Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions

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Template:Redirect Template:Redirect Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates {{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |{{#if: 9 May 1969 (UK)
26 May 1969 (US) | Template:Short description}}}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins1968Wedding Album1969studioUnfinished Music No. 2: Life with the LionsJohnLennon-albums-unfinishedmusicno2lifewiththelions.jpgYoko Ono in bed with John Lennon on the floor to the right. There is no text on the cover.John Lennon and Yoko Ono9 May 1969 (UK)
26 May 1969 (US)4–25 November 1968, at Room 1, Second West Ward, Queen Charlotte's Hospital, London;
2 March 1969, at Lady Mitchell Hall, Cambridge University, Cambridge*Avant-garde<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions is the second of three collaborative experimental albums of avant-garde music by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, released in May 1969 on Zapple, a sub label of Apple. It was a successor to 1968's highly controversial Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins,<ref name="Listen8">Template:Cite book</ref> and was followed by the Wedding Album. The album peaked in the United States at number 174, 50 places lower than the previous album. The album, whose title is a play on words of the BBC Radio show Life with The Lyons, was recorded at Queen Charlotte's Hospital in London and live at Cambridge University, in November 1968 and March 1969, respectively. The Cambridge performance, to which Ono had been invited and to which she brought Lennon, was Lennon and Ono's second as a couple. A few of the album's tracks were previewed by the public, thanks to Aspen magazine. The album was remastered in 1997.

Background

Beatle John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Unfinished Music" series was an attempt by Lennon and Ono to make a record of their life together.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> With Ono's Grapefruit in mind, Lennon and Ono imagined that the sound wasn't printed into the vinyl's grooves, but was meant to be thought of by the listener's mind.<ref name=AsM161>Template:Cite book</ref> Lennon described "Unfinished Music" as "saying whatever you want it to say. It is just us expressing ourselves like a child does, you know, however he feels like then. What we're saying is make your own music. This is Unfinished Music."<ref name=pob/> A few of the tracks that ended up on the album were released as a mono 8" square flexi record that was given away with copies of the American magazine Aspen.<ref name=Listen11>Blaney 2005, p. 11</ref> The record, which featured mostly Ono on the first side, with Lennon contributing the whole second side as one track, edited by Mario Amaya,<ref group="nb">All by Ono, except where noted. Side one: "Song for John"/"Let's Go on Flying"/"Snow Is Falling All the Time", "Mum's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow", "No Bed for Beatle John" (Ono and Lennon). Side two: "Radio Play" (Lennon).<ref name=Listen11/></ref><ref name=Listen11/> was recorded at Queen Charlotte's Hospital.<ref name=Listen12-13>Blaney 2005, pp. 12–13</ref> Before Lennon and Ono were together as a couple, Ono was asked to perform at a free jazz concert in Lady Mitchell Hall at Cambridge University,<ref name=Listen16/> by organiser Anthony Barnett.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref group="nb">The concert came about as Barnett "wanted to put on a concert of new, improvised music".<ref name=CNews/></ref><ref name=CNews/> Ono, who was going to cancel her performance, was persuaded by Lennon to perform.<ref name=Listen16/> Lennon and Ono had their first performance together for The Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus film, where they were part of the band The Dirty Mac.<ref name=W&M7/>

Recording and content

Fluxus art concepts and practices were used for the album.<ref name=W&M7>Template:Cite book</ref> The album opens with an improvised recording titled "Cambridge 1969",<ref group="nb">With Ono, The Flaming Lips made a remix of "Cambridge 1969", re-titled "Cambridge 1969/2007", that was included on the album Yes, I'm a Witch.<ref name=CNews/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref></ref> recorded on 2 March 1969 at Cambridge University, before a live audience,<ref name=JPGR/> which became Lennon and Ono's second performance together, but their first released performance<ref group="nb">The Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus would be shelved<ref name=W&M7/> until 1996.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref></ref><ref name=W&M7/> and the first performance by a Beatle without the rest of the band since their main line-up's formation.<ref name=pob/> The piece takes up all of side one and consists of Ono's vocalisations and screaming accompanied by loud, brash and distorted electric guitar feedback from Lennon.<ref name=Stories13>Template:Cite book</ref> Saxophonist John Tchicai and percussionist John Stevens join Ono and Lennon near the end of the piece.<ref name=Listen17>Blaney 2005, p. 17</ref><ref name=RG>Template:Cite book</ref> Throughout the performance, Lennon kept his back to the audience.<ref name=Listen16/> The original version of the piece was longer.<ref name=JPGR/> In a 2010 interview with Cambridge News, Tchicai said that the concert was split in two: the first set was Lennon and Ono, and the other consisted of jazz improvisation players.<ref name=CNews>Template:Cite news</ref> Recalled Tchicai, Lennon and Ono said to the players: "If you would like to join us for some improvisation, please do."<ref name=CNews/> Barnett said that Lennon had been "trying to show off and be more avant-garde than anyone in avant-garde music".<ref name=CNews/>

