The Lennon Prophecy by Joseph Niezgoda
January 26th, 2009Title: The Lennon Prophecy
Author: Joseph Niezgoda
Publisher: New Chapter Press (2008)
This is easily the funniest book I have ever read. I was giggling like a school girl on every page…ask my wife! Unfortunately, I don’t think the book was intended to be funny. As my friends and loyal readers know…I am a huge Beatles fan. Even just for Letters on Pages I have reviewed biographies of Paul McCartney and more recently John Lennon. While I was reading the Lennon bio I got an offer to read this book. Sensing the hilariousness to come…I jumped all over it!
The Lennon Prophecy: A New Examination of The Death Clues of the Beatles by Jospeh Niezgoda takes an in-depth look at the clues offered through the music of the Beatles that John Lennon sold his soul to the devil in exchange for music stardom. He also claims that he puts to rest the theory that Paul McCartney died in 1966…which I think is funny. As if we needed to find out once and for all that McCartney (who still records and tours extensively) is actually not dead!
Anyway…the point of the book was to use clues from Lennon’s life, lyrics, and music that indicate Lennon sold his soul to the devil. The author comes off a bit crack-potish as he rifles for made up clues. An example is the cover art of a compilation album that was released in 1966. As you can PLAINLY see in the album cover says JOLDIES…which stands for John Ono Lennon Dies. What? You don’t see that? Well…the person’s leg is the J. What? John Lennon’s middle name was not Ono until 1969? That just shows how subtly clever Satan felt he needed to be in this situation.
There were many funny things in this book…but my favorite is probably the analysis of the Abbey Road rear album cover. Let’s let Niezgoda explain
At the right is the blurry image of a female wearing a blue dress, walking out of a scene. Her identity has never been revealed. She could be, or could be representative of, Satan (devil with a blue dress on)? (emphasis mine)
THAT IS HILARIOUS!!! He is claiming that a 1966 Mitch Ryder song was just a set up by Satan so he could very subtly imply that John Lennon sold his soul 3 years later. (On a side note – that’s a fun song…hard to get out of your head.)
There are many many many many many more awesome references like this throughout the book. If you are a Beatles fan and want to laugh…buy this book. If you want to read something interesting, however, stay away…stay far away!
Rating: 5 out of 5 (for humor) and 0 out of 5 (for actual literary value)
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January 26th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Actually, that does sound like a pretty funny book. One other point…I remember, back in the day, listening to “I buried Paul” and I think he did bury Paul. However, I think Paul was not actually dead but had “swooned” for three days before “resurrecting” on Magical Mystery Tour. After all, resurrections are magical, aren’t they?
January 26th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
are you saying Paul McCartney is like Christ? I imagine he would be pleased to hear that.
April 8th, 2009 at 6:06 am
[...] Bob Smiley Fugitive Denim - Rachel Louise Snyder The Dickson Baseball Dictionary - Paul Dickson The Lennon Prophecy - Jospeh Niezgoda The Power of Who - Bob Beaudine The Telephone Gambit - Seth [...]
May 15th, 2009 at 6:59 am
[...] Another reviewer calls it “easily the funniest book I have ever read.” [...]
January 4th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
But you only singled out a couple of instances used in the book, here. Taken as a whole, What the author suggests is actually plausible. Not
exactly “chicken soup for the soul”, by any means,
but that doesn’t mean the entire premise can be so
easily debunked. For example, the timeline of John’s rise to fame – ending with his death – is
exactly twenty years. Guess how old John was, in December 1960?
July 2nd, 2010 at 1:23 am
No Will, what the author suggests is actually ridiculous. This is the dumbest, most laughable nonsense I’ve ever read. The only positive thing I can say about it is that one item was more outlandish than the next which it made it hard to stop reading, just to see what the next bit of silliness would be.