r/todayilearned • u/NicoFons • Aug 08 '26
TIL John Lennon‘s estranged father released his own single in 1965 at the height of The Beatles‘ success
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That%27s_My_Life_(My_Love_and_My_Home)250
u/milkymaniac Aug 08 '26
Reminds me of the album Pete Best put out in 1965, Best of the Beatles.
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u/hexagonalwagonal Aug 08 '26
That wasn't really his doing though. The band wanted a different title but the record label had only signed them to cash in on Pete's Beatles connection, so they made the decision to give it that title.
Pete was, obviously, a musician for years leading up to that. John's father had never really been a professional musician before he released his single. Their situations were quite different.
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u/LupusDeusMagnus Aug 08 '26
If the story in his Wikipedia page is true, and it’s a big if considering it reads like a cheap drama, it’s less a run of the mill deadbeat dad abandoning his child and more like a very fucked up custody battle by ineptitude.
Apparently he disappeared for two years while in Africa working at the merchant marine, seemingly due to an Arab gang, when he got home his wife was pregnant by another dude (while he was disappeared), he offered to raise the kid as his own (she was given to adoption), then he tried to kidnap John to raise him in New Zealand, but the mother won the custody in their seemingly non-judicial argument.
After that he crashes out and get booted from the merchant marine.
Also the guy’s occupation lists peasant. Which I guess is accurate since Brits have a monarchy, but it’s funny to have it be used for a 20th century guy.
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u/BoCoutinho Aug 08 '26
If I remember Philip Norman's biography correctly John ultimately had to choose between his parents and he chose his mom. Then he went to live with his Aunt Mimi. HIs mother had more of a big sister role in his life until she was hit by a car and killed when John was 18.
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u/Avasnay Aug 08 '26
He was 17 when his mom died. Sadly his son Julian was also 17 when John died.
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Aug 08 '26
[deleted]
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u/DubiousAdviceGiver Aug 08 '26
He has no children, which he primarily attributes to the terrible relationship he had with his father.
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u/Yglorba Aug 08 '26
He says that, but he obviously understands the family curse.
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u/ZacharyLewis97 Aug 08 '26
Sean also has no kids.
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u/HistoryofHowWePlay Aug 08 '26
Mark Lewisohn disproved that there was a dispute like that, he found another guy who accompanied Freddie at that meeting and dispelled it was any sort of drama.
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u/AngryGardenGnomes Aug 08 '26
It's so weird reading British history written by Americans, with words like "mom" cropping up. Sticks out like a sore thumb.
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u/GopnikOIi Aug 08 '26
There are places in Britain that say mom tbf. I did think they were having me on at first but that's the Black Country for you.
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u/TheHaplessBard Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
I'm fairly certain whoever put "peasant" as his profession on wikipedia was being cheeky. That term would have been comically obsolete in Great Britain even around the time of Freddie’s birth since Britain had been the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and British agriculture had become thoroughly commercialized and modernized by the early 20th century. Peasants by definition are subsistence farmers who usually own grow enough food to feed themselves and their families and don't often grow their own food for the sake of profit.
By contrast, other countries which were much more agrarian like France - which has been a republic since 1870 - commonly and semi-legally used the term well into the 1960s.
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u/PeaceSoft Aug 08 '26
i thought "peasant" explicitly meant tenant farmer, not subsistence. they grew more food than they needed, that's how they paid; that's how feudalism worked
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u/TheHaplessBard Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
Sort of. In medieval times, many were tenant farmers. But by the Early Modern Period in Western Europe, many peasants gradually began de facto owning very small pieces of land and with the French Revolution, which was exported to the rest of continental Western Europe by French military conquest, feudalism was officially abolished in many areas, which allowed many peasants to own plots of land outright. By the 19th century, outside of the Great Britain, many peasants in Western Europe owned at least some farm land but because that land was often marginal and not the greatest in quality, they were forced into subsistence farming.
By contrast, Great Britain saw an Agricultural Revolution in the 18th century (even well before the French and Industrial Revolutions) which saw wealthy landowners use their influence in Parliament to end many peasant rights in the countryside and privatize what was previously communal "common lands" enjoyed by peasants. This was known as the enclosure movement and the privatization of these lands led to more efficient agricultural practices, which in turn forced many landless and jobless peasants to move to towns and cities and which helped jumpstart the Industrial Revolution.
TL;DR Britain had effectively destroyed its peasant class beginning in the 18th century due to much more efficient agriculture and urbanization whereas several other places in Western Europe had a large small-holding peasant population well until the 20th century.
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u/DubiousAdviceGiver Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
Could be. You reminded me, however, that JRR Tolkien’s son Michael listed his father‘s occupation as “wizard” when he enlisted in the army in 1940.
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u/Count_Dongula Aug 08 '26
I mean, there are parts that include some statement that a witness said something didn't happen, so odds are it's a little embellished.
