Born in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager. In 1956, he formed The Quarrymen, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Sometimes called "the smart Beatle", Lennon initially was the group's de facto leader, a role he gradually ceded to McCartney. Through his songwriting in the Beatles, he embraced myriad musical influences, initially writing and co-writing rock and pop-oriented hit songs in the band's early years, then later incorporating experimental elements into his compositions in the latter half of the Beatles' career as his songs became known for their increasing innovation. Lennon soon expanded his work into other media by participating in numerous films, including How I Won the War, and authoring In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works, both collections of nonsense writings and line drawings. Starting with "All You Need Is Love", his songs were adopted as anthems by the anti-war movement and the larger counterculture of the 1960s. In 1969, he started the Plastic Ono Band with his second wife, multimedia artist Yoko Ono, held the two-week-long anti-war demonstration Bed-ins for Peace and left the Beatles to embark on a solo career.
Between 1968 and 1972, Lennon and Ono collaborated on many works, including a trilogy of avant-garde albums, several more films, his solo debut John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and the international top-10 singles "Give Peace a Chance", "Instant Karma!", "Imagine", and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)". Moving to New York City in 1971, his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a three-year deportation attempt by the Nixon administration. Lennon and Ono separated from 1973 to 1975, during which time he produced Harry Nilsson's album Pussy Cats. He also had chart-topping collaborations with Elton John ("Whatever Gets You thru the Night") and David Bowie ("Fame"). Following a five-year hiatus, Lennon returned to music in 1980 with the Ono collaboration Double Fantasy. He was murdered by a Beatles fan, Mark David Chapman, three weeks after the album's release.
As a performer, writer or co-writer, Lennon had 25 number-one singles in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Double Fantasy, his best-selling album, won the 1981 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. That year, he won the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2002, Lennon was voted eighth in a BBC history poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth-greatest singer and 38th greatest artist of all time. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (in 1997) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (twice, as a member of the Beatles in 1988 and as a solo artist in 1994).
Studio albums
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
Imagine (1971)
Some Time in New York City (with Yoko Ono, 1972)
Mind Games (1973)
Walls and Bridges (1974)
Rock 'n' Roll (1975)
Double Fantasy (with Yoko Ono, 1980)
Milk and Honey (Posthumous with Yoko Ono, 1984)
Experimental studio albums with Yoko Ono
Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (1968)
Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions (1969)
Wedding Album (1969)
O' Sanity
John Lennon Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Psychotic builds a castle
And neurotic lives in it
I don't know what to do with my sanity
When the world's at the verge of calamity
O'sanity, O'sanity
What am I to do with you
But you're always standing behind me like a devil in hell
O'sanity, o'sanity
Why don't you let me go
Let go, let go, cut it out!
The lyrics of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's song O Sanity reflect on the theme of mental illness and the relationship between sanity and insanity. The opening lines "It's only sane to be insane" suggest that the boundary between the two is blurred and subjective. The following lines "Psychotic builds a castle and neurotic lives in it" illustrate the idea that mental illness can create a world of its own where people get trapped in their own mind. The lyrics suggest that the distinction between the sane and the insane is not always clear-cut, and that in some cases, insanity can be a coping mechanism to deal with a world that is on the verge of calamity.
The chorus of the song, "O'sanity, O'sanity, what am I to do with you" suggests a sense of struggle to reconcile with one's sanity. The lyrics propose a range of self-destructive behavior as an escape from sanity, "Drink up, shoot up, anything you please." The last few lines "But you're always standing behind me like a devil in hell, O'sanity, o'sanity, why don't you let me go", convey a sense of frustration with sanity itself, as if it's a hindrance to the person's way of life.
Overall, the lyrics of O Sanity are a reflection on the subjectivity of sanity and the different coping mechanisms people adopt when confronted with a challenging world.
Line by Line Meaning
It's only sane to be insane
Being crazy is totally normal.
Psychotic builds a castle
Those who are insane create magnificent things.
And neurotic lives in it
But being crazy also means living in that magnificence.
I don't know what to do with my sanity
I have no idea what to do now that I'm sane.
When the world's at the verge of calamity
Especially when the world is about to go through a disaster.
O'sanity, O'sanity
Oh, being sane, being sane!
What am I to do with you
What should I do now that I'm sane?
Drink up, shoot up, anything you please
Should I drown my sanity with drugs or alcohol?
But you're always standing behind me like a devil in hell
But being sane is like having a demon following you.
Why don't you let me go
Why can't I be free from sanity?
Let go, let go, cut it out!
I just want to be free from sanity!
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: YOKO ONO, JOHN LENNON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
thefabulousthomasj
Love this song. But it ends too soon!!!
JoeyDno3 JoeyDno3
You should buy the 12" extended version, that really goes on ....... and on ..........and on..........and on ......and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz . Be safe take care of each other 💝.
Shepcat
I think it's funny that this is a song written by Yoko Ono but it has a picture with Yoko and John
Gloria Miranda
Linda YOKO
SILLYBILLY BILLYSILLY
Satanic.