Love is all there is

Donovan Leitchreviews The John Lennon Letters Edited by Hunter Davies, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 392pp, £25

Letters by their nature are private, so getting a peek at those of John Lennon is like having a hidden camera. We know so well the short forms of John’s words in his songs; to see him write in a free and rare and unconscious style is unique. Perhaps we can glimpse the poet behind the pose, perhaps not. So brace yourselves, my Irish readers, for Donovan’s review of the new book The John Lennon Letters. I know you know that Lennon is of the Irish in Liverpool, and it’s no wonder that John is as famous as tomorrow’s dreams.

Here we have John’s letters to friends, family and loved ones, and me, your reviewer, who was John’s chum in the halcyon days, when all the world was young.

It’s too easy to see this wonderful collection as leading up to John’s death. I would rather review the letters backwards and arrive at the beginning and bounce between the two. I leave the middle periods of the letters to you the readers to explore. And you will need to be brave explorers, as this collection is huge. It has to be big, as each letter facsimile is also typed, in case you can’t read the original.

So fast-forward to John’s last letters. They are autographs and lists. A famous guy dumping his famous past, in love with Yoko and Sean and his latest record.

It could be John’s last letter, an autograph on a torn page of a sort of school jotter, signed for Ribeah, a girl who worked on the switchboard at the Record Plant studios, where he and Yoko were working on her song Walking on Thin Ice: “for Ribeah, love John Lennon”, with a tiny “Yoko Ono” followed by the well-known round-glasses scribble and enigmatic smile. And ending with the addition of Yoko’s two eyes and nose, with her not-so-happy smile.

Most conspicuous is John’s signature, the “John” scrawl moving fast into the “Lennon”, as if his persona had finally become one with his sentiment. Note that the dedication is clear, “for Ribeah”, not “to Ribeah” – this is important for stars like John and I, a gift – and the comma, followed by the word “love”, could be seen as “leve” (leave?). And then the crazy bold signature that John dates that momentous year of 1980.

Now let’s contrast this so-called last scribble with John’s first writing that our editor, the intrepid Hunter Davies, has found.

Hunter, it must be noted, is privileged to be the only official Beatles biographer – the reason, no doubt, why Yoko agreed to help him collect and edit John’s letters.

John, at 12 bright years old, makes his own newspaper and titles it the Daily Howl: “The kindly Vicar of a parish, has kindly donated a kind donation, which he kindly decided to kindly donate to the Society for the Prevention of Standing on Toadstools. But it is found that the treasurer of the SPTT has run away to Garston, he went on the (booze) bus.”