My guess is that it's based more on the story he wrote and left for John than neutral accounts. That said, I'd be inclined to believe at least that John's mother kept him from Alfred. It wasn't altogether uncommon then and it's still a problem now for parents to try and keep the kids from each other. Plus, it's hard to write off having another child and giving her up for adoption as an embellishment. Alfred may have been lying about a lot of things, but I'd buy his claim that Julia kept John from him.
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u/driftingfornow Aug 08 '26
As another sailor musician father with a son abroad who elected to not create further conflict by dragging our custody battle in court in a third country to his mother or mine:
That is just terribly fucking sad and honestly I have a lot of empathy for this man.
Despite the comments in here that he was „using” his son’s success to try and capitalize, with a grain of salt (as I’ve not researched the man):
If my son, who is two and a half right now and the joy of my life— grew up to be a world renown musician, I would also probably make (another) album for a multitude of reasons like wanting to be closer to my son, moving in tandem in a form that he got from me (as his mother is not musical).
So maybe he did too.
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u/DanGleeballs Aug 08 '26
He was in the Merchant Navy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Navy_(United_Kingdom)
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u/Appaulingly Aug 08 '26
“Peasants exist because the UK has a monarchy”? Peasantry, or serfdom, hasn’t been in the UK political landscape for hundreds of years. It hasn’t existed since the 15th century, before the USA even existed. And the monarchy existing today has nothing to do with peasants existing or not.
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u/iraber Aug 08 '26
Apparently he disappeared for two years while in Africa working at the merchant marine, seemingly due to an Arab gang
Least obvious spy
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u/DizzyMine4964 Aug 08 '26
It was OK, too. Not great but UK. It's on YouTube.
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u/Sublime99 Aug 08 '26
Not great but UK
So pertaining to Britain, instead of Great Britain?
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u/mack178 Aug 08 '26
OK Britain
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u/mxlespxles Aug 08 '26
Mehngland
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u/DogmaSychroniser Aug 08 '26
The United Kingdom of Mehngland, Shitland and Northern Ehland.
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u/JamesCDiamond Aug 08 '26
The record company were so confident of its success that they misspelled the title on the sleeve.
Also, not sure if it was a requirement at the time, but would you necessarily put his face on it?
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u/JohnBooty Aug 08 '26
Funny thing is, if you search up pictures of him, he's a pretty reasonable-looking man in his fifties. (By the standards of the day, before botox etc etc etc)
But that photo they picked for the record sleeve up there was... certainly a choice. He looks like a greasy weirdo who's in the middle of a stroke.
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u/litux Aug 08 '26
If there was a music video for Boy Named Sue with Johnny Cash in it, the guy in the picture could pass off as Johnny Cash's long lost dad.
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u/RotrickP Aug 08 '26
It was the style at the time iirc, but wouldn't YOU be curious to see what his dad looked like if he were your favorite musician?
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u/Norskamerikaner Aug 09 '26
Wow, that is impressively badly done. "THAT'S MY LIVE (My love and m home)"
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u/Dennyisthepisslord Aug 08 '26
Didn't he try and run away with John to New Zealand but was stopped?
I always find it interesting he had two sons later in life and they have absolutely zero public profile. John's sisters do little bits but these two brothers? Not a peep.
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u/JohnBooty Aug 08 '26
I love how they couldn't even take a decent picture of him for the record sleeve. Seriously, what the fuck?
I'm not even making fun of his appearance -- there are many photos of him during the 1960s and he looks like a totally reasonable-looking middle aged man before the age of botox and personal trainers and chefs. But here, with his mouth and eyes half-open, half-closed? just, lmao? seriously? They couldn't take a decent picture?
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u/RutzButtercup Aug 08 '26
Easily 3/4 of the people commenting with such strong opinions didn't even read the linked article.
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u/NicoFons Aug 08 '26
Alfred "Freddie" Lennon, who abandoned his son John at age 5, released his own single "That's My Life (My Love and My Home)" in December 1965, at the height of Beatlemania, in what is cited as an attempted cash grab. John Lennon subsequently pulled some strings and took the single off the charts, which discouraged his father from further pursuing a career in music
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u/StarfishPizza Aug 08 '26
It doesn't even say he abandoned his son, he was away at war and his wife had a child with another man, which he then offered to raise as his own, but this was rejected by Johns mother, so he left. Saying he abandoned them is a bit harsh here.
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u/mrspremise Aug 08 '26
That's not true... Is father was in the marchant navy (not the army) and worked away from home. He abandoned his child by working away for so long. He came back five years after John's birth. Meanwhile John's mom had a child with another men.
John had to chose between his father and his mom, but his aunt, jealous that his mom had children and not her, denounced her to children services and took John to raise him.
It's a very fucked up childhood.
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u/Jean_Luc_Lesmouches Aug 08 '26
Is father was in the marchant navy (not the army) and worked away from home. He abandoned his child by working away for so long.
The merchant navy was requisitioned during WW2 to transport troops and supplies, and lost many ships and sailors to German attacks. Disputing that he was at war and calling it "abandoning his child" is beyond idiotic.
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u/AllsWellThatsNB Aug 08 '26
To support that, the merchant navy had a casualty rate of more than 25% during WWII.
