• John Lennon's Cat Family

    From Book Lover@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jun 29 05:57:59 2024
    John Lennon, the iconic Beatle who declared, "I Am the Walrus",
    held a less-known affection for a different whiskered animal - the
    cat.

    THE FELINES OF LIVERPOOL
    "Cats were a big thing with John," May Pang, Lennon's now 73-year-old
    former secretary and girlfriend, shared in a recent conversation
    with me. She recalled learning about Lennon's childhood spent under
    the watchful eye of his Aunt Mimi, who filled their home with feline companions. Aunt Mimi's house always had a crowd of cats, as many as
    nine at a time, laying the foundation for an affinity Lennon would
    have throughout his life.

    Lennon's mother, Julia, also had a thing for cats (and rock 'n'
    roll), She named a family cat Elvis, but Elvis turned out to be a mom, surprising them with a litter of kittens.

    In Liverpool, Lennon owned two cats, Tich and Sam. Tich's death
    during Lennon's art school years was a poignant loss. Sam, named after
    Samuel Pepys, reflected Lennon's appreciation for historical and
    creative figures.

    One winter day, Lennon found a stray cat in the snow and persuaded
    his Aunt Mimi to let him keep it. After no one responded to his lost
    cat ads, Lennon named the brown-and-white half-Persian cat Tim. Even
    as Lennon's stardom soared with The Beatles, he remained devoted to
    Tim, often calling to check on him.

    IT'S RAINING CATS
    With Cynthia, his first wife, Lennon's home was a haven for cats.
    They named one kitty Mimi after his aunt, and their household
    ultimately expanded to accommodate about 10 more.

    In 1974, during a recording session, Lennon's fondness for cats
    resurfaced unexpectedly. A worker brought in a litter of kittens,
    and Pang, unaware of Lennon's childhood experiences with cats, was
    taken by their charm.

    She picked a black-and-white tuxedo cat, which Lennon named Minor
    after the black piano keys. His impulsive decision to adopt another
    loudmouthed white kitten with black spots, named Major, showcased his
    whimsical and compassionate nature.

    LOVE AND LOSS
    After Lennon left Pang and returned to his wife, Yoko Ono, in 1975,
    the couple adopted kitties Salt and Pepper. They also cared for two
    Russian blues, Gertrude and Alice. Gertrude was euthanized due to a
    virus that was contagious to humans, but it was Alice's tragic death
    from a fall out of their Dakota apartment window that most deeply
    affected Lennon, which his son Sean has recalled as one of the rare
    times his father was brought to tears. In his final months, Lennon
    found companionship in Persian mixes Misha, Sasha and Charo, who often
    stayed on his queen-size bed with him at home.

    Lennon's relationship with cats paints a fuller picture of a
    renowned musical genius. Beyond the legend, his life with cats
    underscores the simple joys and vulnerabilities that made him
    endearingly human.

    --
    From Inside Your Cats Mind
    written by Laurie Gwen Shapiro

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  • From super70s@21:1/5 to Book Lover on Sun Jun 30 12:01:20 2024
    On 2024-06-29 09:57:59 +0000, Book Lover said:

    John Lennon, the iconic Beatle who declared, "I Am the Walrus",
    held a less-known affection for a different whiskered animal - the
    cat.

    THE FELINES OF LIVERPOOL
    "Cats were a big thing with John," May Pang, Lennon's now 73-year-old
    former secretary and girlfriend, shared in a recent conversation
    with me. She recalled learning about Lennon's childhood spent under
    the watchful eye of his Aunt Mimi, who filled their home with feline companions. Aunt Mimi's house always had a crowd of cats, as many as
    nine at a time, laying the foundation for an affinity Lennon would
    have throughout his life.

    It's odd he didn't express his love of cats in his music, the only cat connections I can think of off the top of my head are "Three Cool Cats"
    back in the Hamburg days and his contribution to Harry Nilsson's "Pussy
    Cats" album.

    Then I guess you could include "...pussy....pussy" at the end of "Yer Blues."

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  • From Chris Schram@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 30 20:42:31 2024
    On Sun, 30 Jun 2024 12:01:20 -0500, super70s wrote:

    On 2024-06-29 09:57:59 +0000, Book Lover said:

    John Lennon, the iconic Beatle who declared, "I Am the Walrus", held a
    less-known affection for a different whiskered animal - the cat.

    THE FELINES OF LIVERPOOL
    "Cats were a big thing with John," May Pang, Lennon's now 73-year-old
    former secretary and girlfriend, shared in a recent conversation with
    me. She recalled learning about Lennon's childhood spent under the
    watchful eye of his Aunt Mimi, who filled their home with feline
    companions. Aunt Mimi's house always had a crowd of cats, as many as
    nine at a time, laying the foundation for an affinity Lennon would have
    throughout his life.

    It's odd he didn't express his love of cats in his music, the only cat connections I can think of off the top of my head are "Three Cool Cats"
    back in the Hamburg days and his contribution to Harry Nilsson's "Pussy
    Cats" album.

