Why did John Lennon walk into the Indica Gallery in London in November 1966? Would he have walked into the gallery in 1962 when the Beatles were in their infancy? Would he have walked into the gallery in 1964 when Beatlemania was at its peak? I’m not sure. However, what I can say for sure in John Lennon evolved from 1962 when The Beatles were perfecting their skills in London bars to 1964 when The Beatles were showcasing their immense skills on the Ed Sullivan Show to that November 1966 day when he met Yoko. He changed. He evolved.
Ultimately, John met Yoko, and the rest is history. Unfortunately, uninformed trolls were unkind to Yoko especially throughout John’s lifetime. According to her critics, she was the reason The Beatles ended. She was the sorceress who led John away from The Beatles to bed-ins. If she had not come along, The Beatles would have never split was the naysayers’ argument. Yet, the argument misses one key point.
People grow up. People evolve. People do not grow up in a linear fashion. We meet people. We learn. We fail and learn from our failures. We experience new things. As a result, we grow. We evolve. We change. The Beatles at their height were experiencing life in a way no one had ever experienced. The opportunities and people open to them made it inevitable they were going to change. The only question was how.
Prior to John meeting Yoko, The Beatles evolved from a bar band playing Chuck Berry & Motown covers to full-fledged pop idols with the first albums to a singing version of the Marx brothers in A Hard Day’s Night to introspective balladeers with Rubber Soul. They changed right in front of everyone’s eyes.
Individually, John and Paul McCartney started collaborating less. Paul loved (and still loves) making music. Music is his challenge, but he views being a musician as more of a profession than the others. Music is his job, and he loves his job.
I believe John loves making music as well. However, for him, music became a form of self-expression. He evolved from wanting to be the next Elvis to being a Dylan-like troubadour. He became more interested in the world outside of The Beatles and outside of his family. He became more artistic, and his artistic side led him to the Indica Gallery.
In hindsight, Yoko is the biggest symbol of his evolution. After meeting Yoko, John became more artier, more open, and more political. Nonetheless, he was also evolving away from The Beatles. In his mid-twenties, he was a much different person than he was in his early twenties. This is perfectly fine and normal. It means he was human.
I think all of us change throughout our lives. Who wants to the be same person at 26 as they were at 22? I believe I’m a different person at 51 than I was at 50.
We meet people. We learn. We fail and learn from our failures. We experience new things. As a result, we grow. We evolve. We change. It is all a part of life.
The “problem” with John’s growth was it put the final nail in The Beatles’ coffin. However, it is not Yoko’s fault for their dissolution. The dissolution was inevitable. They were growing apart as friends and colleagues in their twenties often do. Yoko was a reflection of John’s growth, not the cause.
Last month, Yoko turned 90. To celebrate, I would like to toast her and raise a toast to personal evolution. Life would be boring without it even it causes the dissolution of the world’s greatest musical act.