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John Lennon Anthology

compilation album

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 30, 2026
Entity authorityQ1419487
Source-derived summary

John Lennon Anthology is a four-CD box set of home demos, studio outtakes and other previously unreleased material recorded by John Lennon over the course of his solo career from "Give Peace a Chance" in 1969 up until the 1980 sessions for Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey.

The anthology was divided by its compiler and co-producer, Yoko Ono, into four discs representing four eras in Lennon's solo career: "Ascot", "New York City", "The Lost Weekend" and "Dakota".

John Lennon Anthology reached number 62 in the United Kingdom and number 99 in the United States, where it went gold.

A one-disc distillation of the highlights of the box set was released as Wonsaponatime. Many of the tracks were edited down from their versions on John Lennon Anthology. Wonsaponatime failed to reach the US charts but peaked at number 76 in the UK.

Track listing

All songs were written by John Lennon, except where noted.

Wonsaponatime

Tracklisting

All songs written by Lennon, except where noted.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “John Lennon Anthology” as compilation album. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around John, Lennon and Anthology.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1969, 1980—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1998-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with John, Lennon and Anthology providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “John Lennon Anthology”, the useful work is to connect “compilation album” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1419487. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1969 and 1980.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John Lennon Anthology”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John Lennon Anthology primary sources, John Lennon Anthology archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John Lennon Anthology”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from John Lennon Anthology” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.