    Then I guess you could include "...pussy....pussy" at the end of "Yer
    Blues."

    Don't forget "Leave My Kitten Alone."

    --
    chrispam1@me.com is an infrequently monitored address. Email may get lost. Networking: What happens when, for as long as a moment, billions of
    things simultaneously fail to go wrong. -- Dan Farkas, 3/3/2007

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  • From Blueshirt@21:1/5 to Chris Schram on Sun Jun 30 23:35:30 2024
    Chris Schram wrote:

    On Sun, 30 Jun 2024 12:01:20 -0500, super70s wrote:

    On 2024-06-29 09:57:59 +0000, Book Lover said:

    John Lennon, the iconic Beatle who declared, "I Am the
    Walrus", held a less-known affection for a different
    whiskered animal - the cat.

    It's odd he didn't express his love of cats in his music,
    the only cat connections I can think of off the top of my
    head are "Three Cool Cats" back in the Hamburg days and his
    contribution to Harry Nilsson's "Pussy Cats" album.

    Don't forget "Leave My Kitten Alone."

    A track that should have made it on to the "Beatles For sale"
    LP...

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  • From super70s@21:1/5 to Blueshirt on Mon Jul 1 02:24:25 2024
    On 2024-06-30 23:35:30 +0000, Blueshirt said:

    Chris Schram wrote:

    On Sun, 30 Jun 2024 12:01:20 -0500, super70s wrote:

    On 2024-06-29 09:57:59 +0000, Book Lover said:

    John Lennon, the iconic Beatle who declared, "I Am the
    Walrus", held a less-known affection for a different
    whiskered animal - the cat.

    It's odd he didn't express his love of cats in his music,
    the only cat connections I can think of off the top of my
    head are "Three Cool Cats" back in the Hamburg days and his
    contribution to Harry Nilsson's "Pussy Cats" album.

    Don't forget "Leave My Kitten Alone."

    A track that should have made it on to the "Beatles For sale"
    LP...

    Yeah anything would've been better than "Mr. Moonlight," lol.

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  • From super70s@21:1/5 to Chris Schram on Mon Jul 1 02:21:58 2024
    On 2024-06-30 20:42:31 +0000, Chris Schram said:

    On Sun, 30 Jun 2024 12:01:20 -0500, super70s wrote:

    On 2024-06-29 09:57:59 +0000, Book Lover said:

    John Lennon, the iconic Beatle who declared, "I Am the Walrus", held a
    less-known affection for a different whiskered animal - the cat.

    THE FELINES OF LIVERPOOL
    "Cats were a big thing with John," May Pang, Lennon's now 73-year-old
    former secretary and girlfriend, shared in a recent conversation with
    me. She recalled learning about Lennon's childhood spent under the
    watchful eye of his Aunt Mimi, who filled their home with feline
    companions. Aunt Mimi's house always had a crowd of cats, as many as
    nine at a time, laying the foundation for an affinity Lennon would have
    throughout his life.

    It's odd he didn't express his love of cats in his music, the only cat
    connections I can think of off the top of my head are "Three Cool Cats"
    back in the Hamburg days and his contribution to Harry Nilsson's "Pussy
    Cats" album.

    Then I guess you could include "...pussy....pussy" at the end of "Yer
    Blues."

    Don't forget "Leave My Kitten Alone."

    Oh yeah good one.

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  • From Chris Schram@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jul 1 10:47:25 2024
    On Mon, 1 Jul 2024 02:24:25 -0500, super70s wrote:

    On 2024-06-30 23:35:30 +0000, Blueshirt said:

    Chris Schram wrote:

    On Sun, 30 Jun 2024 12:01:20 -0500, super70s wrote:

    On 2024-06-29 09:57:59 +0000, Book Lover said:

    John Lennon, the iconic Beatle who declared, "I Am the Walrus", held >>>>> a less-known affection for a different whiskered animal - the cat.

    It's odd he didn't express his love of cats in his music, the only
    cat connections I can think of off the top of my head are "Three Cool
    Cats" back in the Hamburg days and his contribution to Harry
    Nilsson's "Pussy Cats" album.

    Don't forget "Leave My Kitten Alone."

    A track that should have made it on to the "Beatles For sale"
    LP...

    Yeah anything would've been better than "Mr. Moonlight," lol.

    "Mr. Moonlight" is definitely strange. I bet that without that
    unfathomable 'honking' organ solo, most people would have considered the
    song a nice-enough trip back in time to the Beatles' Star Club catalog.

    I spent some time searching for reviews of "Beatles for Sale," and found a
    few articles, all written post Y2K, most of which conveniently omit Mr. Moonlight from any mention. However, a critic from the BBC absolutely
    loved the song.

