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selenakAll Beatles had their "did he really just say that?" moment both during and after the group, but John was the master of the art of contradictory quotes, at times a one man walking paradox. I've quoted the occasional one before, but could not resist collecting some gems into the form of, what else, an interview. All quotes by John and the occasional other usual suspects are authentic. The questions are by yours truly.
Q: 1970 has just started. John, I hear 1969 ended on a dramatic note. One of the ever lingering fans, the so called "Apple Scruffs", described a meeting between you and the McCartneys in your all-white ground-floor office facing the street along the following lines. "We couldn't hear what Linda actually said that upset him so. John leapt to his feet like a madman, waving his clenched fists over his head like an angry gorilla. Paul threw himself in the middle of the fracas just at the nick of time. Seconds later and Linda definitely would have been out cold." Now granted, teenage fans are prone to exaggarating, but would it be fair to say the relationship between you and Yoko on the one hand and Paul and Linda on the other is tense? Especially given that you've asked for a divorce and are currently working on a lot of angry songs with lines like "I've seen religions from Jesus to Paul"?
JOHN: *replies in form of a postcard written by John in early January 1970. I don't know which detail I love more, the hearts drawn by John or that Yoko remembers to add Heather's name to the list of addressed McCartneys*:
Q: I... see. Okay then. How would you describe the Lennon/McCartney work process?
JOHN: We always wrote separately, but we wrote together because we enjoyed it a lot. (Rolling Stone, 1970)
Q: That's illuminating. Let's talk about you and Yoko.
JOHN: Yoko would sit behind me and I’d play me games and she would tell me what they were doing when I blinked, and how they were in her opinion, because she wasn’t as stupid or emotional as me. And I’ve never had that except when The Beatles were against the world I did have the cooperation of a good mind like Paul’s. It was us against them. (Rolling Stone, 1970)
Q: Come again?
JOHN: Nobody controls me. I'm uncontrollable. The only one who controls me is me, and that's just barely possible. Nobody ever said anything about Paul's having a spell on me when I was with him for a long time or my having one on Paul! They never thought that was abnormal in those days, two guys together! (...) Why didn't they ever say, "How come those guys don't split up? I mean, what's going on backstage? I mean, what is that? What is this Paul and John business? Why else - how can they be together so long? (Playboy 1980)
YOKO: He did put it that way, he was 'riding on the boat called Paul, and now I'm going to ride on a boat called Yoko.' (Mojo, 2003)
JOHN: Once I found the woman, the boys became of no interest whatsoever, other than they were like old friends. You know the song: ‘Those wedding bells are breaking up that old gang of mine.’ It didn’t hit me until whatever age I was when I met Yoko. That was it. That old gang of mine was over the moment I met her. (...) (Regarding the lines in the song "Glass Onion" which go "I told you about the walrus and me-man/You know that we're as close as can be-man./Well here's another clue for you all,/ The walrus was Paul) I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just say something nice to Paul, that it’s all right and you did a good job over these few years, holding us together.’ He was trying to organise the group and all that, so I wanted to say something to him. I thought, ‘Well, he can have it, I’ve got Yoko. And thank you, you can have the credit. The line was put in partly because I was feeling guilty because I was with Yoko and I was leaving Paul. It’s a very perverse way of saying to Paul: ‘Here, have this crumb, this illusion, this stroke – because I’m leaving.’ (Playboy 1980)
Q: With that instant lack of interest in the group and the eagerness to leave it and Paul, you must have been really relieved he got married as well and started a family and a career of his own. Let's hear about your feelings regarding the new Mrs. McCartney, oh newborn feminist.
JOHN: The first time I saw [Linda] was after that press conference to announce Apple in America. We were just going back to the airport and she was in the car with us. I didn't think she was particularly attractive, I wondered what he was bothering having her in the car for. A bit too tweedy, you know. But she sat in the car and took photographs and that was it. And the next minute she's married him. (St. Regis hotel interview, September 5, 19719)
Q: Excuse me?
JOHN: Well, Paul had met her before [the Apple press conference], you see. I mean, there were quite a few women he'd obviously had that I never knew about. God knows when he was doing it, but he must have been doing it. (more St. Regis1971)
Q: One would think so.
JOHN: I just don't understand...I never knew what he wanted in a woman because I never knew what I wanted. (more St. Regis 1971)
Q: Any predictions for his future, either professional or matrimonial?
