Magical Misery Tour

[juliekstroup]

Paul lives in Iceland!

[juliekstroup]

@juliekstroup This line is about the silly controversy that Paul was dead 

[WayneKotke]

Like it or not, these statements come from an interview John Lennon did with Rolling Stone in 1971. He was very angry and disillusioned at the time and decided to spew a lot of venom in the press. It was more or less a public temper tantrum. I'm a Beatles/Lennon fan, and this song is a dead-on spoof of the man and his music. I think if Lennon were alive today, he'd want to take back a lot of those statements. But maybe he just needed to vent. It's understandable, if not totally excusable.

[chub1138]

Those that don't see the amazing humor in this, prove that "Genius IS pain"

[DaCoach68]

THANK YOU, mongo!

[nobodady1]

The chord progression is the same as Mother. I heard this back in mid 80's just after I started to pick up Plastic Ono Band and so on, and heard the interviews with Lennon when he really wasn't a very nice guy to be around. I love John, but I cannot say this parody is undeserved. Very funny.

[DaCoach68]

At the end of the vid, as John is screaming "genius is pain"...there are two pictures. One is Einstein, and the other is...? who? Looks like a singer, but I can't place him. ANYONE? Help!

[nobodady1]

@DaCoach68 Sam Kinison?

[mongoliafab]

@DaCoach68 It's Eddie Vedder, from the Seattle grungerock band "Pearl Jam". No doubt

[DaCoach68]

EXCELLENT!!!!!!

[MetallicBill]

He was in Spinal Tap IIRC?? Been awhile

[MyShredders]

You had to live in those times to understand this. This is one of the more more brilliant works from the NatLamp crew! It also captures Lennon's song inflections brilliantly: "Pardon me sirrrrrrr-eeerrrrr-UH!" ROFLMAO!

PERFECT!

[upyerrzzz1]

Ugh, really bad. The lyrics are really lame, nothing really imaginative about them. And what, people can't hate a minority's work, actions, etc without it being racist?! Most of her work is fairly unlistenable, so that's why.

[Roscoe0494]

I think some maybe missed the era and just how funny this song really is - in the day it was best heard stoned. The whole National Lampoon Radio Dinner album was so irreverent at the time stoned college kids were the prime audience. Misery Tour parodied Lennon's core solo songs. Workingman hero with its (shocking) use of the F word. And his screaming tirades all from his solo stuff. What made it great: it was so Lennon that he could have easily sung it himself and laughed along with us.

[dobbsiancant]

@Roscoe0494 he could have sung it because the lyrics are taken pretty much verbatim from his 1971(?) interview with wenner in rolling stone.

[MetallicBill]

@Roscoe0494 I was never a Beatles fan anyway, so if it was inspired by animosity within the band, I was clueless, but I think they did respect The Rolling Stones, I know the Stones love the Beatles and The Who proceeded them all anyway...back to 1963!! haha

[AldousHuxleysCat]

I remember hearing this on a 8 track on the way home from school not long after it was released - we laughed so hard we ran off the road - genius is pain --- too bad they didn't tag it with McCartney doing give Yoko back to the Japs followed by the machine gunfire and the magical words "the proceeding was recorded by the late Paul McCartney"-"I'm dead"

[AldousHuxleysCat]

I remember hearing this on a 8 track on the way home from school not long after it was released - we laughed so hard we ran off the road - genius is pain

[TheBornAnnoyed]

4331Shadrack This one is...how should I say...GENIUS. and this one I will be using as well. Thank you. :)

[jpmccsgirl]

Being a great Beatles fan I take great offense in this....I know that John would probably laugh at this though......and in my opinion its videos like these that suggest that John hated the rest of The Beatles before he died: which isnt true, he was very close with ALL of them, mainly Paul though. Paul still wishes he could've fixed things a little better though,...

[MckyMseNTarotCrds]

@jpmccsgirl um...I'm probably one of the biggest Beatles fans on Earth. And I think this is hysterical. Relax, it's a comedy piece. Anyway, all most all the lyrics are taken from John's interview with Jan Wenner in '70 or '71. It's paraphrased and overemphasized for comic effect, but it's all taken from his own words. He mellowed in later years, but this is where John's head was at back then. "Genius is paaaaiiinnnn."

[jpmccsgirl]

@MckyMseNTarotCrds I'll relax about it, I just don't fancy these type of comedy works much....it wouldnt have bothered me if I knew about the interview with Jan Wenner that he did. :/ but....I'm thankful that John mellowed out if he really did say all those things in the interview, or else i'm sure he and Paul never would've worked it out.

