We felt it in poor taste to add show notes at such a sad time for the world...

In the last episode before we notch up our century, Antony flies solo to muse on and discuss various items of Lennon interest. In order, these are the 40th anniversary of the ‘Milk And Honey’ album, the cancelling and virtues of the Lennon-penned Beatles song ‘Run For Your Life’, May Pang’s 2022 documentary ‘The Lost Weekend: A Love Story’, the work of Mike Williams and his theory on the impossibility of the recording of ‘Rubber Soul’ (Antony gets tied in knots at this point negotiating his...

We round off Glass Onion’s 5th year with a personal episode. Antony explores further his origin story with John Lennon and the ongoing relationship and fascination with the subject of our show (yes, it’s our show). You will also hear some writing that didn’t quite culminate in a book this year, and there’s some discussion of childhood, both Antony’s and John’s, and the glorification of it. Finally, did you know myopia was a superpower?   Enjoy the show and see you in 2024! Feedback...

We conclude our 1967 odyssey by picking up from mid-June and detailing all the main Lennon and Beatles events for the rest of 1967. The Beatles are linked by satellite to hundreds of millions, they almost buy a Greek island, the Maharishi enters their lives and they make their own TV special just in time for it to be shown in black-and-white among the traditional wholesome Yuletide entertainment. In between all this, the rather sad life of Brian Epstein comes to an end, John Lennon’s...

In this episode we start to work our merry way through the Lennon/Beatles events events of this most swinging of Beatleyears, reaching mid-June.  The Fabs start off by releasing what could be their greatest single ever and then turn their full attention to creating what is surely at least their most famous album, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. We cover the recording, album cover, launch party, release and legacy of ‘Pepper’, as well as some of the other songs recorded around the...

1967 is a year that has gone into legend for various reasons. Was it the year of peace and love? Was there any real love in it at all? Or was it just like any other year, a heady mix of everything good and bad about the human race and society? Before looking at what was undoubtedly a ground-breaking and life-changing year for John Lennon and The Beatles, myself and my guest, writer Tony Green, have a look at the year of 1967 out there in the big, bad world. As is traditional in this series,...

Ken McNab and I complete our discussion about his new book 'Shake It Up Baby!: The Rise of Beatlemania And The Mayhem of 1963' and the general atmosphere and events of that breathless year. This time round, we cover the second half of the year as our four intrepid musical explorers continue their furious work rate and have their first proper brushes with the British establishment. They also record and release their second album and yet more seminal singles, and slowly set their sights on...

Following the shows on 1962, we seamlessly move to 1963 with the welcome return of Ken McNab to talk about his new book 'Shake It Up Baby!: The Rise of Beatlemania And The Mayhem of 1963'. After Ken gives some thoughts on Peter Jackson’s ‘Get Back’ (his previous appearances on Glass Onion were prior to its release), we cover the events of the first half of the year and the slow creep of Beatlemania. The Beatles move from also-rans to bill-toppers while covering an incredible amount of ground...

We complete our deep dive into 1962 in the outer world and in the Beatles family psychodrama, picking up from late July with Beatles events including a historic change of drummer, John Lennon’s marriage, the group’s first radio interview, their more than troublesome experience recording the simplest song in the world (Love Me Do), gigs with one of their biggest musical heroes Little Richard, and their final rather obligatory two trips back to Hamburg, the second of which yielded the infamous...

In this episode, Antony and Ghosty start discussing the Beatles/Lennon events of 1962, covering January to June. Particular focus is put on the Pete Best issue and the death of Stuart Sutcliffe, not to mention John Lennon’s contentious and highly unique reaction to that death. Every year in the Beatles story from around 1960 was packed with activity and full of psychodrama, and 1962 is no exception. As ever, there are interesting audio clips to complement the conversation, and our two...

Our latest Lennon odyssey starts with a review of the events of 1962, a tangential conversation in which Antony and guest David ‘Ghosty’ Wills freewheel into all kinds of other territory before setting the listeners up with some pre-1962 context on the Beatles’ progress on their own journey to musical and cultural world domination. 1962 was marked by a massive historical event, the Cuban Missile Crisis, which happened in the same year as the first appearances in the world of the Beatles’...

We complete our latest Lennon journey with the conclusion of my analysis of some of the more telling quotes from the series of interviews conducted in September 1980 for Playboy magazine by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. This episode contains a lot of clips from the original audio of the interviews and focuses mainly on John's comments about who wrote what in the Lennon-McCartney catalogue, including John#s analysis of the deeper meanings behind the song 'Strawberry Fields Forever'. I have also...

