{"id":839545,"date":"2026-09-07T14:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T14:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/839545\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T14:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T14:04:13","slug":"the-1960s-band-john-lennon-called-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/839545\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1960s band John Lennon called \u201cbeautiful\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"John<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ Alamy<\/p>\n

Mon 7 September 2026 11:29, UK <\/p>\n

Not many people would dispute the beauty of The Beatles<\/a>. As the Liverpudlian four-piece experimented with guitars and genre, they created some of the most gorgeous compositions of all time. From the twinkling plucks of \u2018Here Comes the Sun\u2019 to the peaceful and placating \u2018Let It Be\u2019, their huge discography has found its way into the hearts of countless listeners.<\/p>\n

The Beatles may have infused their songwriting with beauty, but they also ensured that it still rocked. Amidst those intricate melodies and sentimental lyrics are moments of pure rock and roll. In the thumping \u2018Come Together\u2019 and the contorting \u2018Twist and Shout\u2019, they walk the line seamlessly, evoking delight and dance in equal measure. <\/p>\n

As one-half of the band\u2019s leading songwriting partnership, John Lennon was a driving force behind this songwriting style. He could create gorgeous melodies and tell personal stories through song, but he could also pen rocking riffs and striking words. From \u2018Across the Universe\u2019 to \u2018Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds\u2019, he penned some of the Beatles\u2019 most well-known and well-loved work.<\/p>\n

Lennon didn\u2019t only appreciate beautiful rock and roll in his own work, though, he also looked for it in the output of his peers. During a 1970 interview called Lennon Remembers with Jann S Wenner, the Beatle shared his thoughts on artists like Neil Young, James Taylor and Van Morrison. But he had some particularly nice words to say about American rockers, Credence Clearwater Revival\/<\/p>\n

\u201cI like Creedence Clearwater [Revival],\u201d Lennon stated, \u201cThey make beautiful Clearwater music \u2013 they make good rock \u2018n\u2019 roll music.\u201d As the era of The Beatles drew to a close, Creedence Clearwater Revival were beginning to forge their own style of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll<\/a> on the other side of the Atlantic.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"Creedence<\/a>Credit: Far Out \/ Cal Montney \/ Los Angeles Times \/ UCLA Library<\/p>\n

There was nothing particularly complicated about what Creedence Clearwater Revival were doing, but that was part of the appeal. Fogerty had a knack for making songs feel like they had always existed, built from familiar ingredients but put together with enough personality to make them unmistakably his own. There was grit in the guitars and his voice, but there was also a simplicity that allowed the melodies to shine through.<\/p>\n

That perhaps explains Lennon\u2019s choice of the word \u201cbeautiful\u201d. He wasn\u2019t talking about beauty in the grand or delicate sense, but something found in a song doing exactly what it needs to do. Creedence could be rough, loud and direct without losing their melodic instincts, meaning the same track could get feet moving while still carrying something deeper beneath the surface.<\/p>\n

Further reading: From The Vault<\/p>\n

Their music certainly was pure, good old rock and roll. \u2018Fortunate Son\u2019, one of their signature tracks, featured twanging guitars and gruff vocals, singing of star-spangled eyes and critiquing war. Over half a century after its first release, it still sounds just as rocking and rolling, remaining a staple in the genre. <\/p>\n

But Lennon was correct, too, in suggesting that Creedence Clearwater Revival\u2019s music also had an element of beauty to it. Beneath rockabilly strums and swinging vocals, tracks like \u2018Bad Moon Rising\u2019 have a real allure to them. As John Fogerty paints pictures of hurricanes a-blowing and rivers overflowing, it\u2019s easy to find beauty in his lyrics and the instrumentation that surrounds them. <\/p>\n

Like Lennon and his songwriting partner Paul McCartney, Fogerty is just a great, classic rock and roll songwriter. Creedence Clearwater Revival\u2019s catalogue is evidence of that, filled to the brim with songs that will have you nodding along, struggling not to sing along. But their music goes above that, too, containing a certain kind of beauty.<\/p>\n

Though The Beatles ventured further into experimental territory, playing with production and psychedelia, this kind of songwriting was at the heart of their music, too. When they weren\u2019t blending genres and samples on tracks like \u2018Tomorrow Never Knows\u2019, they were creating all-time great rock and roll numbers.<\/p>\n

Alongside their innovation and influence, Beatlemania<\/a> and a stroll down Abbey Road, their talent for creating beautiful rock and roll is what has kept them in our cultural consciousness for so long. With his appreciation for this kind of songwriting, it\u2019s no surprise that Lennon loved Creedence Clearwater Revival. <\/p>\n

Listen to \u2018Bad Moon Rising\u2019 by Creedence Clearwater Revival, the band John Lennon called \u201cbeautiful\u201d, below.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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