What if John Lennon had invented the music video?

Le «Lennon Wall» à PragueGetty Images Europe

With a short animated film designed to promote one of his songs, John Lennon would have laid the foundations of the video clip in the 1960s.

Daniele Muscionico

The news was intriguing, and the British channel BBC made no mistake. She reserved a special place for him in her programs: previously unpublished drawings by John Lennon resurfaced during an auction in London.

John Lennon excelled in the art of drawing. Image : Keystone

No less than 240 small, brightly colored drawings were discovered. Their style is immediately recognizable: simple features, lively humor, irony. Drawings in the image of their author, a genius musician, critical observer of his time and major figure of activism in the world of music.

Edited into a cartoon, 240 drawings by John Lennon gave birth, in the 1960s, to a sort of musical clip before its timeImage: Liverpool Beatles Museum

Gifted and talented, Lennon had been drawing since childhood. His time at Liverpool College of Art, however, was much less brilliant. Deemed not to be diligent and not very motivated, he ended up being dismissed after three years spent hanging around more than studying. But this disappointment did not leave him behind for long. At the time, he was already playing in a student band. Shortly after, the Beatles would shake up the history of music.

And touche-à-tout of pop culture

The designs caught the attention of one of the world’s leading pop culture collectibles, Joseph Robert O’Donnell. Most of the sheets, dating from the early 1960s, were considered lost. They are now on display as part of a temporary exhibition at the Beatles Museum in Liverpool.

Lennon created these works in collaboration with the American artist and screenwriter Stephen Verona, whom he met in a London pub. Verona would later become known in particular for having helped launch the career of Sylvester Stallone.

The filmmaker and the musician shared a common passion: they loved doodling with a ballpoint pen on the paper tablecloths of cafes and pubs. A habit which, obviously, has sometimes brought them luck.

The temporary exhibition at the Beatles Museum in LiverpoolImage: Getty

This discovery is also fascinating from the point of view of the history of visual communication. In fact, each sheet contains a word taken from the song I Feel Finewritten by John Lennon. The Beatles released it in November 1964 on their eighth single. It became a hit and remained at the top of the charts for several weeks.

Placed end to end, the 240 drawings reconstruct the entirety of the lyrics. Lennon had linked them together to create a short promotional film mixing animation, music and lyrics, entitled She Said So. For media historians, and even more so for Beatles fans, this cartoon of just under two minutes is today considered one of the ancestors of the music video. In a way, an MTV before its time.

The recognition of art world

The influence of She Said So on pop culture was very real. Upon its release, this short film was screened and rewarded at various international festivals. Even the prestigious Museum of Modern Art in New York praised Lennon’s work by presenting the film alongside recognized works of art. In the history of pop art, She Said So is today considered an experiment ahead of its time.

The original reel is kept at the Library of Congress in Washington. The drawings will soon be freely accessible. New proof that the history of the Beatles is far from having revealed all its secrets. (trans.: mrs)