JOHN: Oh, he'd [Allen Klein] love it if Paul would come back... I mean, I want him to come out of it too, you know. He will one day. I give him five years, I've said that. In five years he'll wake up. (more St. Regis 1971)
Q: I'm assuming you define "wake up" as "divorce Linda, fire his in-laws, admit Allen Klein is the perfect manager and agree to be managed by him". Let's do a time jump to 1974, December 19th. You've fired Allen Klein, are currently separated from Yoko, and have started to socialize with the McCartneys again. Ringo even lived with you and your current girl friend May Pang for a while. George and you had a bit of a misunderstanding about the Bangladesh concert, but now you've promised to appear with him in Madison Carden. Even the nasty legal stuff can be settled for good. The lawyers have the documents prepared to finally and completely dissolve the Beatles partnership, everyone has come to New York to accomodate you. One would imagine, no pun intended, you're very eager to sign said documents.
MAY PANG: John was told to be prepared to sign the final documents at midnight, after George's concert. After John got the news, he said nothing. We were sitting in the bedroom, and I got up to go to the kitchen when John suddenly slammed the door and locked it behind me. "John, what's the matter? I called out. "I'm not going to sign the agreement," he said through the closed door. "What?" "It's not fair." I went to the door and tried to reason with him. "Harold has told you again and again that this is the best deal you can have. He's told you that you've come out better than he ever thought you would. It's taken years to reach this point. I think you should sign." John said nothing. "Open the door." There was more silence. "What's going on?" He refused to reply. (Loving John, 1983)
Q: Did he eventually give you a reason?
MAY PANG: His official reason for not showing was 'the stars aren't right'. (Instamatic Karma, 2008)
Q: Do you know how the other (ex) Beatles reacted to this turn of events?
MAY PANG: George, already in a dour mood because his tour was getting poor reviews and his voice was shot, went ballistic. He started yelling at Harold and blamed him for John not coming. Soon, all the other lawyers erupted at Harold. George then picked up the phone and called John, but got me. I asked if he wanted John, and he barked, 'No!Just tell him whatever his problem is, I started this tour on my own and I'll end it on my own!" and slammed the phone down. (Instamatic Karma) Later that night Paul called, too. Unlike George, he was exceptionally even-tempered. John explained to Paul his feelings. (Loving John)
Q: John, I could do with a little explanation here myself, and the stars don't really cut it. Let's time travel forward to 1980. What was that in 1974/75, a sudden wave of nostalgia?
JOHN: I don't believe in yesterday. You know I don't believe in yesterday. I am only interested in what I am doing now. (Playboy 1980)
Q. If you say so. Okay, enough legal business, let's talk about music.
JOHN: I think subconsciously we -- I thought Paul subconsciously tried to destroy my great songs. (...) Paul will deny it, because he has a bland face and will say this doesn't exist. This is the kind of thing I'm talking about where I was always seeing what was going on and began to think, Well, maybe I'm paranoid. But it is not paranoid. It is the absolute truth. (Playboy 1980)
Q: ....My god, must you have been glad to get away from that saboteur.
JOHN: I can't speak for George but I was always hurt when Paul knocked something off without involving us. (Playboy1980)
Q: Like...?
JOHN: Oh!Darling was a great one of Paul's that he didn't sing too well. I always thought I could've done it better. It was more my style than his. (yes, Playboy 1980 again)
Q: While we're on the subject of McCartney songs you like, I hear you approve of Hey Jude?
JOHN: ‘Hey Jude’ is one of his masterpieces. He says it was written about Julian, my child. He knew I was splitting with Cyn and leaving Julian. He was driving over to say ‘hi’ to Julian. He’d been like an uncle to him. Paul was always good with kids. And so he came up with ‘Hey Jude’. That's his story. But I always heard it as a song to me. If you think about it, Yoko’s just come into the picture. He’s saying: ‘Hey, Jude – hey, John.’ I know I’m sounding like one of those fans who reads things into it, but you can hear it as a song to me. The words ‘go out and get her’ – subconsciously he was saying, ‘Go ahead, leave me.’ But on a conscious level, he didn’t want me to go ahead. The angel inside him was saying, ‘Bless you.’ The devil in him didn’t like it at all, because he didn’t want to lose his partner. (Playboy 1980)
Q: I'm not quite clear on whether or not you're competing with Julian for a song, so let's talk about the kid. In 1975, though; your 1980 Julian statements are just too depressing. ( the next exchange is from a March 1975 interview with Frances Schönberger, Spin.) How is it for a 11 year old boy to have John Lennon as a father?