Side two of the album was recorded on a cassette tape in their suite at Queen Charlotte's Hospital in London.<ref name=Listen11/> "No Bed for Beatle John" consists of Lennon and Ono singing the text of press clippings about themselves,<ref name=Listen13>Blaney 2005, p. 13</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> including reports of the hospital not giving Lennon a bed to stay in during Ono's miscarriage, and EMI refusing to carry Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins because of its controversial sleeve,<ref name=pob>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=Listen10>Blaney 2005, p. 10</ref> in a cappella chant style.<ref group="nb">Lennon would employ a similar style to a song in a Bob Dylan-like voice,<ref name=W&M8>Urish; Bielen 2007, p. 8</ref> in November 1978, known as "News of the Day (From Reuters)".<ref name=Diary>Template:Cite book</ref></ref><ref name=Listen13/> "Baby's Heartbeat" is a looped infant mortality recording, made with a Nagra microphone, of John Ono Lennon II's ill-fated actual palpitations.<ref name=Stories13/><ref name=Listen17/> Ono first referenced infant mortality in her book Grapefruit, then in her song "Greenfield Morning I Pushed an Empty Baby Carriage All Over the City" from her album Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band.<ref name=Listen17/> "Two Minutes Silence" follows; made as a tribute to composer John Cage's 4'33" in that, similar to Cage's avant garde composition, though Lennon and Ono's track is completely silent.<ref name=Listen18>Blaney 2005, p. 18</ref> The album closes with "Radio Play", which includes sounds of a radio with brief moments of Lennon and Ono having a conversation and Lennon making a phone call in the background.<ref name=Listen13/> An edited version of this recording was released on the flexi record<ref name=Listen13/> that was given away with Aspen.<ref name=Listen11/>

"Song for John", one of the songs that was included on the flexi record,<ref name=Listen11/> features a "Dear Prudence"-like chord progression,<ref name=JPGR/> in a medley with "Let's Go on Flying" and "Snow Is Falling All the Time". It was written by Ono before she had met Lennon.<ref name=Listen12/> The entire medley was recorded at Queen Charlotte's Hospital.<ref name=Listen12/> By this time, Ono was looking to sign a record contract, and "Song for John" was going to be part of her first album. Ono commented, "A record company had suggest I do an album of my sort of freak-type freestyle things, one of which was Song For John."<ref name=Listen12/> Ono wrote the song when "thinking about wanting to meet somebody who could fly with me".<ref name=Listen12/> Lennon became the first person to hear the demo, so Ono "felt a sentimental reason for the name to be John."<ref name=Listen12/> Ono later did a re-make of the song for her album Approximately Infinite Universe.<ref name=Listen12/> "Snow Is Falling All the Time", similar to a nursery rhyme, was re-made as the B-side to "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", retitled "Listen, the Snow Is Falling".<ref name=Listen12/> "Mum's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow", which features Lennon on acoustic guitar, is an early version of what would become "Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)".<ref name=Listen12/> This version was later included on the Rykodisc issue of Lennon and Ono's Wedding Album.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Release

Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions was released on 9 May 1969 in the UK<ref group="nb">UK Zapple ZAPPLE 01<ref name=Listen13/></ref> and 26 May 1969 in the US,<ref group="nb">LP: US Zapple ST 3357; 8-track: 8XT-3357<ref name=Listen13/></ref> on the Apple subsidiary label Zapple.<ref name=Listen13/> While EMI didn't act as distributor for Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins,<ref name=pob/><ref name=Listen10/> they did for Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions.<ref name=Listen16>Blaney 2005, p. 16</ref> The album still failed to chart in the UK,<ref name=JPGR>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but it managed a number 174 peak in the US.<ref name=Listen13/> The album sold about 60,000 copies in the US,<ref name=pob/> while about 5,000 were sold in the UK.<ref name=JPGR/> Lennon was disappointed that Apple hadn't given any promotion to the album.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The title is both a parody on the name of the BBC radio comedy Life with the Lyons,<ref name=Listen15>Blaney 2005, p. 15</ref> and a reference to the press, who would follow Lennon and Ono everywhere.<ref name=W&M7/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The album's original inner sleeve was printed with the song titles and the names of the musicians for each track.<ref name=Listen16/> The album was released in Japan by Zapple;<ref group="nb">Japan Zapple AP-8782<ref name=Listen16/></ref> a promo edition of the album was released on red vinyl.<ref name=Listen16/> A reissue included, instead of the inner sleeve, a four-page sheet with lyrics.<ref group="nb">Japan Zapple EAS-80701<ref name=Listen16/></ref><ref name=Listen16/>

