Bartholomew's Notes

WorldNetDaily has found another worthy book to promote:

The Beatles meteoric rise, unprecedented in popular culture and unrivaled nearly four decades after the band broke up, is at least partly explained, says a new book, by a pact John Lennon made with the Devil.

In “The Lennon Prophecy,” author Joseph Niezgoda reveals that Lennon himself, obsessed with the occult, magic, numerology and being bigger than Elvis Presley, confided in his friend Tony Sheridan that he made such a deal. The book also makes the case that the “death clues” long associated with Paul McCartney were actually subliminal messages hinting at Lennon’s fate.

Niezgoda claims that the pact was made in December 1960, and was fulfilled twenty years later, when the demonically-possessed Mark Chapman shot Lennon dead:

“I have always had to deal with the constant conflict of my love for their music and the evil that I perceive surrounds it,” he told WND. “The only difference is that I have tried to define or make sense of it with the help of this book.”

Niezgoda does not appear to be promoting any particular religious view, but the idea of evil around certain popular music echoes an established genre of fundamentalist paperbacks which see rock music as a manifestation of Satan’s purposes; this essay by Johnny Marr overviews some earlier efforts, including Bob Larson’s Rock & Roll: The Devil’s Diversion and Jeff Godwin’s Dancing With Demons. Observes Marr:

In the realm of crackpot literature, few sub-genres surpass anti-rock ‘n’ roll literature in sheer quality. Like the finest fringe literature, they are suffused with paranoia, rabid passion and a refreshingly original take on conventional logic. Their philosophy combines the best elements of fundamentalist zealotry, Communist conspiracy, and bizarre pseudo science.

More recently, we’ve had William Josiah Sutton’s Ancient Prophecies About Mysticism Hollywood and the Music Industry (includes details of “Mick Jagger’s Connection with the Marxist Fabian Society and the Occult Revolution”) and various internet essays, such as Donald Phau’s “The Satanic Roots of ‘Rock'”  (“The year 1967 marked a significant escalation in open cultural warfare against the youth of the United States.”), and other pieces that have been linked from this site (includes “Elvis or Evils?” and “The Dixie Chicks are of the Devil“).

Alas, reviews of Niezgoda’s research have been somewhat negative; Buck McPherson of the Anniston Star complains that

Niezgoda sees clues where there are none (backwards lyrics, cryptic album artwork, etc.), and in most cases, makes a fool of himself trying to prove these far-reaching and preposterous connections. He even alleges that the band’s album title Revolver foreshadowed how Lennon would be killed. Is it so hard to believe that Lennon, along with Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr simply wrote brilliant pop songs at the same time that pop music was quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon?

Another reviewer calls it “easily the funniest book I have ever read.”

Niezgoda has a website here, where he expounds on seven clues which supposedly indicate Lennon’s deal with the devil. These include a picture of Lennon standing near a sign that says “The Best Way to Go is by M & D Co[aches]”. Niezgoda explains:

A photo from the Magical Mystery Tour album shows John walking in front of a sign which reads ‘THE BEST WAY TO GO IS BY M&DC’ or MDC. It turns out to be a fatal message because it was Mark David Chapman (initials MDC) who killed John. This picture is unedited and is shown just as it appeared in the 1967 album.

Another album features Lennon’s face on the label; surrounded by the grooves of the various tracks, is this clearly shows “picture of John at the center of a target with the record’s center-hole resting right between his eyes” (Actually, the hole is on the left side of his nose, but  let’s not quibble). The book is published by New Chapter Press, although it does not currently feature on the company’s website.

This kind of nonsense is of course typical WND fare; in 2006 it promoted a documentarycalled Rape of the Soul, which claimed that the Roman Catholic sex abuse crisis was “tied to embedded Satanic and occultic imagery in its artwork”.

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