JOHN: It must be hell.
Q: Does he talk about that to you?
JOHN: No, because he's a Beatles fan. I mean, what do you expect? I think he likes Paul better than me. I have the funny feeling he wishes Paul
was his Dad. But unfortunately he got me. (end of 1975 Frances Schönberger interview quote)
Q: John, it could be me, but for someone who doesn't believe in yesterday you come across as just a tad obsessed with your ex.
JOHN: I've been doing other things and so has he. You know, he's got 25 kids and about 20,000,000 records out -- how can he spend much time talking? He's always working. (Playboy 1980)
Q: So he doesn't spend enough time on the phone with you?
JOHN: That was a period when Paul just kept turning up at our door with a guitar. I would let him in, but finally I said to him, "Please call before you come over. It's not 1956 and turning up at the door isn't the same anymore. You know, just give me a ring." He was upset by that, but I didn't mean it badly. (Playboy 1980)
Q: Can't imagine how anyone could possibly suspect you of that. So, your final word in a RKO radio interview shortly before your death, December 1980?
JOHN. I was saying to somebody the other day: 'There's only two artists I've ever worked with for more than one night stands, as it were. That's Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono.' I think that's a pretty damned good choice! Because in the history of the Beatles - Paul met me the first day I did 'Be-Bop-A-Lula' live on stage, okay? And a fr--a mutual friend brought him to see my group called The Quarrymen and we met and we talked after the show and I--I saw he had talent and he was playing guitar backstage, doing 'Twenty-Flight Rock' by Eddie Cochran, and I turned 'round to him right then on first meeting and said, 'Do you want to join the group?' And he said, 'Mmmm, hmmm, yunno, mmmm, hmmm hmmm hmm...' And I think he said yes the next day. As I recall it. Now, George came through Paul and Ringo came through George, although of course I had a say in where they came from, but the only--the person I actually picked as my partner, who I recognized had talent and I could get on with, was Paul. Twelve or however many years later I met Yoko, I had the same feeling. It was a different feel, but I had the same feeling.
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Q: 1970 has just started. John, I hear 1969 ended on a dramatic note. One of the ever lingering fans, the so called "Apple Scruffs", described a meeting between you and the McCartneys in your all-white ground-floor office facing the street along the following lines. "We couldn't hear what Linda actually said that upset him so. John leapt to his feet like a madman, waving his clenched fists over his head like an angry gorilla. Paul threw himself in the middle of the fracas just at the nick of time. Seconds later and Linda definitely would have been out cold." Now granted, teenage fans are prone to exaggarating, but would it be fair to say the relationship between you and Yoko on the one hand and Paul and Linda on the other is tense? Especially given that you've asked for a divorce and are currently working on a lot of angry songs with lines like "I've seen religions from Jesus to Paul"?
JOHN: *replies in form of a postcard written by John in early January 1970. I don't know which detail I love more, the hearts drawn by John or that Yoko remembers to add Heather's name to the list of addressed McCartneys*:
Q: I... see. Okay then. How would you describe the Lennon/McCartney work process?
JOHN: We always wrote separately, but we wrote together because we enjoyed it a lot. (Rolling Stone, 1970)
Q: That's illuminating. Let's talk about you and Yoko.
JOHN: Yoko would sit behind me and I’d play me games and she would tell me what they were doing when I blinked, and how they were in her opinion, because she wasn’t as stupid or emotional as me. And I’ve never had that except when The Beatles were against the world I did have the cooperation of a good mind like Paul’s. It was us against them. (Rolling Stone, 1970)
Q: Come again?
