8 days of beatles - day 3

"Yer Blues" is a kick ass rock and roll jam that illustrates John Lennon's darker side. He suffered from depression his whole life, an illness that stemmed from his fear of abandonment. He had good reason for this insecurity: as a small child, his parents took him down to the beach and then made him decided between them. After he chose his mother Julia, his father walked out of their lives. Some years later he was removed from his mother's home, who was deemed an unsuitable parent, and placed with his aunt. He had a rocky relationship with both women, but stayed close with both. He was 17 when his mother was killed.

Anyway, "Yer Blues" covers both his worry ("so lonely...") and his despair ("...wanna die"). It's from the White Album, which also features the wistful song "Julia." This version is a from the Rolling Stone's Rock N Roll Circus, which was an awesome trainwreck of music and drugs. That's a young Eric Clapton on lead. And check out Yoko Ono rolling around in a bag.