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Credit: Paul Saltzman<\/p>\n
October 29th, 2026 \u00b7 1:00am GMT <\/p>\n
It\u2019s almost impossible not to connect the art of John Lennon<\/a> with politics, for The Beatles\u2019 leader was arguably the most famous politically engaged musician of all time. <\/p>\n While it seems as though his fight against social injustice was lifelong, beginning right at the start of his career and lasting until the very end, the truth is, it was a tale of two halves. In the bright and early emergence of The Beatles, Lennon, like the rest of his band, was consigned to the role of a pop star<\/a> whose only job was to deliver musical hits devoid of any political tension. <\/p>\n But then came the graduation from innocence and the vital embrace of the world around him, which, from the peak of his fame right until his tragic death, was embroiled in bloody global conflicts that he deemed necessary to criticise. He was a crucial voice in activism, penning songs that still soundtrack social resistance, and thus, it\u2019s hard to imagine him ever being any different.\u00a0<\/p>\n In trying to understand where exactly it started for Lennon, we have landed on one specific song. The first political domino to fall in his back catalogue was the 1968 track \u2018Revolution\u2019, taken from The Beatles\u2019 iconic White Album. <\/p>\n At this point, the Vietnam War was at its bloodiest peak<\/a>, with the aftermath of the Tet Offensive ringing through Western societies and sparking some of the most furious anti-war protests of the era. Lennon realised that he could no longer remain silent on the issues around him, cosplaying as a blissfully ignorant pop star, and so took to his guitar to pen a track in response. <\/p>\n The song took shape while Lennon was in India along with the rest of the band, who were attending a transcendental meditation camp with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.<\/p>\n \u201cI had been thinking about it up in the hills in India,\u201d said Lennon in a 1980 Playboy interview. \u201cI still had this \u2018God will save us\u2019 feeling about it, that it\u2019s going to be all right (even now I\u2019m saying \u2018Hold on, John, it\u2019s going to be all right,\u2019 otherwise, I won\u2019t hold on), but that\u2019s why I did it, I wanted to talk, I wanted to say my piece about revolution. I wanted to tell you, or whoever listens, to communicate, to say \u2018What do you say? This is what I say\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Further reading: From The Vault<\/p>\n
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<\/a> The Far Out Beatles Newsletter<\/p>\n