John Lennon’s glasses weren’t only a fashion statement. The Beatles’ legend needed them to see, and Paul McCartney has a hilarious story to prove it. John’s round spectacles reinforced his image as an all-around artist, but they didn’t do any good if he took them off.
John Lennon wore glasses because he was ‘blind as a bat’ otherwise
John’s artistic output extended beyond The Beatles. He wrote books and created artwork in addition to writing timeless songs. His glasses helped cultivate his image as a man of the arts, but he desperately needed them.
In the documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World, the former Beatle comments that John “was blind as a bat” without his glasses. George says his bandmate rarely wore his spectacles, meaning he could barely see most of the time. John’s shortsightedness was so bad he could barely see beyond his reach without glasses.
Paul routinely made fun of him for wearing corrective lenses every time they fought, so
John might have been self-conscious about his glasses. He didn’t wear them all the time. Paul told a hilarious story about one memorable time John ditched his glasses on a late-night walk home.
Paul McCartney has a funny story about a time John walked home without his glasses
Buddy Holly was a revelation for John for two reasons. One, he was an early rock ‘n’ roll pioneer who helped change the musical landscape. Second, Holly proved a musician could wear glasses and be successful.
Yet John’s glasses came off around girls. During an appearance on Ronnie Wood’s BBC show (via YouTube), Paul told a hilarious story about what happened when John removed his spectacles while walking home after writing songs into the night during The Beatles’ formative years in Liverpool.
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“One day, we were writing together, John and I. It was around Christmas. He used to come down by me, we’d write, and then he’d walk back up to his house, which was like a mile away or something. … If there was any possibility of girls around, he wouldn’t wear the horn-rims.
“I saw him the next day, and he said, ‘You know those people on the corner of Booker Ave., they’re mad. What time was it when I left you last night?’ I said, ‘ I don’t know, about 11:30 or something.’ He said, ‘Yeah, well, I went past their house, and they were out still playing cards in front of their house.’ I said, ‘I can’t believe it.’ So I go by there later, and it’s a nativity scene. It’s Mary and Joseph bent over the baby Jesus.”
How blind was John Lennon without his glasses? So blind he couldn’t tell the difference between card-playing Liverpudlians and a nativity set from a few feet away. Based on Paul’s story, it seems like a miracle John made it home from their songwriting session without getting hopelessly lost.
John acquired his frames for a movie role and liked how they looked on him
John’s glasses embarrassed him for years to the point where he preferred walking around blind. That changed when he starred in the 1967 movie How I Won the War.
The filmmakers gave him his iconic, round “granny glasses.” John liked how they looked on him and made them a standard part of his wardrobe. Finally. Still, he wasn’t overly protective of his glasses. He once let George throw them on the floor during a moment of frustration in the post-Beatles era.
John Lennon’s glasses were an essential part of his image and crucial for his vision. Yet he hesitated to wear them for years, and Paul McCartney recalled a hilarious story about how bad his friend’s vision was without his frames.
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