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As I listen along through Walls and Bridges, some songs I quite like, some are just OK, and “Bless You” I find drab and tedious. Then I get to “#9 Dream” and remember, Oh, right, it’s John Lennon. He’s a fucking genius.
John himself was later dismissive of “#9,” saying “That was a bit of a throwaway. It was based on some dream I had.” But according to May Pang, who is probably a more reliable source to be honest,
This was one of John’s favorite songs, because it literally came to him in a dream. He woke up and wrote down those words along with the melody. He had no idea what it meant, but he thought it sounded beautiful.
This was not John’s first song to reference the number nine, which was his favorite. He was born on October 9 (as Sean would be, eight months hence in the 50-years-ago timeline), and according to The Beatles Bible,
The first home he lived in was at 9 Newcastle Road, Wavertree, Liverpool – three names which each contain nine letters. Newcastle Road was his grandfather’s house, and while living there Lennon later wrote “One After 909.”
And the chorus of “#9 Dream,” which is in nonsense language from John’s dream, has nine syllables in it.
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Apparently in the original version the repeated last word was (or at least sounded like) “pussy,” which he was told would not fly if he wanted the song to be played on the radio. (In the FCC‘s eyes, “pussy” is what they call a “two-way” word: OK in some contexts, not in others.)
“#9” was initially called “Walls and Bridges” (hence the album title), then “So Long Ago.” In this early iteration it doesn’t sound all that promising:
But then John hit upon the idea of creating a string arrangement similar to the one he and Harry Nilsson had used on the version of “Many Rivers to Cross” that appears on Pussy Cats (there’s that word again):
The result was magical. Listening to “#9 Dream” is like floating on a cloud for a few minutes. Hardly an original thought, I know — but that’s what it’s like. There’s no need to get all fancy with the language. Just listen to the damn song:
Great song. Thanks for reminding me. Five stars.