Remembering When John Lennon Sent Back a Prestigious British Honor in 1969

The Beatles emerged in the 60s as a band that made rock music safe for the establishment in Great Britain. They weren’t trying to undermine or subvert. Even many members of the older generation of English looked on their accomplishments with pride.

But as the years wore on, the members of the group started to chafe against that image and let their individual beliefs come to the fore. The most notorious example of this came when John Lennon pointedly returned a prestigious national honor in 1969.

The Award

The four members of The Beatles were each awarded the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE for short) in 1965. At the time, some British citizens objected to the decision. They felt that the honor was supposed to be reserved for more august, respectable members of society than pop stars.

But when you consider the kind of attention and economic boost that the four young men had brought to Great Britain, the award was understandable. And they did all that, at least up to that point, while staying free from any whiff of scandal and representing the best and the brightest of the country’s younger generation.

The group showed up all smiles in front of cheering crowds and copious press to accept their honor at Buckingham Palace in October 1965. They paid their respects to the queen and came away with their medals. Later, John Lennon claimed that the men smoked pot in a bathroom before the ceremony. But for all the world knew at the time, The Beatles cherished the honor.

Lennon’s Decision

Fast forward to 1969. In September of that year, The Beatles released Abbey Road, a stunning album that seemed to reestablish them as the world’s preeminent rock group. The wide world had no idea that John Lennon had told other members of the group in a meeting that same month that he was leaving.

Without that context available, Lennon’s decision to send back his MBE must have seemed somewhat out of character when viewed through a Beatles lens. While it was true that he had spent much of the year engaging in publicity stunts designed to promote peace, the idea that one of England’s beloved musical heroes would so brazenly toss away one of the country’s biggest honors was shocking.

Lennon’s letter explaining his action only made it worse:

“Your Majesty, I am returning my MBE as a protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against ‘Cold Turkey’ slipping down the charts. With love. John Lennon of Bag.”

The Backlash

Many critics seized on Lennon’s mention of “Cold Turkey”, a solo single he released in 1969, as a callous reason. Those folks missed the fact that Lennon’s wicked sense of humor was at play there.

In actuality, the staunchly anti-war Lennon felt that returning the medal was the best way to show his disgust for ongoing conflicts like the Vietnam War. He also claimed that he wasn’t all that thrilled about getting the medal in the first place. Brian Epstein, The Beatles’ manager at the time, convinced him to go along with it.

Lennon also explained that his decision was his alone and that he didn’t discuss it with the other Beatles. And why would he, because, as he knew, they weren’t together anymore anyway? One wonders how he might feel today to know that his old songwriting partner is now officially Sir Paul McCartney.

(Photo by Chris Walter/WireImage)