Glass Onion: On John Lennon
by Antony Rotunno
A deep dive into the music and complex psychology of John Lennon, featuring interviews with such noted authors and podcasters as David Bedford, Dan Richter, Jude Kessler, Kit O'Toole and Ken McNab, as well as ex-Quarrymen bandmates Rod Davis and Colin Hanton
Episodes
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Episode 117: John & George discuss meditation on the David Frost show 1967 (Part 1 of 2)
The podcast finally makes its (not-quite) comeback with a welcome returning guest, Dave Thurmaier of 'I've Got A Beatles Podcast'. Dave & Antony's main topic is the appearance of John Lennon and George Harrison for 2 shows in September/October 1967 on the Frost Programme, hosted by genial host...
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Episode 116: John Lennon's Jukebox with Matt Williamson
To celebrate the recently-passed 7th anniversary of the first episode of Glass Onion way back when, we welcome Matt Williamson of the 'Pop Goes The 60s' you tube channel to discuss an intriguing and entertaining documentary from 2004. From the long-running UK arts and culture programme 'The South...
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Episode 115: John Lennon In 1975 (Part 2 of 2)
And so we bring to an end Glass Onion's 7th year… John Lennon's 1975 is mostly remembered for being the year that he became a father for the second time and dropped out of the music biz for 5 years, apparently to become the most famous househusband in the world (the jury's still out on that one)....
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Episode 114: John Lennon In 1975 (Part 1 of 2)
For our final offerings of the year, we present a 2-part look at 1975, the year of Antony's birth. As is traditional, we first cover the year itself in terms of world events, births & deaths, films and (non-Lennon) music, before turning to the John Lennon events of the year. The Vietnam War is...
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Episode 113: Lennon Naked with David 'Ghosty' Wills
David 'Ghosty' Wills is back once more to look at another biopic that's not really very good (we'll do something classic next time, I promise!), though our levels of (non-)appreciation of 2010's 'Lennon Naked' differ slightly Christoper Eccleston gives something of a powerhouse performance as a...
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Episode 112: Birth of the Beatles (Part 2 of 2)
We complete our look at 'Birth of the Beatles', the 1979 biopic which holds a unique place as the only one of its kind made while all 4 Beatles were still alive. The timeline goes somewhat awry but we go from the boys having departed Hamburg in late-1960 to the tragic death of one of their band...
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Episode 111: Birth of the Beatles (Part 1 of 2)
Following our last exploration of a biopic of dubious quality, Antony flies solo this time to explore another one which, despite having some sense of time and place, is also somewhat lacking and to some extent unintentionally comedic. 'Birth of the Beatles', which came out in 1979, will always…
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Episode 110- John & Yoko: A Love Story and more... with David 'Ghosty' Wills (Part 2 of 2)
Ghosty joins Antony once again to wrap up our dissection of 'John & Yoko: A Love Story', and there is also some discussion of two other presentations from 1985. 'John Lennon: A Journey In The Life' is a 'cheap and cheerful' trawl through the Lennon story, with another Liverpudlian Bernard Hill...
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Episode 109- John & Yoko: A Love Story with David 'Ghosty' Wills (Part 1 of 2)
We're happy to welcome back David 'Ghosty' Wills to discuss John & Yoko: A Love Story, a 1985 biopic starring Mark McGann and Kim Miyori that was very dear to our hearts, at least until we rewatched it! We discuss some of the better scenes and also the unintentional comedy and 'TV movie tropes'…
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Episode 108: The Gospel According To John Lennon (Part 4 of 4)
Another podcast journey comes to an end as we conclude our look at John Lennon (and The Beatles') religious, spiritual and philosophical journey by use of Steve Turner's excellent book 'The Gospel According To The Beatles' After a brief recap of the previous episodes, Part 4 picks up from the...
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Episode 107: The Gospel According To John Lennon (Part 3 of 4)
Continuing our lengthy exploration of John Lennon's religious, spiritual and philosophical journey by use of Steve Turner's excellent book 'The Gospel According To The Beatles', Part 3 covers some fascinating chapters spanning the years 1964 to 1968 in the book's rough chronology. John starts to...
