Lennon during the filming of 'How I won the war' in Almería
Despite what you may have believed until now, John Lennon was not born in the English city of Liverpool . The one who was born there was John Winston Lennon , in 1940, but the Lennon we all know was born in Almeria , in 1966, at the age of 26 years . If you don't believe me, he keeps reading.
It happened long ago 52 years, in an Almería that has little or nothing to do with the current one and that meant one before and one after in the composer's career. During the autumn of that year, between the September 19 and November 6, the young musician arrived as part of the film How I won the war , a satire of war films directed by Richard Lester. There, he stayed away from the "Beatlemania" that caused him so much stress.
During the six weeks he spent in the province of Almería, Lennon became the Gripweed Soldier, and it was the first time he acted without his companions after What a night that day and Help. Back then, The Beatles were the band best known of the planet and John Lennon was ecstatic. The concerts, press, trips and polemics about his statements about Jesus Christ had saturated him.
Ringo Starr visited Lennon during his stay in Almería
Coincidentally, Richard Lester chose Almería to shoot his film and took that introspective and jaded Lennon to meet the dust of the desert. Once there, he composed one of the most beautiful songs of the 20th century: Strawberry Fields Forever.
They say that John Lennon stated at some point that he got very bored on the coast of Almeria. During the filming of the film, he did not receive any deal favor for being a Beatle, which led him to spend long and soporific you wait between takes under the scorching desert sun.
It is more than likely that, until that moment, he had not heard of that place in the world, of how intense his sun is and it was not enough cautious.
Some photos taken during filming show him with the image of a tired tourist and with a burned face, with that resemblance to a crayfish that the English have when, clearly, they have not put sun cream in the suitcase and they have to face the mediterranean summer.
What he did not forget, on the other hand, was to ask for a rolls royce to Almeria, a millionaire pop star fetish that he ended up producing greatest impact in Almeria society than the very presence of one of the best-known musicians in the world.
Lennon got bored during filming
The memory of John Lennon is still present in the city, impregnated with legends and some other contradiction. The truth is that Almería was for Lennon what the India for his partner George Harrison, as both began to leave their Beatle status behind during that summer.
In the streets of Almería, if you know how to search well, it is possible to come across some enclaves that have been marked with a "pin" that tells us about the musician's passage there.
With its unmistakable wavy red and white tiles, the Almeria seafront promenade It is a key point for the people of Almeria who go for a walk, a run or simply to contemplate the sea from some terrace.
One of the traditional places for this is the Delfin Verde hostel where, in one of his apartments facing the sea, the artist stayed during the first weeks of his stay in Almería.
It was there where Douglas Kirkland took some photos in which John Lennon appears with a Spanish guitar -which he bought from a luthier from Almeria named Manuel Garcia Mayoral -and his tape recorder on the bed. Lennon began composing Strawberry Fields Forever right there, and above all, in the Zapillo beach at sunset where he was often seen strolling quietly along the shore, guitar in hand.
Zapillo beach, where Lennon used to be inspired
On October 9, 1966, Lennon turned 26 years and for the event, his wife Cynthia and Ringo Starr they traveled to the southern city with the intention of spending a few days with him. It was then that they rented the Santa Isabel farm , current Almería Film House , which today pays tribute to the intense relationship between the province and the seventh art.
The farmhouse, fully restored, was, during the time when Almería was the setting for movies, accommodation for actors and actresses during the filming of his films, counting among them Brigitte Bardot or Clint Eastwood.
But it was John Lennon who gave him more fame to the palatial building, since his stay there was the greatest source of inspiration for composing Strawberry Fields Forever, since its orchards made him fly to moments of his childhood in Liverpool.
This is why an important space in the Casa del Cine is dedicated to the Beatle icon where, for example, you can see his classic round glasses, the hallmark of it, since we could not imagine it without them.
Interestingly, the first time he would put them on would be in Almeria, during the filming of the film, because the soldier Gripweed wore these glasses, which became part of the image of john lennon until the end.
The Source of Inspiration room at the Casa del Cine pays tribute to John Lennon
Among the objects in the museum, there are also some memories of Juan Carrion, that teacher from Cartagena who taught English to his students with the lyrics of the songs of the Liverpool band and who traveled to Almería to meet lennon
And, after his brief meeting with the English musician, and at his personal request, The Beatles began to print the lyrics of your songs on your disks. A story that ended up inspiring David Trueba and that materialized in the emotional film Living is easy with closed eyes , premiered in 2013 and that runs through landscapes of the **Desert of Tabernas and Cabo de Gata**.
However, if there is a figure of John Lennon that we Almeria keep in mind, it is the "itinerant" statue of the musician, which was inaugurated at the Rambla de Almeria back in 2007
. The piece, which represents the artist in real size sitting and playing his Spanish guitar, has been transferred on several occasions at various points in the city center, since it suffered repeated acts of vandalism in which, among other things, more than once his glasses. Today, this Lennon made of bronze can be seen in the Flowers Square , in front of the Torreluz hotel.
That trip All changed . Lennon arrived in Almería a Beatle overwhelmed by success and, six weeks later, he left with a change of image and spirit. And taking with him, back to London, a melody whose chords he had kept on a tape recorder, a song nostalgic who, like a renewed John Lennon, came out of “ a place where nothing is real and there is nothing to worry about ”, towards the whole world.