will join us,
And the world will live as one.
"Imagine" (song)
Lyrics, Imagine (1971 album)
Quoted in The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics http://books.google.com/books?id=DKG-FXj_HNYC&q=%22lots+of+people+who+complained+about+us+receiving+the+MBE+received+theirs+for+heroism+in+the+war+for+killing+people+we+received+ours+for+entertaining+other+people+I%27d+say+we+deserve+ours+more%22&pg=PA33#v=onepage (1969)
The Dick Cavett Show (24 September 1971)
During the Bed-In for Peace in Montreal, Canada (1 June 1969) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oJ9w0x_dzo
Playboy interview (1980)
BBC interview, used in a Citroën ad, as quoted in "John Lennon Appearance In Car Ad Stirs Controversy" by Monica Herrera in Billboard (4 March 2010) http://www.billboard.com/column-viralvideos/john-lennon-appearance-in-car-ad-stirs-controversy-1004072693.story#/column-viralvideos/john-lennon-appearance-in-car-ad-stirs-controversy-1004072693.story. Though there has been no official dispute that he made this statement, a YouTube video has claimed that the audio used in the advertisement is not original http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipyUk5-wlFg.
Disputed
Quoted by Hunter Davies in The Beatles (1968)
Responding to suggestion that the Beatles should reunite to perform benefit concerts.
Playboy interview (1980)
Interview with RKO Radio on the day of his murder (8 December 1980)
“Half of what I say is meaningless
But I say it just to reach you
Julia.”
"Julia" on The Beatles (1968); these lines were adapted from lines of Sand and Foam (1926) by Khalil Gibran: "Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you".
Lyrics
“Well, I just want him to grow up happy. That's the main thing.”
Talking about his son, Julian Lennon, in Ticket to Ride : Inside the Beatles' 1964 Tour That Changed the World (2003) by Larry Kane http://books.google.com/books?id=5MYmhGAmfUkC&pg=PA258&lpg=PA258&dq=%22well+i+just+want+him+to+grow+up+happy+that's+the+main+thing%22&source=web&ots=o-UOaUrmcr&sig=svkKFzayFfeFgYVwxKn0GsDysPU
