John Lennon’s strange homage to ‘Sesame Street’
The year that The Beatles parted ways was a strange one. Not only did the world grapple with the disbandment of the biggest band ever, but each member attempted to move on as quickly as possible. As a result, Paul McCartney dropped his self-titled album, John Lennon unveiled John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, George Harrison released All Things Must Pass, and Ringo Starr shared Sentimental Journey.
Of all the various contributions, Plastic Ono Band was potentially the most significant for various reasons. Not only did it signify Lennon’s official musical venture with Yoko Ono, but it also irked McCartney, who took it as the ultimate challenger of their bustling public feud. Moreover, despite the fact that most musicians would have looked away and focussed on their own thing, McCartney once admitted they couldn’t help themselves.
“Yeah, I think we all listened to each other’s stuff,” the musician recalled, citing “the end of The Beatles” as a major reason why. Although he also clarified it “gradually got better”, he likened the breakup to a divorce, a “very painful” one which was filled with immense bitterness and an insatiable drive to watch each other crash and burn.
Nonetheless, Plastic Ono Band was warmly received upon release, as loyal fans of the Fab Four tuned in to get a glimpse of Lennon’s flourishing vision, which suddenly blossomed and boomed in all its glory without the restriction of being in a band. Being a part of The Beatles enabled him to mature and grow in confidence, but he took this to the next level with Plastic Ono Band.
While many songs on the album demonstrate Lennon’s ongoing ability to get personal, like ‘Mother’ and ‘Working Class Hero’, it is ‘Hold On’ that is perhaps the most quintessentially Lennon piece on the entire record, given that it features stripped-back instrumentation and the singer’s fixation with achieving a higher status of being when going through troublesome times.
Despite its more serious thematics, the song also includes a reference to something that might not have been considered one of Lennon’s more obvious muses: Sesame Street. During the middle section of the song, Lennon utters the word “cookie” in reference to the Cookie Monster from the children’s television show. He actually layered his voice, too, making the word stand out in a particularly jarring fashion.
During this time, Lennon was enamoured with Sesame Street, which led him to drop a couple of references to the show in his songs. However, in the case of ‘Hold On’, it appears in a strangely suitable manner despite the intrusive technique Lennon executed in his vocal delivery. The track urges listeners to keep pushing on because “it’s gonna be alright”, a fact that perfectly matches the piece’s simplified arrangements and the call for lighthearted respite.
Lennon’s strange “cookie” growl might seem out of place, but it actually feels pretty appropriate, considering the way the song tries to encourage you to be hopeful and lighten up during life’s most notorious challenges. Although Lennon was a free spirit and a more visceral thinker, his sense of humour never waned, and perhaps learning the power of superficiality is sometimes all that’s needed when searching for psychological relief.