The exception to the rule is the one song of the period that isn\u2019t here: \u201cWoman is the N***** of the World,\u201d an overblown wall-of-sound homage intended as an anthem of feminist solidarity, inspired by a slogan Yoko Ono likely adapted from a line in Zora Neale Hurston\u2019s Their Eyes Were Watching God. The box set ignores that track (despite the fact that Lennon chose it as Some Time\u2019s single), cutting it out of the new mixes of the album and the accompanying concerts. Its absence helps shift the story towards Lennon\u2019s continued return to the big bang of 1950s rock\u2019n\u2019roll during this volatile period. Left to his own devices, he sings oldies: the last song disc here is a \u201cHome Jam,\u201d where he\u2019s sitting around the house strumming Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly tunes. On its cousin \u201cStudio Jam\u201d disc, Lennon leads his band through Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley rockers. These passages are loose, maybe even to a fault, but they\u2019re charming, capturing one of the greatest rock vocalists singing unencumbered by an audience.<\/p>\n
These two discs of informal jams are the ideal coda to Power to the People, which chronicles the era when Lennon was keenly aware that he was performing at all times. It wasn\u2019t just that he was playing his first live shows since the breakup of the Beatles. Lennon and Ono were omnipresent in 1971 and 1972, heading off to Ann Arbor to play a rally to free John Sinclair, strumming songs with Phil Ochs in a hotel room, accepting seemingly any offer to appear on TV, as evidenced by their appearance on the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy telethon. A rousing reggae-fied version of \u201cGive Peace a Chance,\u201d plucked from the telethon, features Lewis himself as part of the onstage chorus; his appearance crystallizes the essential oddness of this period. Even as he got his hands grimy in the leftist underground, Lennon remained one of the most famous men in the world, using mainstream platforms to preach politics to the masses. The dissonance of this intersection remains intriguing, long after the headlines have faded away.<\/p>\n
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