JOHN: Nobody controls me. I'm uncontrollable. The only one who controls me is me, and that's just barely possible. Nobody ever said anything about Paul's having a spell on me when I was with him for a long time or my having one on Paul! They never thought that was abnormal in those days, two guys together! (...) Why didn't they ever say, "How come those guys don't split up? I mean, what's going on backstage? I mean, what is that? What is this Paul and John business? Why else - how can they be together so long? (Playboy 1980)
YOKO: He did put it that way, he was 'riding on the boat called Paul, and now I'm going to ride on a boat called Yoko.' (Mojo, 2003)
JOHN: Once I found the woman, the boys became of no interest whatsoever, other than they were like old friends. You know the song: ‘Those wedding bells are breaking up that old gang of mine.’ It didn’t hit me until whatever age I was when I met Yoko. That was it. That old gang of mine was over the moment I met her. (...) (Regarding the lines in the song "Glass Onion" which go "I told you about the walrus and me-man/You know that we're as close as can be-man./Well here's another clue for you all,/ The walrus was Paul) I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just say something nice to Paul, that it’s all right and you did a good job over these few years, holding us together.’ He was trying to organise the group and all that, so I wanted to say something to him. I thought, ‘Well, he can have it, I’ve got Yoko. And thank you, you can have the credit. The line was put in partly because I was feeling guilty because I was with Yoko and I was leaving Paul. It’s a very perverse way of saying to Paul: ‘Here, have this crumb, this illusion, this stroke – because I’m leaving.’ (Playboy 1980)
Q: With that instant lack of interest in the group and the eagerness to leave it and Paul, you must have been really relieved he got married as well and started a family and a career of his own. Let's hear about your feelings regarding the new Mrs. McCartney, oh newborn feminist.
JOHN: The first time I saw [Linda] was after that press conference to announce Apple in America. We were just going back to the airport and she was in the car with us. I didn't think she was particularly attractive, I wondered what he was bothering having her in the car for. A bit too tweedy, you know. But she sat in the car and took photographs and that was it. And the next minute she's married him. (St. Regis hotel interview, September 5, 19719)
Q: Excuse me?
JOHN: Well, Paul had met her before [the Apple press conference], you see. I mean, there were quite a few women he'd obviously had that I never knew about. God knows when he was doing it, but he must have been doing it. (more St. Regis1971)
Q: One would think so.
JOHN: I just don't understand...I never knew what he wanted in a woman because I never knew what I wanted. (more St. Regis 1971)
Q: Any predictions for his future, either professional or matrimonial?
JOHN: Oh, he'd [Allen Klein] love it if Paul would come back... I mean, I want him to come out of it too, you know. He will one day. I give him five years, I've said that. In five years he'll wake up. (more St. Regis 1971)
Q: I'm assuming you define "wake up" as "divorce Linda, fire his in-laws, admit Allen Klein is the perfect manager and agree to be managed by him". Let's do a time jump to 1974, December 19th. You've fired Allen Klein, are currently separated from Yoko, and have started to socialize with the McCartneys again. Ringo even lived with you and your current girl friend May Pang for a while. George and you had a bit of a misunderstanding about the Bangladesh concert, but now you've promised to appear with him in Madison Carden. Even the nasty legal stuff can be settled for good. The lawyers have the documents prepared to finally and completely dissolve the Beatles partnership, everyone has come to New York to accomodate you. One would imagine, no pun intended, you're very eager to sign said documents.
MAY PANG: John was told to be prepared to sign the final documents at midnight, after George's concert. After John got the news, he said nothing. We were sitting in the bedroom, and I got up to go to the kitchen when John suddenly slammed the door and locked it behind me. "John, what's the matter? I called out. "I'm not going to sign the agreement," he said through the closed door. "What?" "It's not fair." I went to the door and tried to reason with him. "Harold has told you again and again that this is the best deal you can have. He's told you that you've come out better than he ever thought you would. It's taken years to reach this point. I think you should sign." John said nothing. "Open the door." There was more silence. "What's going on?" He refused to reply. (Loving John, 1983)
Q: Did he eventually give you a reason?
MAY PANG: His official reason for not showing was 'the stars aren't right'. (Instamatic Karma, 2008)
Q: Do you know how the other (ex) Beatles reacted to this turn of events?
MAY PANG: George, already in a dour mood because his tour was getting poor reviews and his voice was shot, went ballistic. He started yelling at Harold and blamed him for John not coming. Soon, all the other lawyers erupted at Harold. George then picked up the phone and called John, but got me. I asked if he wanted John, and he barked, 'No!Just tell him whatever his problem is, I started this tour on my own and I'll end it on my own!" and slammed the phone down. (Instamatic Karma) Later that night Paul called, too. Unlike George, he was exceptionally even-tempered. John explained to Paul his feelings. (Loving John)
Q: John, I could do with a little explanation here myself, and the stars don't really cut it. Let's time travel forward to 1980. What was that in 1974/75, a sudden wave of nostalgia?