[MckyMseNTarotCrds]

@jpmccsgirl It's cool someone your age is so into the Beatles. It shows good music never dies. Technically, they were "before my time" also, but my uncle got me into them when I was 7 or 8 and I've loved them ever since. It just keeps going. Every generation, at least a few cool people recognize how great they were. They're one band that will never die.

[MckyMseNTarotCrds]

Haha. The pictures are great, too. I love the Einstein/Vedder at the end of the song.

[MckyMseNTarotCrds]

I remember my friend played this for me years ago. We laughed our asses off but it kind of stung, being such a Beatles fan at the time...but it really is so accurate. Genius is pain! It's not a diss record, really. You have to be a super Lennon fan for it to even make sense, haha.

[jgc7320]

Laughed so hard I cried when I first heard this years ago and I love John Lennon. This is pure comic genius.

[EvilUncleFrank]

I just had to listen to this again, on the 30th anniversary of his murder. There has never been and will never be a more honest portrayal of the asshole musical genius we all miss so dear.

[juliekstroup]

Paul lives in Iceland

[paulisdead]

@juliekstroup I think he's saying "Turn left at Iceland". Like in 'A Hard Days Night ("Turn left at Greenland").

[shovelheadroad]

My parents had "Radio Dinner" when I was a kid- a hilarious record that would never be made in today's PC climate. Thanks for posting!

[rookieninetynine]

John never called his mother "Mother". He referred to her as "Julia"...

[glassoniongirl64]

if anyone EVER beats the fucking shit out of george, his memory or anything to do with him i will personally find out where whoever would do such a thing and slice them in two with a breadknife and dance in their grave.

[TimBambiStalin]

AWESOME!

PERFECT@!

GENIUS IS PAIN!!!

[PhiZappaCrappa]

"She just threw the bastards out..." = too F'n funny!

[ConnDevi88]

Whatever the guy did in his personal life has nothing to do with enjoying or disliking his work. This song is brilliant and I don't give a crap what he does in his free time.

[jayheadj420]

Hendra Rules! Screw his psycho daughter!

[k0stil]

lol

[databman]

I first heard this song on an 8 track a guy had back in about 1976. I loved it!!! The guy that had it died, and I never heard it again. I tried to find it (if only I hadn't been so wasted when I heard it, I might have known what it was called...) Anyway...I finally found it on Napster back before Napster "died". Now, you can find it anywhere. Thank (insert deity of your choice here) for the internet!!!

[deepeemark]

Sounds like 'turn left at Iceland'. Reminds me of something from a Hard days Night...or one of their press conferences ? A reporter asks 'how do you find America?" To which the reply is 'turn left at Iceland'? Or 'Greenland'? Can't remember! (But it sure rings a bell!)

[BJBlitzstein]

I've wanted to make a video of this for a while. Good job. I like the transcript. But I've never understood what he says at 3:37. Something about Iceland?

[cornucopiaethiopia]

@BJBlitzstein

I thought, "Thor lives in Iceland"?

[npspec34]

The sky is blue

and all I got to say is...

[OzTerri]

theres another thing. tony hendra is the voice here. he was "ian faith" in the movie spinal tap. but he's also been OUTED by his own daughter cos he molested her. yes, enjoy the satire but remember that he made his daughter suck him off when she was 6 years old. creepy. read "how to cook your daughter"

[helovestheUK]

you do understand her daughter is said to be a complete nut, and he has denied it.

[OzTerri]

no i don't "understand" that at all. i read her book, which was well written, detailed, lucid and quite believable. of course he denied it, what father would admit to molesting his own daughter.

[penrod59]

helovestheUK, he hasn't been convicted or sued, but his daughter's accusations seem valid, and her version of events has been supported by others, including family members. Fortunately, those charlatan therapists who induced weak-minded people to conjure up false "repressed memories" of sexual and other abuses seem to have gone away these days. Only she and Tony know the truth, but in my opinion, it's wrong to slander her without having met her. She is in enough pain.

[OzTerri]

and have you read his "how to cook your daughter" and still say that SHE is the nut.

[amazonjn]

Was it over 30 years ago? I recall listening to this and the whole album...such wonderful parodies. Love the musical references to songs off the imagine album and, of course, Cold Turkey. How many of y'all recall the Walrus controversy?  Good stuff, this!