Мой первый журнал SUNRISE November № 1 2018 | Page 56

MUSIC John Lennon’s Nine Guitars 1) GALLOTONE CHAMPION Alexander Stankovskiy School No. 2 Blagoveschensk (Russia) You may listen to The Beatles and love them, or just the opposite. But it makes no sense at all to deny that four ordinary guys from the port town of Liverpool have had a colossal impact on all the contemporary rock music. And by the way, on the pop music too, but I'm afraid that Elvis was the first there nonetheless. The history of the group and its participants has been described in all directions, and it seems that there's nothing more to write about. But those who are not familiar with the subject, would hardly have any idea about such a problem… This article is exactly for them. For music lovers, musicians, creative people, and everyone who is not indifferent. It's a tribute to you and to John Lennon's 78 th birthday. Everybody knows who John Lennon is. Everyone has seen at least one photo of that thin guy in round spectacles and with long hair. And that guy was one of The Beatles. This is known to everyone too. John cannot be imagined without The Beatles, and The Beatles without John. Many people think for some reason that he was the group's constant leader, though it never had a leader. There were four ambitions Liverpoolians, and each of them with his own plans and whims. For example, John often boasted that an important role in his life was played by… number 9. And this is really so! See for yourself: John was born on October 9, 1940. He was murdered in New York on December 8, but in his native country, Great Britain, it was already December 9, 1980. There were many nines in John's life, but the most important one of them is probably associated with guitars. There must have been very many of them in John's life, but only 9 were important. Only 9 guitars reflecting the most important milestones in the history of a man, a group, and rock'n'roll, which were destined to change the world together. Only 9 guitars of John Lennon. 55 SUNRISE This is John's very first guitar. He purchased it in March 1957 when he was 17 years old. Lennon himself remembered that he used to play public guitars until he got his own one. He learned about the Gallotone from a magazine ad that guaranteed that it wouldn't crack or break. There are three interesting stories associated with this guitar. The first one is devoted to the question of who was the person that bought the guitar: John's mother Julia, or Mimi Smith, his aunt and guardian (John's mother left him very early). There was an opinion that Aunt Mimi did it, but John's friends disprove it. Mimi did buy a guitar for John, for 17 pounds, but it was already after the Gallotone. Now everyone agrees that it was Julia who paid for the Gallotone for her son from a guitar catalogue. Another story started after John. When The Beatles became popular, John gave the Gallotone to his Aunt Mimi. After John's death, Mimi gave it to a family friend whose son was disabled. When he passed away too, the Gallotone was handed over to a sick little girl's family. Her father sold the guitar to save his daughter. Soon the guitar was purchased by a private collector named Adam Sender for 140,000 pounds. And this gets us gradually to the third story: when the guitar was checked for authenticity it was found out that at one of the concerts of The Quarrymen (even before The Beatles) John had torn his finger and, when replacing a string, left a blood stain inside the guitar body. When examining the guitar, the experts really found a stain inside the Gallotone. It was John Lennon's first guitar. November 2018 №1