This episode starts with a ‘short intro’ of around 45 minutes, with yet more Coleman vs Goldman material, before continuing our in-depth look at John Lennon’s series of interviews for Playboy magazine in September 1980, which also included Yoko Ono. The interviews offer a fascinating and multi-layered study of a highly eccentric artist and also form an integral part of the official narrative of John and Yoko’s relationship in 1980 before John’s sudden and brutal demise. There are...

John Lennon’s series of interviews for Playboy magazine in September, which also included Yoko Ono, are not only a fascinating and multi-layered study of a highly eccentric artist but also form an integral part of the official narrative of John and Yoko’s relationship in 1980 before his death and of the genesis of the songs for their joint album ‘Double Fantasy’. This episode is the first of a 2-parter that picks out some interesting extracts from the book ‘All We Are Saying’, based on the...

Compilation albums come in many shapes and sizes and some can be justified while others rely on good marketing and glossy packaging to persuade consumers to part with their hard-earned money for the same material. This is an appearance by your humble host on the ‘When they Was Fab’ podcast back in December 2020 discussing the mind-boggling number of John Lennon compilation albums that have been foisted on the public since 1975. The conversation is preceded by a long introduction from Antony...

John Lennon and Paul McCartney are inextricably linked, and what more is there to say at this point? Well, I give it a shot in a podcast of 3 sections, looking at common Lennon/McCartney tropes and assumptions, giving a guitar & vocal lesson on the song 'Two Of Us' and then walking you through the highly entertaining 2000 TV film 'Two Of Us', directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and starring Aiden Quinn and Jared Harris. There are a record number of clips included here and it's hopefully a...

The completion of Luke and Antony's discussion of John Lennon, originally recorded for ‘Luke’s English Podcast’ last year. We complete our description of John using adjectives of personality, and then discuss his lyrics, including his lyrical progression, and offer numerous examples courtesy of Antony’s voice and guitar and Luke’s deep knowledge of Beatles songs. This and the previous episode are especially recommended for students of English and non-native speakers but we hope these edits...

Luke Thompson, a fellow English teacher and podcaster, hosted Antony on his podcast back in June 2021, and this is the Glass Onion version of that talk, split into two parts. This part of the discussion centres on trying to describe John Lennon using adjectives of personality, so this episode is especially recommended for students of English and non-native speakers. There are some warm-up questions as well and we go pretty deep into the multi-faceted enigma that was John...

Jon Stewart, author of 'Dylan, Lennon, Marx & God', makes a quick and very welcome return to the podcast to further discuss Lennon themes from his book. We talk Lennon origin stories, Freudian analysis, Aunt Mimi, Liverpool and the Dylan/Lennon superduo that never was. The last third of the show has host Antony reading a couple of stories about his musical origins and early Beatles fandom Enjoy! Feedback and voluntary Paypal donations to [email protected] OR Support the show...

Turning our attention from 1968 itself to the Lennon/Beatles events of the year, what emerges is an epic Glass Onion journey into a year that weighed heavily on John Lennon's psyche and the world-famous group that he'd originally formed. The main events include the trip to India, the Apple launch, the recording of the White Album and John and Paul's very tangled and drama-laced romantic lives. And the world meets the phenomenon known as Johnandyoko! Enjoy! Feedback and voluntary Paypal...

1968 was among the most turbulent years in living memory. As a forerunner to our look at the Beatles/John Lennon events, Matt Williamson joins the show to dissect the year itself in terms of major events, films and (non-Beatles) singles and albums. This is prefaced by host Antony doing a brief comparison of The Beatles and Monty Python's Flying Circus 'groups' and some of the curious similarities and connections in their stories. Enjoy! Feedback and voluntary Paypal donations to...

Chris Purcell and I complete our 2-part look at John Lennon's live career and also some of the films and video clips surrounding his performances This part takes us from 1966 to 1975 as we look at such events as the Our World broadcast, Hey Jude & Revolution on the David Frost show, the rooftop gig and John's two most high-profile and substantial solo gigs, namely Toronto in 1969 and Madison Square Garden in 1972. There are other performances mentioned, along with some inevitable...

John Lennon was a unique live performer, both with The Beatles and in his solo career, though following his split with the Fabs he showed a reluctance to play full concerts and so we should cherish what little we have in that regard. This 2-parter on John’s live career sees documentarian Chris Purcell make a welcome return to the show. In this part, we look at the Beatles’ live work up to Candlestick Park in 1966 and Chris casts his expert eye on the films made of some of their...

Jon Stewart, former and current guitarist with 'Sleeper', is the author of a fantastic new book that offers a unique new take on the fascinating John Lennon/Bob Dylan relationship, and this is the conclusion of Antony's talk with him and returning guest, radio DJ and Bob Dylan podcaster extraordinaire Ben Burrell. In this part, we touch on the role of nature in Dylan's work, John Lennon and the British Empire, our heroes' relationships with spirituality and religion, evolutionary psychology...