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Episode 106: The Gospel According To John Lennon (Part 2 of 4)
We kick off 2025 with the continuation of our lengthy exploration of John Lennon's religious, spiritual and philosophical journey. Part 2 starts with more of John and the Beatles' general beliefs about the world before starting a chronology of the Beatle years from the particular perspective of...
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Episode 105: The Gospel According To John Lennon (Part 1 of 4)
We end Glass Onion's 6th year with the start of another multi-part series, the first 4-parter in the history of the podcast. Using (mostly) the John Lennon parts from Steve Turner's excellent 2006 book 'The Gospel According To The Beatles', we trace our hero's religious, spiritual and…
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Episode 104: John Lennon The Actor with Ross Marshall (Part 2 of 2)
We conclude our look at John Lennon as an actor, starting from 1965's 'Help!' and with particular emphasis on what was arguably his only 'serious' role, albeit in an anti-war satire 'How I Won The War'. He also voices a famously sprawling Beatles TV film about a bus, and there's a film cameo and...
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Episode 103: John Lennon The Actor with Ross Marshall (Part 1 of 2)
The show keeps rolling with a look at John Lennon as an actor, both in films and TV sketches and also in his persona as Beatle John with the press and on stage. Antony is joined in this endeavour by professional actor Ross Marshall, and the conversation also looks at the craft of acting itself in...
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Bonus Episode #15- Antony interviewed by James Jarman in 2016
For our latest bonus episode, we offer a diversion and a trip back to the past as your humble host is interviewed about his and other people's music by a friend in Madrid in 2016. Topics touched upon include songwriting, creativity, performance, recording and (no surprise) The Beatles and John...
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Episode 102- Toronto 1969 Part 2: Sweet Toronto with Dave Thurmaier
We complete our 2-part look at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert of September 1969 and the 'white-suited apostle' John Lennon's involvement in it with the highly flexible Plastic Ono Band. Following 'Revival '69', Antony and Dave Thurmaier turn their attention to a 1971 film that should…
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Episode 101- Toronto 1969 Part 1: Revival '69 with Dave Thurmaier
And so the next century of Glass Onion begins. We've got another fine 2-parter for you, with Antony joined by Dave Thurmaier, the co-host of the 'I've Got A Beatles Podcast' and former guest of the show way back in 2019 and 2020. The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert of September 1969 yielded…
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Bonus Episode # 14- Revolution 9 Revisited (Antony on 'Pop Goes The 60s')
Over 4 years on from our original episode about 'Revolution 9' (episode 25, in the show notes), we return to the topic with an audio version (including multiple sound clips) of a discussion that originally went out on video on Matt Williamson's excellent you tube channel 'Pop Goes The 60s' back…
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Episode 100b- John Lennon In The 1960s (Part 2 of 2)
And so we complete the milestone! Scott Phipps once again joins Antony to complete their whistle-stop, greatest hits tour through John Lennon and the 1960s. Scott gives us a brief sketch of each year through a few news events (some extremely random but no less interesting) before our two intrepid...
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Episode 100a- John Lennon In The 1960s (Part 1 of 2)
What better way to mark Glass Onion's century than with a traditional multi-parter? In the first of two shows to celebrate our milestone, Antony is joined again by Scott Phipps to take a whistle-stop, greatest hits tour through John Lennon and the decade that made him and which he helped propel...
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Episode 99.5- Paul Is Dead
We felt it in poor taste to add show notes at such a sad time for the world...
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Episode 99- Gimme Some (More) Truth
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...
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Episode 98- John Lennon And Me
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…
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Episode 97- John Lennon in 1967 with Tony Green (Part 3 of 3)
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...
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Episode 96- John Lennon in 1967 with Tony Green (Part 2 of 3)
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…
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Episode 95: John Lennon In 1967 with Tony Green (Part 1 of 3)
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...
