Spring 2026 MUS 354 - Unit 1: In the Beginning (1958 - 1963) Lecture 2 John, Paul, and
Geroge Script Arizona State University
Unit 1: In the Beginning (1958 - 1963)
Lecture 2: John, Paul, and George
Audio Lecture
, Featured Songs
• None
Clip:
I'll begin our lecture material on the Beatles. Would there have been a Beatles without John
Lennon? Most likely not. There might have been an early version of Wings, but John
Lennon, through the early years, was the catalyst and the driving force. John Winston
Lennon, as he was born, October 9th, 1940, had a variety of roles within this group besides
leadership. He was a singer, rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter of course. Later on
he participates on a variety of instruments and we'll cover those in more detail as we go.
John was born during a German bombing raid in Liverpool and he was given the patriotic
middle name Winston. Of course after Winston Churchill, Britain's wartime leader and
inspiration. On the day John's parents met Freddy Lennon and Julia Stanley, they married
on the steps of the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool now a site of an annual Beatles convention.
Not much is said of John Lennon's father Freddy but after the Beatles became household
names he resurfaced for a meeting with John. Freddy had taken off he was a merchant
seaman when John was quite young and John literally had no relationship with his father.
This meeting years later didn't go well when he knocked on John's door John didn't answer
the first time because his father Freddy had done some interviews for Tidbits and
Weekend Magazine and later recorded a song on his own entitled That's My Life. Some
books report that Freddy asked for money from John and John was quite upset to be used
for this purpose. John was very close with his mother Julia she was a musician and he
taught her instruments such as the banjo and ukulele. But his father Freddy took off in the
first year of John's birth when John first formed his group of quarrymen in school Julia
helped immensely letting them perform and practice at her home and helping by teaching
John chords on the banjo. Unfortunately John's mother Julia was somewhat of a free spirit
and was pleased to put young John in the hands of her sister Meanie for Meanie to raise.
Upper middle class family Meanie lived at Mendips on Menlove Avenue. Mendips was a
portion of Liverpool it was fairly well to do. A small suburb three miles north of Liverpool
the Wilton area as it's called at the age of four he was a dovetail primary school. By the age
of seven John was reading books such as Alice in Wonderland and The Wind in the Willows
He loved The Just Williams Stories and Jammerwocky. Lewis Carroll was a huge influence
on John Lennon later on we'll see that in songs like I Am A Walrus and Lucy in the Sky With
Diamonds But it was music which captured John Lennon's spirit and as a youth he was a bit
rebellious he was a bit tough a leader smart cynical litty quick glib and talented. He heard
Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel in 1956 and became a huge fan He tuned into Radio
Luxembourg because the BBC didn't play rock and roll and absorbed the sounds of Elvis
and later Little Richard Bill Haley and John became infatuated with a style called skiffle
which was a style of British folk music that was more up-tempo a little bit like rock and roll
but not totally. He used instruments such as tin cans, washboards, banjos, guitars, and
Geroge Script Arizona State University
Unit 1: In the Beginning (1958 - 1963)
Lecture 2: John, Paul, and George
Audio Lecture
, Featured Songs
• None
Clip:
I'll begin our lecture material on the Beatles. Would there have been a Beatles without John
Lennon? Most likely not. There might have been an early version of Wings, but John
Lennon, through the early years, was the catalyst and the driving force. John Winston
Lennon, as he was born, October 9th, 1940, had a variety of roles within this group besides
leadership. He was a singer, rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter of course. Later on
he participates on a variety of instruments and we'll cover those in more detail as we go.
John was born during a German bombing raid in Liverpool and he was given the patriotic
middle name Winston. Of course after Winston Churchill, Britain's wartime leader and
inspiration. On the day John's parents met Freddy Lennon and Julia Stanley, they married
on the steps of the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool now a site of an annual Beatles convention.
Not much is said of John Lennon's father Freddy but after the Beatles became household
names he resurfaced for a meeting with John. Freddy had taken off he was a merchant
seaman when John was quite young and John literally had no relationship with his father.
This meeting years later didn't go well when he knocked on John's door John didn't answer
the first time because his father Freddy had done some interviews for Tidbits and
Weekend Magazine and later recorded a song on his own entitled That's My Life. Some
books report that Freddy asked for money from John and John was quite upset to be used
for this purpose. John was very close with his mother Julia she was a musician and he
taught her instruments such as the banjo and ukulele. But his father Freddy took off in the
first year of John's birth when John first formed his group of quarrymen in school Julia
helped immensely letting them perform and practice at her home and helping by teaching
John chords on the banjo. Unfortunately John's mother Julia was somewhat of a free spirit
and was pleased to put young John in the hands of her sister Meanie for Meanie to raise.
Upper middle class family Meanie lived at Mendips on Menlove Avenue. Mendips was a
portion of Liverpool it was fairly well to do. A small suburb three miles north of Liverpool
the Wilton area as it's called at the age of four he was a dovetail primary school. By the age
of seven John was reading books such as Alice in Wonderland and The Wind in the Willows
He loved The Just Williams Stories and Jammerwocky. Lewis Carroll was a huge influence
on John Lennon later on we'll see that in songs like I Am A Walrus and Lucy in the Sky With
Diamonds But it was music which captured John Lennon's spirit and as a youth he was a bit
rebellious he was a bit tough a leader smart cynical litty quick glib and talented. He heard
Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel in 1956 and became a huge fan He tuned into Radio
Luxembourg because the BBC didn't play rock and roll and absorbed the sounds of Elvis
and later Little Richard Bill Haley and John became infatuated with a style called skiffle
which was a style of British folk music that was more up-tempo a little bit like rock and roll
but not totally. He used instruments such as tin cans, washboards, banjos, guitars, and
