At the end of 1968, Lennon featured in the film The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (not released until 1996) in the role of a Dirty Mac band member. The supergroup, comprising Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell, also backed a vocal performance by Ono in the film.^[57] Lennon and Ono were married on 20 March 1969, and soon released a series of 14 lithographs called "Bag One" depicting scenes from their honeymoon,^[58] eight of which were deemed indecent and most of which were banned and confiscated.^[59]Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins^[60] (known more for its cover than for its music), Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions and Wedding Album. In 1969 they formed The Plastic Ono Band, releasing Live Peace in Toronto 1969.In protest at Britain's involvement in the Vietnam War, Lennon returnedhis MBE medal to the Queen, though this had no effect on his MBEstatus, which could not be renounced.^[61]Between 1969 and 1970 Lennon released the singles "Give Peace a Chance"(widely adopted as an anti-Vietnam-War anthem in 1969), "Cold Turkey" (documenting his withdrawal symptoms after he became addicted to heroin^[62]) and "Instant Karma!".Lennon's creative focus continued to move beyond The Beatles andbetween 1968 and 1969 he and Ono recorded three albums of experimentalmusic together:

Lennon left The Beatles in September 1969. He agreed not to informthe media while the band renegotiated their recording contract, and wasoutraged that McCartney publicised his own departure on releasing his debut solo album in April 1970.^[63]Lennon's reaction was, "Jesus Christ! He gets all the credit for it!"He later wrote, "I started the band. I disbanded it. It's as simple asthat."^[64] In late interviews with Rolling Stone,he revealed his bitterness towards McCartney, saying, "I was a fool notto do what Paul did, which was use it to sell a record." He spoke tooof the hostility he perceived the other members had towards Ono, and ofhow he, Harrison, and Starr "got fed up with being sidemen for Paul...After Brian Epstein died we collapsed. Paul took over and supposedlyled us. But what is leading us when we went round in circles?"^[65]

[edit] 1970–80: Solo career

[edit] 1970–73: First post-Beatles years

Following The Beatles' break-up in 1970, Lennon and Ono went through primal therapy with Dr. Arthur Janovin Los Angeles, California. Designed to release emotional pain fromearly childhood, the therapy entailed two half-days a week with Janovfor four months; he had wanted to treat the couple for longer, but theyfelt no need to continue and returned to London.^[66] Lennon's emotional debut solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono BandMother", in which he confronted his feelings of childhood rejection,^[67] and "Working Class Hero", banned by BBC Radio for its inclusion of the word "fucking".^[68] The same year, Tariq Ali's revolutionary political views, expressed when he interviewed Lennon, inspired the singer to write "Power to the People". Lennon also became involved with Ali during a protest against Oz magazine'sprosecution for alleged obscenity. Lennon denounced the proceedings as"disgusting fascism", and he and Ono (as Elastic Oz Band) released thesingle "God Save Us/Do The Oz" and joined marches in support of themagazine.^[69] (1970), included "

Imagine followed in 1971. Its title track would become an anthem for anti-war movements, while another, "How Do You Sleep?", was a musical attack on McCartney in response to lyrics from Ramthat Lennon felt, and McCartney later confirmed, were directed at himand Ono. Although Lennon softened his stance in the mid-70s and said hehad written "How Do You Sleep?" about himself,^[71]he revealed in 1980, "I used my resentment against Paul... to create asong... not a terrible vicious horrible vendetta... I used myresentment and withdrawing from Paul and The Beatles, and therelationship with Paul, to write 'How Do You Sleep'. I don't really go'round with those thoughts in my head all the time".^[10] Lennon reflected on his jealous nature in the track "Jealous Guy", later immortalized by Roxy Music's chart-topping 1981 cover following Lennon's murder.^[14]

Lennon and Ono moved to New York in August 1971, and in December released "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)".^[72][73]The new year saw the Nixon Administration take what it called a"strategic counter-measure" against Lennon's anti-war propaganda,embarking on what would be a four-year attempt to deport him: embroiled in a continuing legal battle, he was denied a green card until 1976.^[74]To advertise the single, they paid for billboards in 12 cities aroundthe world which declared, in the national language, "WAR IS OVER—IF YOUWANT IT".

Some Time in New York City was released in 1972. Recorded with the New York band Elephant's Memory,it contained songs about women's rights, race relations, Britain's rolein Northern Ireland, and Lennon's problems obtaining a green card.^[75] "Woman Is the Nigger of the World",released as a US single from the album the same year, was described byLennon as "the first women's liberation song that went out", anddebuted on 11 May when it was televised on The Dick Cavett Show. Many radio stations refused to broadcast the song because of the word "nigger".^[76] Lennon gave two benefit concerts with Elephant's Memory in New York in aid of patients at the Willowbrook State School mental facility.^[77] Staged at Madison Square Garden on 30 August 1972, they were his last full-length concert appearances.^[78]

[edit] 1973–80: Lost and found

While Lennon was recording Mind Games(1973), he and Ono decided to separate. The ensuing eighteen-monthperiod apart, which he later called his "lost weekend", was spent inLos Angeles and New York in the company of May Pang. Mind Games, credited to "the Plastic U.F.Ono Band", was released in November 1973. Its title track, "Mind Games", was a top 20 hit in the US and reached number 26 in the UK. Lennon contributed a revamped version of "I'm the Greatest", a song he wrote two years earlier, to Starr's album Ringo (1973), released the same month. (Lennon's 1971 demo appears on John Lennon Anthology.) During 1974 he produced Harry Nilsson's Pussy Cats and the Mick Jaggersong "Too Many Cooks (Spoil The Soup)". The latter was destined, forcontractual reasons, to remain unreleased for more than thirty years.Pang supplied the recording for its eventual inclusion on The Very Best of Mick Jagger (2007).^[79]

Walls and Bridges (1974) yielded Lennon's only number one single in his lifetime, "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night", featuring Elton John on backing vocals and piano. A second single from the album, "#9 Dream", followed before the end of the year. Starr's Goodnight Vienna (1974) again saw assistance from Lennon, who wrote the title track and played piano.^[80] On 28 November, Lennon made a surprise guest appearance at Elton John's Thanksgiving concert at Madison Square Garden,in fulfilment of his promise to join the singer in a live show if"Whatever Gets You Thru the Night", a song whose commercial potentialLennon had doubted, reached number one. Lennon performed the song alongwith "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "I Saw Her Standing There".^[81]

Lennon co-wrote "Fame", David Bowie's first US number one, and provided guitar and backing vocals for the January 1975 recording.^[82] He and Ono were reunited shortly afterwards.^[83]The same month, Elton John topped the charts with his own cover of"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", featuring Lennon on guitar and back-upvocals. Lennon released Rock 'n' Roll (1975), an album of cover songs, in February. Soon afterwards, "Stand By Me",taken from the album and a US and UK hit, became his last single forfive years. He made what would be his final stage appearance in the ATV special A Salute to Lew Grade, recorded on 18 April and televised in June.^[84]Rock 'n' Roll("Slippin' and Slidin'" and "Stand By Me", the latter of which wasexcluded from the television broadcast) followed by "Imagine".