John Lennon’s Go-to Pep Talk for Cheering up The Beatles in Their Early Years

The Beatles’ arduous breakup often overshadows the love and camaraderie the Fab Four had for one another, but John Lennon’s go-to pep talk for cheering up the band in their early years is a heartwarming window into a time before fame, scandal, and psychedelics. Pre-Beatlemania and post-Quarrymen, the future Fab Four were hard-working musicians trying to cut their teeth.

And as anyone who has tried to dedicate their lives to music for any amount of time can attest, that endeavor can be taxing on the spirit. When that happened for the Beatles, Lennon stepped in.

John Lennon’s Go-to Pep Talk To Cheer up The Beatles

John Lennon’s final major interview took place in his New York City home in August 1980, just three months before Mark David Chapman would murder the ex-Beatle on the front steps of that very residence. In the sprawling conversation, Lennon talks about his perception of himself, his former band, nearly every Beatles tune, and musings that oscillate between profound and vain.

While discussing his general outlook on life, Lennon offered an example of his optimism in the face of hardship—something he exercised often throughout his tragically short life. He subtly references his “motto” in “Strawberry Fields Forever” with the line, It’s getting hard to be someone, but it all works out. “It’s like a little gag that the Beatles used,” Lennon told interviewer David Sheff.

“When the Beatles were depressed, we had this thing that I would chant, and they would answer. It was from a cheap movie they made about Liverpool years ago. In it, they say, ‘Where are we going, Johnny,’ or something, and the leader of the gang would say, ‘We’re going to burn this’ or ‘We’re going to stomp on that.’”

“Well, I would say to the others when we were all depressed, thinking that the group was going nowhere, this is a s***** deal; we’re in a s***** dressing room. I would say, ‘Where are we going, fellows?’ And they would go, ‘To the top, Johnny,’ in pseudo-American voices. And I would say, ‘Where is that, fellows?’ And they would say, ‘To the toppermost of the poppermost.’ I would say, ‘Right!’ And we would all cheer up.”

How the Fab Four Was an Extension of John’s Early Years

John Lennon explained to David Sheff that he always served as a “gang leader” to a group of four or five guys as a child growing up in Liverpool. The Beatles, Lennon argued, became his new gang in early adulthood. After his schoolyard days but before the Beatles came to be, Lennon’s “gang” was the Quarrymen. Ever the leader, Lennon had pick-me-ups for that group, too.

“The other expression I had, which became a Beatle expression but was actually mine, was ‘It will turn up all right in the end.’ I used to say that to my friend Pete, who was in the Quarrymen. I would say, ‘Don’t worry, it’ll work out,’ to him and the gang that was around me then.”

Lennon’s memories and pep talk tidbits about the Beatles’ earliest, toughest years offer a touching reminder that before they became the biggest pop rock band in the world, the Beatles were four friends roughing it in seedy European bars, adopting stage names to fake aplomb, and feverishly chasing down success. In the end, Lennon was right—they went to the toppermost of the poppermost and then some.

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