    --
    chrispam1@me.com is an infrequently monitored address. Email may get lost. Networking: What happens when, for as long as a moment, billions of
    things simultaneously fail to go wrong. -- Dan Farkas, 3/3/2007

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  • From Chris Schram@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jul 1 22:03:40 2024
    On Mon, 1 Jul 2024 02:24:25 -0500, super70s wrote:

    On 2024-06-30 23:35:30 +0000, Blueshirt said:

    Chris Schram wrote:

    On Sun, 30 Jun 2024 12:01:20 -0500, super70s wrote:

    On 2024-06-29 09:57:59 +0000, Book Lover said:

    John Lennon, the iconic Beatle who declared, "I Am the Walrus", held >>>>> a less-known affection for a different whiskered animal - the cat.

    It's odd he didn't express his love of cats in his music, the only
    cat connections I can think of off the top of my head are "Three Cool
    Cats" back in the Hamburg days and his contribution to Harry
    Nilsson's "Pussy Cats" album.

    Don't forget "Leave My Kitten Alone."

    A track that should have made it on to the "Beatles For sale"
    LP...

    Yeah anything would've been better than "Mr. Moonlight," lol.

    The very rough attempt at Mr Moonlight on Anthology 1 is quite similar to
    the original Dr Feelgood arrangement of the song. John screws up the
    lyrics, but is otherwise in great voice, and the guitar solo is pretty
    weak. Otherwise, if they'd finished that version and released it, it could
    have been a kick-ass B-Side.

    --
    chrispam1@me.com is an infrequently monitored address. Email may get lost. Networking: What happens when, for as long as a moment, billions of
    things simultaneously fail to go wrong. -- Dan Farkas, 3/3/2007

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  • From super70s@21:1/5 to Chris Schram on Tue Jul 2 02:15:11 2024
    On 2024-07-01 22:03:40 +0000, Chris Schram said:

    On Mon, 1 Jul 2024 02:24:25 -0500, super70s wrote:

    On 2024-06-30 23:35:30 +0000, Blueshirt said:

    Chris Schram wrote:

    On Sun, 30 Jun 2024 12:01:20 -0500, super70s wrote:

    On 2024-06-29 09:57:59 +0000, Book Lover said:

    John Lennon, the iconic Beatle who declared, "I Am the Walrus", held >>>>>> a less-known affection for a different whiskered animal - the cat.

    It's odd he didn't express his love of cats in his music, the only
    cat connections I can think of off the top of my head are "Three Cool >>>>> Cats" back in the Hamburg days and his contribution to Harry
    Nilsson's "Pussy Cats" album.

    Don't forget "Leave My Kitten Alone."

    A track that should have made it on to the "Beatles For sale"
    LP...

    Yeah anything would've been better than "Mr. Moonlight," lol.

    The very rough attempt at Mr Moonlight on Anthology 1 is quite similar to
    the original Dr Feelgood arrangement of the song. John screws up the
    lyrics, but is otherwise in great voice, and the guitar solo is pretty
    weak. Otherwise, if they'd finished that version and released it, it could have been a kick-ass B-Side.

    I listened to the Anthology version and I agree, it does sound better
    without the "honking organ," that must have been George Martin's idea.

    Maybe they could have tacked that version on at the very end of Beatles
    For Sale (and its US quasi-counterpart, Beatles '65) because John
    surely must have "destroyed" his voice for the day with that intro
    (like he did with "Twist and Shout" on Please Please Me) instead of
    putting it halfway through on both albums.

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  • From Norbert@21:1/5 to All on Tue Jul 2 13:04:42 2024
    There's an amusing passage in John ("Dakota Days") Green's book, in
    Lennon tells Green about how one of their cats had died by falling out a window. Lennon says that he had to explain death to Sean. According to Lennon, Sean got excited by the concept, and asked: "So, Daddy, if you
    fall out the window, does that mean you'll never come back?" Lennon
    thought little Sean harbored a death wish against him!

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  • From Blueshirt@21:1/5 to Norbert on Tue Jul 2 14:50:41 2024
    Norbert wrote:

    There's an amusing passage in John ("Dakota Days") Green's
    book, in Lennon tells Green about how one of their cats had
    died by falling out a window. Lennon says that he had to
    explain death to Sean. According to Lennon, Sean got excited
    by the concept, and asked: "So, Daddy, if you fall out the
    window, does that mean you'll never come back?"

    Sadly, poor Sean had to find out the hard way that sometimes
    Dads go out the door and never come back...

    :-(

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  • From Rex Mundi@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jul 3 05:52:55 2024
    On Sat, 29 Jun 2024 05:57:59 -0400, Book Lover <BookLover@invalid.org>
    wrote:

    John Lennon, the iconic Beatle who declared, "I Am the Walrus",
    held a less-known affection for a different whiskered animal - the
    cat.


    In Liverpool, Lennon owned two cats, Tich and Sam. Tich's death
    during Lennon's art school years was a poignant loss. Sam, named after
    Samuel Pepys, reflected Lennon's appreciation for historical and
    creative figures.


    I have a memory of Lennon mentioning Tich and someone else in a
    conversation. I don't remember where I heard it, probably on a bootleg
    or maybe during the Get Back sessions.
    It could be a reference to the cat or maybe to Ian Amey (Tich) of the
    60's band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

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