On March 25, 1969, John Lennon and his new wife Yoko Ono moved into the suite at the Hilton in Amsterdam to start what would become known as the “Bed-in”, a peace protest, in which the couple received journalists from 9 am to 9 pm to spread their message of peace to the world – “Let’s stay one week in bed to record our protest against all the suffering and violence in the world. Can you think of a better way to spend seven days?”
What many do not realize is that the ideological embryo of the couple’s famous public “honeymoon” may be linked to the long time of procrastination and daydreams that Lennon used in his bed. One song in particular, the beautiful “I’m Only Sleeping”, the third track on the ‘Revolver’, released in 1966 intimately portrays the love relationship between John and his bed.
Let’s go to some curiosities about this almost ‘cult’ track from Revolver:
In its first draft, dated April 25, 1966, the song was titled simply “I’m Sleeping”.
The original opening line was “Try to sleep again, got to get to sleep”.
An important parallel between “I’m Only Sleeping” and John’s solo career can be found in the track “Watching the Wheels” from Lennon’s last album, 1980’s “Double Fantasy”. what Lennon does about how people judge him by the way he is:
“Everybody seems to think I’m lazy, I don’t mind, I think they’re crazy” (in “I’m Only Sleeping”)
“People say I’m lazy dreaming my life away” (in “Watching the Wheels”)
John also punctuates in both lyrics the criticism of everyone’s need for urgency, as he simply goes on with life because he knows things are going to happen anyway.
In “I’m Only Sleeping”, Lennon says: “Runnin’ everywhere at such a speed/
‘Til they find there’s no need (there’s no need”. In (“Watching the Wheels”) “I tell them there’s no hurry, I’m just sitting here doing time/
I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round/
I really love to watch them roll/
No longer riding on the merry-go-round.
In times of an urban frenzy focused on the motto “time is money”, this counterpoint taken from Lennon’s career, whether in the “Beatles” or on his solo journey, serves as an encouragement to dreamers and procrastinators who, often, far from being lazy people are there, just “watching shadows on the wall” before doing what can be a great work in their lives, just as John did throughout his brilliant career.
Enjoy “I’m Only Sleeping” from Revolver. In the comments, “Watching The Wheels”.
