John Lennon Out and In: “Revolution,” the Beatles, and the Movement in 1968

ABSTRACT

John Lennon’s singing “you can count me out … in” on the Beatles’ White Album track “Revolution 1” seems like an embarrassing attempt to placate different audiences. But, in historical perspective, the 28-year-old pop star’s uncertainty about his degree of engagement was perfectly congruent with the increasingly introverted direction of his songwriting, the evolution of the Beatles’ relationship with their audiences, the skeptical stance of his musical peers, and the honest dilemmas of left-of-center movement politics in 1968.

KEYWORDS:

• Lennon
• Beatles
• “Revolution”
• 1968
• White Album

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. This despite the fact that the Beatles actually recorded “Revolution 1” before they recorded the single version (Lewisohn 135–36).

2. This new rationalization, that in “Revolution” he was trying to advance a left-wing revolution by steering activists around the swinging batons, actually conformed to the original reading of the lyrics by the John Birch Society (Wiener 63).

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Notes on contributors

Christopher S. DeRosa

Christopher S. DeRosa is associate professor of history and chair of the Department of History & Anthropology at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, NJ, where he teaches courses about the American Civil War, the Second World War, and the Cold War.  He has previously written about the political attitudes of American soldiers.