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Episode 94- Shake It Up Baby!- The Beatles and 1963 with Ken McNab (Part 2 of 2)
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...
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Episode 93- Shake It Up Baby!: The Beatles and 1963 with Ken McNab (Part 1 of 2)
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...
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Episode 92- John Lennon In 1962 with David 'Ghosty' Wills (Part 3 of 3)
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...
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Episode 91- John Lennon In 1962 with David 'Ghosty' Wills (Part 2 of 3)
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...
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Episode 90- John Lennon In 1962 with David 'Ghosty' Wills (Part 1 of 3)
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...
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Episode 89- All We Are Saying: The 1980 Playboy Interviews (Part 3 of 3)
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…
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Episode 88- All We Are Saying: The 1980 Playboy Interviews (Part 2 of 3)
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...
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Episode 87- All We Are Saying: The 1980 Playboy Interviews (Part 1 of 3)
John Lennon's series of interviews for Playboy magazine in September 1980, 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…
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Bonus Episode #13- John Lennon Compilation Albums (Antony on 'When They Was Fab' podcast)
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…
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Episode 86- Two of Us: The Ballad of Lennon & McCartney
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…
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Episode 85- Describing John Lennon with Luke Thompson (Part 2 of 2)
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...
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Episode 84- Describing John Lennon with Luke Thompson (Part 1 of 2)
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...
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Episode 83- Jon Stewart returns (and Antony reads stories...)
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...
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Episode 82- John Lennon in 1968 with Matt Williamson (Part 2 of 2)
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…
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Episode 81- John Lennon in 1968 with Matt Williamson (Part 1 of 2)
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...
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Episode 80- John Lennon Live! with Chris Purcell (Part 2 of 2)
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…
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Episode 79- John Lennon Live! with Chris Purcell (Part 1 of 2)
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...
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Episode 78- Dylan, Lennon, Marx & God with Jon Stewart & Ben Burrell (Part 2 of 2)
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...
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Episode 77- Dylan, Lennon, Marx & God with Jon Stewart & Ben Burrell (Part 1 of 2)
This time around, Antony is joined by Jon Stewart, the author of a fantastic new book that offers a unique new take on the fascinating John Lennon/Bob Dylan relationship, and also welcomes a returning guest, radio DJ and Bob Dylan podcaster extraordinaire Ben Burrell. Before diving into the main...
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Episode 76- John Lennon in 1969 with Scott Phipps (Part 2 of 2)
Having set the scene of 1969 in the first part of this 2-parter, Scott and I go through the John Lennon-related events of the year, one dominated by John & Yoko's sincere quest for world peace. Join us for bed-ins, bags, billboards, Give Peace A Chance, Live Peace in Toronto, Abbey Road and…
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Episode 75- John Lennon in 1969 with Scott Phipps (Part 1 of 2)
1969 was, even by the standards of the tumultuous decade of the 60s, a remarkably eventful year both for John Lennon and the world at large. Scott Phipps makes a welcome return to the podcast for a 2-parter about John in this year. I should come clean and say that there is very little John...
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Episode 74- The U.S. vs John Lennon with James Corbett
James Corbett joins the show to discuss the 2006 documentary about John's political activism and his fight against the Nixon administration to stay in the U.S. We also take some time to look at the political landscape of the time and the difference between then and now in terms of how much the...
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Bonus Episode #12- Beatles Reflections & Revolver tangential review
For this episode, we take you back to a couple of my proto-podcast adventures in Beatleland way back in November 2013. Firstly, I answer a few questions from friends and then I'm joined by schoolfriend and (then budding) musicologist Edmund Holliday as we take a casual look at the tracks from...
About this show
A deep dive into the music and complex psychology of John Lennon, featuring interviews with such noted authors and podcasters as David Bedford, Dan Richter, Jude Kessler, Kit O'Toole and Ken McNab, as well as ex-Quarrymen bandmates Rod Davis and Colin Hanton
Hosted by
Antony Rotunno
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