Then there is "Help". The groups’ second film found them doing more and traveling the world. They’d also found marijuana. The Beatles and particularly John always looked like they had a secret they weren’t telling anyone else. In several of the early filmed song performances he would smile like he was thinking " if you only knew". By the time the second film was being shot they really did have a secret they didn’t dare tell. The group in later years spoke of ruining take after take, from stoned laughter and lost concentration on their lines. John’s quote was "By the time we made Help we were smoking marijuana for breakfast". Apparently the same happened during lunchtimes because it’s said that not a lot was accomplished after the lunch hours during shooting. But what developed during this time was the factor of real secrets that most of the world was not quite ready for. John’s attitude was a little more downbeat and grimmer. He spoke in later years of this as his "fat Elvis period" and said he wasn’t particularly happy during this time. The coolness prevailed though. He still had the unique approach to answering a question. "Hey Beatle, you shall have fun, eh?", asked the evil Clang. John’s answer is "No thanks, I’m rhythm guitar, and mouth organ". Watch his face, he’s so casual and cool in this moment, it comes off as an inside joke but then it also has that vicious Lennon edge to it. The Beatles were pushed and pulled in so many directions by this point in time, it’s really no wonder they became so fond of shutting out the noise and the fast pace by being stoned all the time. The viciousness is still there in his simple statements to other figures of authority. "You’ve failed scientist!" he says again to Victor Spinnetti. To the Scotland Yard policeman he asks "How’s the Great Train robbery going?". Then the music of Help is just as wonderful as that of the previous film. The one song here John seems to be remembered for is "You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away". Could anyone ever look more relaxed and more cool as John, as he’s leaning back, and just singing and playing his acoustic guitar in this performance? The song before it, "You’re Gonna Lose That Girl" is just as effective with it’s rich colors and bright lights and shadows of the smoky studio, as John once again plays and sings in such an apparently effortless fashion. His musical performances in these two films still amaze me to this day after all these years.
Now many of these examples of "cool" it could be argued were scripted. True. But John’s attitude and personality certainly were not. Neither were the things he said in his daily life. John was never afraid to take a stand, something that would be more obvious in later years. He often argued with Beatles manager Brian Epstein over taking a public stance on the war in Vietnam. John and his other bandmates wanted to speak out about it in the early days of their popularity, but Brian always insisted that the Beatles not enter into the controversy. Eventually there was no stopping John’s opinions. Epstein was the proverbial child with his finger in the dike, Johns opinions would eventually come flooding out. They became the controversy itself when he would have a quote taken out of context that the group was more popular than Jesus Christ. It was quite a foolish and quick-to-judge part of America that came down on the entire group so harshly for something John had said rather off the cuff. Besides all of that, it happened to be the truth. Kids were begging their parents to go to the concerts. They covered their walls in pictures. They played their records and bought the magazines and other Beatle merchandise in record numbers. There was no such enthusiasm for the church or anything else of the time. John made his statement out of frustration as much as anything. By this time he was rather weary of the game as it was. He’d lived in a fishbowl of celebrity for a long time and was in need of a rest when this happened. At the insistence of Brian he finally made a public apology for something he’d never really even done in the first place. At this point in time the Beatles were such a huge machine that couldn’t be stopped but the press wanted an "I’m sorry" and eventually John had to come up with it or the machine would break down, and horribly so. I myself think it’s one of the very few things he did that was NOT cool. He compromised his principles just to keep a peace he would eventually very publicly seek out and encourage from the whole world. He said later on that he was sorry he apologized. I think people are often required to do some things they truly don’t want to do. Like a defense attorney defending an obviously guilty client, John played their game just to move forward. I still admire him for sacrificing his own principles for the greater good of the group though. Now THAT was pretty cool!
Time went on and things began to change. The influence of the substances and a new musical hero Bob Dylan, took effect on all of the Beatles and especially on John. The songs evolved from the love songs, and simplicity of the earlier days and simple rock and roll to something else. "I’m a Loser" is really a brave statement to make if you really think about it! But as he admitted in later years that was how he felt at the time. The excitement and freshness of his group faded for John as they found success. By the time of the second film and the "Beatles For Sale" album the bloom was long off of the rose. It’s no wonder he was so introspective at the time, what was there left to conquer? Anything is fun when it’s new and fresh. Rock and roll was neither fun or fresh by this time. Neither was the marijuana. A search for "something new and different" would send them all in different directions in future months. LSD was one of these directions and a significant one for a while. More secrets to keep from the rest of the world. Then the "answers" and awareness they were in search of seemed to be closer. Putting an end to the touring would at least let them have a little more time for the "search".
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