Cover art by Kosh with front cover photo was taken by Susan Wood<ref name=pob/> while Ono was bedridden in Room 1, Second West Ward, at Queen Charlotte's Hospital. The back cover was a news photo of Lennon and Ono leaving Marylebone Police Station on 19 October 1968, after their arrest for hashish possession the previous day,<ref name=JPGR/> at 34 Montagu Square, Lennon's residence.<ref name=Listen11/> The arrest later caused problems for Lennon with US immigration authorities.<ref name=Listen12>Blaney 2005, p. 12</ref> The back cover also carried a "quote" from Beatles producer George Martin: "No comment".<ref name="JPGR" /> The couple followed the album with the Wedding Album in 1969.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions was reissued through Rykodisc under the observation of Ono,<ref name="JPGR" /> with two bonus tracks, "Song for John" and "Mulberry",<ref name="pob" /> on 3 June 1997.<ref group="nb">US Rykodisc RCD10412<ref name=Listen16/></ref><ref name="Listen16" /> The album was reissued on LP, CD, and digitally by Secretly Canadian on November 11, 2016 with bonus tracks and rare photos.

Critical reception

Template:Album reviews Contemporaneously, Ed Ward wrote in Rolling Stone that the album was "utter bullshit" and "in poor taste".<ref name="Listen15" /> The Boston Sunday Globe writer Gregory McDonald advised readers not to buy the album, and described "Cambridge 1969" as resembling "a well recorded vocal by a mosquito".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Alan Jones of Lincolnshire Echo warned that the album ranged "from Yoko singing their press cuttings in a high cat-like voice to John twiddling the dial on the radio", and did not advise the record for those "on small record-buying budgets."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The Sault Star were more favourable, deeming its contents and artwork to "sum up the total of rock as a revolutionary force."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In a review for Cambridge Evening News, Douglas Oliver said the Cambridge concert was "strange and chilling. Not in a bad sense, but because there was so much unusual texture. At no time did the music become comforting. It was an extraordinary experience."<ref name="Listen17" /> Record MirrorTemplate:'s reviewer described Life with the Lions as "a fine example of how two young people CAN amuse themselves without television".<ref>Template:Cite magazine Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).</ref>

In a retrospective review, AllMusic's William Ruhlmann wrote of Lennon and Ono: "If, as they suggested, their lives were their art, then this is, too. Maybe."<ref name="Ruhlmann" /> Seth Colter Walls of Pitchfork deemed the album "less idyllic" than Two Virgins, and wrote that while "Cambridge 1969" does not "create most interest over its 26 minutes", it reveals that Ono's more successful performances work because they typically find her "switching up [her] extreme textures with greater frequency."<ref name="Walls" /> Uncut reviewer Neil Spencer similarly described the album as the product of "a troubled phase in the couple's lives", but found "Cambridge 1969" was more arresting than the other tracks, noting: "It was Lennon’s first public performance outside The Beatles, and you can sense the relish he took in it."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Tom Carson of Entertainment Weekly described the album as a "notoriously oblique" sound collage.<ref name="Carson">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Martin C. Strong of The Great Rock Discography said the album continued Lennon and Ono's "anti-commercial, free-form direction, the songs mainly recorded on a small cassette player."<ref name="Strong" /> while in The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Colin Larkin said the album saw Lennon continue "his marvellous joke on us".<ref name="Larkin" />

Track listing

All pieces by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

Side one
  1. "Cambridge 1969" – 26:31
Side two
  2. "No Bed for Beatle John" – 4:41
  3. "Baby's Heartbeat" – 5:10
  4. "Two Minutes Silence" – 2:00
  5. "Radio Play" – 12:35
CD bonus tracks
  2. "Song for John" – 1:29
  3. "Mulberry" – 8:47

Musicians

Track numbering refers to CD and digital releases of the album.

Charts

Chart (1969) Peak
position 		Total
weeks
U.S. Billboard 200 174 8

References

Footnotes

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Citations

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