John Lennon never held back on his opinions. Hell, one listen to savage solo classic ‘How Do You Sleep’ would tell you that. Less well known, though, is his take-down of a seminal Neil Young song – and the reasons behind it.
‘Hey Hey My My (Out Of The Blue)’ was released in the late 70s, Neil Young’s attempt to counter the energy and passion of punk. Name-checking Johnny Rotten, it promised that “it’s better to burn out / than to fade away…”
Speaking to Playboy in one of his final interviews, John Lennon picked up on this. With fateful words, he refused to deify those who died young, preferring instead to point his young son Sean towards the survivors, the people who remained to shape culture.
Asked about the lyric, John Lennon replied with scorn: “I hate it. It’s better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out. If he was talking about burning out like Sid Vicious, forget it. I don’t appreciate the worship of dead Sid Vicious or of dead James Dean or dead John Wayne. It’s the same thing. Making Sid Vicious a hero, Jim Morrison — it’s garbage to me. I worship the people who survive — Gloria Swanson, Greta Garbo”.
He added: “They’re saying John Wayne conquered cancer — he whipped it like a man. You know, I’m sorry that he died and all that — I’m sorry for his family — but he didn’t whip cancer. It whipped him. I don’t want Sean worshipping John Wayne or Johnny Rotten or Sid Vicious. What do they teach you? Nothing. Death. Sid Vicious died for what? So that we might rock? I mean, it’s garbage you know.”
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Of course, John Lennon had every right to feel a sense of quiet optimism about his own work – back in the studio after a five year gap, he was also helping Yoko Ono’s solo triumphs. Very much the comeback kid at this point, he channelled the belief of a survivor during the interview.
Indeed, he finished: “If Neil Young admires that sentiment so much, why doesn’t he do it? Because he sure as hell faded away and came back many times, like all of us. No, thank you. I’ll take the living and the healthy.”
Poignant words.
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