February 14, 2013

John Lennon on Indians

Plex Releases Idle No More Anthem--With a Little Help from John LennonIndigenous hip hop artist Plex has joined the legion of artists who've been inspired by the Idle No More movement, recording "No More," a rousing single in support of the cause. It kicks off with a sound bite taken from John Lennon's September 11, 1971 appearance on The Dick Cavett Show.

Can you tell us about the John Lennon quote? Is it the kind of thing you'd been wanting to use or did you discover it recently?

During the first couple weeks of the movement, there was this enormous tension between both sides of the Idle No More movement. I say both sides, because there are many First Nations and people around the world who stand behind it and there are many Canadians who are completely against it. While this was going on, numerous internet memes and videos supporting indigenous rights started to circulate via social media. One of them was the John Lennon sound bite I would later use. It was only about 20 seconds long, so I searched for the complete interview on the Dick Cavett show. I watched the entire episode and this clip wasn't even aired in the original broadcast. So I searched some more and found this 10 minute clip where John Lennon and Dick Cavett talk about how the US government doesn't support the rights of the "red Indians." I thought it was great. But I had to narrow it down to 30 seconds, so I chopped it up a bit. I've always admired John Lennon. He stood for so many of the same beliefs I have. I mean, come on.... All you need is love? Love is all you need? Is that not what life is really about? It's simple, but brilliant.
Comment:  The Dick Cavett clip is below. Plex talks about searching for it as if it took a while, but the clip isn't hard to find. If you Google "John Lennon Indians," it's the first thing that pops up.

The part about Indians begins at the 2:34 mark:



And here's Plex's No More video with excerpts from the Dick Cavett clip:



For more on Idle No More, see Rolling Stone Covers Idle No More and Racists Infest Newspaper's Facebook Page.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah I bought this 2 disc series on DVD. Dick Cavette, if you remember, also had Marlon Brando on his show exclusively airing Brando's disgust with the media and treatment of all indigenous peoples. Lennon and Brando were pioneers on native rights and human rights in general.

Rob said...

I was a teenager when Dick Cavett was on, and I never watched his show. I wasn't interested in talking heads then and I'm not that interested in them now. I prefer to skim the highlights of an interview in the next day's news.