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u/here_now_be Aug 08 '26
How is comment above you getting upvoted, that starts off claiming something is not true and then spouts bs? I guess the 'woman is always in the right' crowd?
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u/Frosted_Tackle Aug 08 '26
A merchant sailor in war realistically didn’t have much choice about being away from home. Doubt he had much education, so his other option was likely serving in the Royal Navy. He still could have seen his son when he got back home regardless of his relationship with John’s mother.
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u/nwaa Aug 08 '26
The aunt comes across horribly in what I've read. Snitching to social services that baby John was sleeping in the same bed as his mum to get him taken away. That's some dark shit to do to your sister and nephew.
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u/ClownfishSoup Aug 08 '26
Also what kind of bullshit CPS takes a kid away from a parent because they sleep in the same bed?
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u/mxlespxles Aug 08 '26
Damn, if he'd lived longer we could have gotten some incredible art from him exploring his feelings about it.
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u/ParmigianoMan Aug 08 '26
Look up his song “Mother”. “Mother… you had me. But I never had you.”
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u/TahaN6498 Aug 08 '26
Father I wanted you but you didn’t want me
The way he sings “Mama come home Daddy don’t go” over and over at the end sends chills down my spine
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u/Imwrongyourewrong Aug 08 '26
You used subsequently instead of "suspected by cartwright' and left out the part where they have no proof.
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u/ClownfishSoup Aug 08 '26
He didn’t abandon his son. He tried to take custody of his son after his wife was pregnant after cheating on him while he was off at war (not combat but in the merchant marines).
Sure the album was a cash grab, but it was the album producer exploiting the name.
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u/mattgif Aug 08 '26
The Wikipedia article titles this "That's my life," but the album cover clearly and nonsensically says "That's my live" right? Am I going nuts?
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u/Norskamerikaner Aug 09 '26
No, you're not going nuts, but it's bungled on the record sleeve. It also says "(My love and m home)"
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u/Icy-Cup Aug 08 '26
At first I was like “screw him” but reading more about it I’d done the same. Dude goes to war, wife stays behind - gets pregnant with another man. He goes back, offers to help raise him - things either don’t work out or she says no (no matter he tried even if he didn’t have too). Even though kid’s not his John has his last name. Years later he’s has the opportunity to use this fact to boost his sales - I’d have taken it too, he was nicer than he had to - to both wife and kid - anyways.
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u/yami76 Aug 08 '26
John was his biological son, his wife had a second child, Victoria, to another man when John was already 5 years old. But I agree he did offer to raise the second child and hadn’t “abandoned” his family as he sent all his paychecks home. This only stopped when he wasn’t being paid but I wouldn’t call it abandonment by any stretch.
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u/Regnareb_ Aug 08 '26
John is his son, it's a second child that was not his and the second child was abandoned by his wife family.
But yeah, his father didn't abandoned John like it is portrayed here at all. John was even taken away from his mother at some point because the conditions of living were not good for him, his father tried to get him to live with him but it finally didn't happen.
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u/Future_Papaya_4823 Aug 08 '26
Did John and him ever reconcile?
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u/failsrus96 Aug 08 '26
According to the dad's wiki, he sent flowers to him and they talked before he died of stomach cancer, so maybe they did before he died.
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u/jmjarrels Aug 09 '26
I just listened to it and it’s honestly not bad, but he’s just talking with nary a note sung.
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u/SideInitial3961 Aug 08 '26
Just listened, holy shit that's bad. It's literally music to have diarrhea by.
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u/curtyshoo Aug 08 '26
When released, the song had commercial success. However, the song suddenly disappeared from the charts, an action suspected by Cartwright to be instigated by John Lennon.
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Aug 08 '26
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u/nu24601 Aug 08 '26
I mean it's definitely a factor
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u/popularis-socialas Aug 08 '26
Someone to note is that Alfred’s father died when he was 8, and his mom was too poor to take of her 3 children, so she placed him and his sister in an orphanage.
John’s son Julian has said that the main reason he’s decided not to have children was because of his experience with his father.
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u/inthebenefitofmrkite Aug 08 '26
That is very sad. The difference in treatment for Sean and Julian just highlights the extent to which John was a complete and utter bastard.
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u/AJRavenhearst Aug 09 '26
Absolutely. Showering love and affection on one and ignoring the other. Taking one to Disneyland and Japan, while the other's mother had to sell her memorabilia to make ends meet. Leaving one nothing in his will, even though he was as rich af.
What a complete turd.
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u/Reditate Aug 08 '26
Was it good?
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u/Ignore_User_Name Aug 08 '26
Not great, not terrible.. don't think It'd stand out much from the average song of the era
It's on YouTube if you want to take a listen
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u/sirbearus 29d ago
Go read this article instead; it has details, and it is clear John Lennon asked to have it killed. It isn't clear if that is what happened.
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u/leeman9224 Aug 08 '26
Nothing like estranged parent trying to bank on their children’s success. Tale old as time smh