John Lennon's jukebox

In 1989, John Lennon's jukebox surfaced in an auction of Beatles memorabilia at Christie's, and was sold for £2,500 ($4,907) to Bristol-based music promoter John Midwinter. Lennon had apparently bought the jukebox – specifically a Swiss KB Discomatic – in 1965, and filled it with forty singles to take with him on tour. Midwinter spent several years restoring the box and researching the discs catalogued in Lennon's spidery handwriting. When Midwinter developed cancer, and his health began to deteriorate, his desire to see the player featured in some kind of documentary became all the more important.

The story finally reached its wider public in 2004, when "The South Bank Show" broadcast a documentary on the jukebox in which many of the represented artists, along with Sting, were asked to comment. Developed by Steve Day at the UK television production company Initial, headed by Malcolm Gerrie, the project took longer than was hoped to get picked up. A fact that was rendered all the more poignant when the show was commissioned mere days after Midwinter died. A compilation album was also released, containing thirty-four of the singles' A-sides and seven of their B-sides.

XM Satellite Radio's "'60s On 6" channel featured Lennon's jukebox singles as an insight to the Beatle's personal taste in pop music and Mr. Midwinter's passion for the jukebox.

Contents of the box

The jukebox's contents cover a ten-year period between Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-A-Lula" from 1956 and The Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream", released in 1966, whereupon Lennon stopped adding to the box. Largely by American R&B artists, they are songs that Lennon admired and many of them influenced his own writing.

Below is a list of the singles believed to be in the box. Titles in bold are featured on the compilation album.

* (The list currently contains thirty-eight items. One of the two missing singles is thought to be Wilson Pickett's "It's Too Late"/"I'm Gonna Leave You" (1963), but this has yet to be confirmed. [http://infoman16.tripod.com/music/jukebox.htm] )

Album

The 2004 Compilation album named "John Lennon's Jukebox" contains several songs that are believed to be part of John Lennon's original choice. However the compilation album is labelled as "a collection inspired by music from his own collection" and some of the songs on the album are different versions than the ones that could have been included in the jukebox. Infobox Album
Name = John Lennon's Jukebox
Type = Compilation album
Longtype =
Artist = Various Artists


Released = 8 March 2004
Recorded = 1956-1966
Genre = R&B/Soul, Rock
Length =
Label = Virgin Music
Producer =
Reviews =
Last album =
This album =
Next album =

Disc one

# "In the Midnight Hour" by Wilson Pickett
# "Rescue Me" by Fontella Bass
# "The Tracks of My Tears" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
# "My Girl" by Otis Redding
# "1, 2, 3" by Len Barry
# "Hi-Heel Sneakers" by Tommy Tucker
# "The Walk" by Jimmy McCracklin
# "Gonna Send You Back to Georgia" by Timmy Shaw
# "First I Look at the Purse" by The Contours
# "New Orleans" by Gary US Bonds
# "Watch Your Step" by Bobby Parker
# "Daddy Rollin' Stone" by Derek Martin
# "Short Fat Fannie" by Larry Williams
# "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard
# "Money (That's What I Want)" by Barrett Strong
# "Hey! Baby" by Bruce Channel
# "Positively 4th Street" by Bob Dylan
# "Daydream" by The Lovin' Spoonful
# "Turquoise" by Donovan
# "Slippin' and Slidin'" by Buddy Holly

Disc two

# "Be-Bop-A-Lula" by Gene Vincent
# "No Particular Place to Go" by Chuck Berry
# "Steppin' Out" by Paul Revere & the Raiders
# "Do You Believe in Magic" by The Lovin' Spoonful
# "Some Other Guy" by The Big Three*
# "Twist and Shout" by The Isley Brothers
# "She Said, Yeah" by Larry Williams
# "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" by Buddy Holly
# "Slippin' and Slidin'" by Little Richard
# "Quarter to Three" by Gary US Bonds
# "Ooh! My Soul" by Little Richard
# "Woman Love" by Gene Vincent
# "Shop Around" by The Miracles
# "Bring It on Home to Me" by The Animals
# "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody" by James Ray with the Hutch Davie Orchestra
# "What's So Good About Goodbye" by The Miracles
# "Bad Boy" by Larry Williams
# "Agent Double-O Soul" by Edwin Starr
# "I've Been Good to You" by The Miracles
# "Oh I Apologize" by Barrett Strong
# "Who's Lovin' You" by The Miracles

*It should be noted that the version of 'Some Other Guy' by The Big Three is not the one that was on the original jukebox. It is a mid 70s recording by the same group, regarded as inferior by collectors Fact|date=February 2007.

References

*Upton, Laurence (2004). [http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001IW61C "Some serious slips marr (sic) an excellent idea"] . Retrieved Jul. 15, 2005.

External links

* [http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/lennon/ A mini-site about the documentary] from the PBS