JOHN: I don't believe in yesterday. You know I don't believe in yesterday. I am only interested in what I am doing now. (Playboy 1980)
Q. If you say so. Okay, enough legal business, let's talk about music.
JOHN: I think subconsciously we -- I thought Paul subconsciously tried to destroy my great songs. (...) Paul will deny it, because he has a bland face and will say this doesn't exist. This is the kind of thing I'm talking about where I was always seeing what was going on and began to think, Well, maybe I'm paranoid. But it is not paranoid. It is the absolute truth. (Playboy 1980)
Q: ....My god, must you have been glad to get away from that saboteur.
JOHN: I can't speak for George but I was always hurt when Paul knocked something off without involving us. (Playboy1980)
Q: Like...?
JOHN: Oh!Darling was a great one of Paul's that he didn't sing too well. I always thought I could've done it better. It was more my style than his. (yes, Playboy 1980 again)
Q: While we're on the subject of McCartney songs you like, I hear you approve of Hey Jude?
JOHN: ‘Hey Jude’ is one of his masterpieces. He says it was written about Julian, my child. He knew I was splitting with Cyn and leaving Julian. He was driving over to say ‘hi’ to Julian. He’d been like an uncle to him. Paul was always good with kids. And so he came up with ‘Hey Jude’. That's his story. But I always heard it as a song to me. If you think about it, Yoko’s just come into the picture. He’s saying: ‘Hey, Jude – hey, John.’ I know I’m sounding like one of those fans who reads things into it, but you can hear it as a song to me. The words ‘go out and get her’ – subconsciously he was saying, ‘Go ahead, leave me.’ But on a conscious level, he didn’t want me to go ahead. The angel inside him was saying, ‘Bless you.’ The devil in him didn’t like it at all, because he didn’t want to lose his partner. (Playboy 1980)
Q: I'm not quite clear on whether or not you're competing with Julian for a song, so let's talk about the kid. In 1975, though; your 1980 Julian statements are just too depressing. ( the next exchange is from a March 1975 interview with Frances Schönberger, Spin.) How is it for a 11 year old boy to have John Lennon as a father?
JOHN: It must be hell.
Q: Does he talk about that to you?
JOHN: No, because he's a Beatles fan. I mean, what do you expect? I think he likes Paul better than me. I have the funny feeling he wishes Paul
was his Dad. But unfortunately he got me. (end of 1975 Frances Schönberger interview quote)
Q: John, it could be me, but for someone who doesn't believe in yesterday you come across as just a tad obsessed with your ex.
JOHN: I've been doing other things and so has he. You know, he's got 25 kids and about 20,000,000 records out -- how can he spend much time talking? He's always working. (Playboy 1980)
Q: So he doesn't spend enough time on the phone with you?
JOHN: That was a period when Paul just kept turning up at our door with a guitar. I would let him in, but finally I said to him, "Please call before you come over. It's not 1956 and turning up at the door isn't the same anymore. You know, just give me a ring." He was upset by that, but I didn't mean it badly. (Playboy 1980)
Q: Can't imagine how anyone could possibly suspect you of that. So, your final word in a RKO radio interview shortly before your death, December 1980?
JOHN. I was saying to somebody the other day: 'There's only two artists I've ever worked with for more than one night stands, as it were. That's Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono.' I think that's a pretty damned good choice! Because in the history of the Beatles - Paul met me the first day I did 'Be-Bop-A-Lula' live on stage, okay? And a fr--a mutual friend brought him to see my group called The Quarrymen and we met and we talked after the show and I--I saw he had talent and he was playing guitar backstage, doing 'Twenty-Flight Rock' by Eddie Cochran, and I turned 'round to him right then on first meeting and said, 'Do you want to join the group?' And he said, 'Mmmm, hmmm, yunno, mmmm, hmmm hmmm hmm...' And I think he said yes the next day. As I recall it. Now, George came through Paul and Ringo came through George, although of course I had a say in where they came from, but the only--the person I actually picked as my partner, who I recognized had talent and I could get on with, was Paul. Twelve or however many years later I met Yoko, I had the same feeling. It was a different feel, but I had the same feeling.
lucy in the sky with WOLVES by ~hattyhatty on deviantART
no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 08:49 pm (UTC)the only--the person I actually picked as my partner, who I recognized had talent and I could get on with, was Paul. Twelve or however many years later I met Yoko, I had the same feeling. It was a different feel, but I had the same feeling. I loved this so hard.
Thanks a lot for sharing!
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Date: 2010-11-09 12:47 pm (UTC)