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Playboy Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono
John Lennon could be angry, as he is in Lennon Remembers: The Full Rolling Stone Interviews from 1970, and nasty, as proven by Albert Goldman's brilliant, scathing The Lives of John Lennon.
But he could also be charming, smart, and extraordinarily witty, as he is in his last interview, published in book form as All We Are Saying. Co-interviewee Yoko Ono is charm-free but valuable, because she sparks the conversation and brings up fascinating stuff that Lennon wished she hadn't, like their mad plots to kidnap her daughter from her ex-husband. As interviewer David Sheff's tape rolls, John and Yoko's anecdotes flow effortlessly: the joys of making their 1980 comeback album, Double Fantasy; the mortifying horrors of John's "lost weekend" in L.A. with Harry Nilsson; John's interestingly twisted family life; John and Yoko and Paul's last get-together, watching Saturday Night Live the night producer Lorne Michaels offered the Beatles $3,200 to reunite on the show (they almost got in a cab and did it!).
Best of all is Lennon's song-by-song account of who wrote which famous tunes and where they came from. "Strawberry Fields" contains an entire childhood memoir, and the production reflects Paul's alleged "sabotage" of Lennon's work. "Please Please Me" was based on a Roy Orbison melody and Bing Crosby's punning song title "Please (Lend an Ear to My Pleas)." The "element'ry penguins" in "I Am the Walrus" refer to idiots like Allen Ginsberg who chant "Hare Krishna" worshipfully. "Hey Jude" was Paul's song comforting John's son Julian when John left his family for Yoko, and Paul's unconscious, reluctant farewell to his writing partner ("go out and get her").
Lennon had been publicly silent and artistically dormant for five years before these interviews, and he was just bursting with the exhilaration of the rebirth of his imagination days before his death. Reading this book is like sharing a day in the life of a very happy man. --Tim Appelo
Hardcover
First published August 13, 1981
About the author
David Sheff
30 books854 followersDavid Sheff is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Beautiful Boy. Sheff's other books include Game Over, China Dawn, and All We Are Saying. His many articles and interviews have appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Wired, Fortune, and elsewhere. His ongoing research and reporting on the science of addiction earned him a place on Time Magazine's list of the World's Most Influential People. Sheff and his family live in Inverness, California.
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November 15, 2020
5 Stars
This is the last major interview with John Lennon (and his wife Yoko Ono) to coincide with the release of their album "Double Fantasy" in 1980. At this point in John's life, he had been enjoying self-imposed retirement for 5 years following the birth of their son Sean. For the first time since all The Beatles craziness, John had no record contracts to fulfill. His artist wife Yoko, the daughter of a prominent banking family in Japan, decided to learn how to handle the business side of John's financial empire. John decided to be a househusband, baking bread and supervising everything that Sean ate. With pride, John said, "I built his bones." Yoko ran the Lennon empire from her office at the Dakota while John was parenting Sean on another floor in their apartment.
This book is really nothing new since this Playboy Interview was released as a book in 1981, following John's death. I have the original hardcover book from that time. It was also released in recent years when Playboy was celebrating their 50 year anniversary and offering kindle versions of some of their famous interviews over the decades. It's being offered here now with a new cover touting the 40th anniversary of this interview, with a new forward from David Sheff, the interviewer.
Sheff was only 24 when he snagged this interview on behalf of Playboy. He himself became a Beatles fan, and particularly a John Lennon fan, after hearing "Strawberry Fields Forever" for the first time. Growing up he felt different, like he didn't belong, but connected with John Lennon's music. For three weeks he interviewed the Lennons at The Hit Factory recording studio, The Dakota, on walks in Central Park, riding in limousines and while sipping cappuccino at the Lennons' favorite eatery, La Fortuna. They discussed so many wide-ranging topics that this has to be the most definitive interview of John Lennon. This interview is famous for the fact that they discussed many Beatles songs and just how they were written, and who in particular wrote them. Before this interview it was just accepted that John and Paul always wrote their songs together because as young composers they agreed to always publish as "Lennon-McCartney" even if just one of them wrote it. Sometimes John and Paul wrote eye to eye together, sometimes one would help with just the middle eight, and sometimes it was actually a solo effort. During The Beatles White Album, certain songs were recorded by maybe two Beatles only. For instance, "The Ballad of John and Yoko" was recorded by just John and Paul, because the other two Beatles were unavailable. Paul played drums on this track. John dismissed many songs as "trash" and "throwaways".
Another extremely poignant and eerie fact of this interview is the many things John said, not knowing he would be murdered just days from its publication. He says things like, "Life begins at 40", "I'll probably live to be 80 or 90", and that "pacifists get shot". He clearly was enjoying life and looking forward to his future, and when you read these things (and there were others) you easily get teary-eyed. I did.
I read this interview back in 1981 when it was first released in hardcover book form, and probably dabbled back into it periodically over the years. Before kindles came out and I became overloaded with too many books to actually read in my lifetime, I would often go on book reading tangents with passions of the moment. So, I would check my bookcase and revisit treasures from time to time. At this time of year I find myself thinking of John Lennon because his birthday is October 9th and he was killed on December 8th. He was forty when he died and he would have been 80 this year. Author David Sheff marvels at the fact that he's now 64. In 1980 when Sheff considered The Beatles song "When I'm Sixty-Four" - that seemed so old to him!
On the "Double Fantasy" album, John had written the song "Beautiful Boy" for his son Sean. He would sing it to him like a lullaby. When author David Sheff had his first child, a son named Nic a couple of years after John's death, he also sang the song "Beautiful Boy" to his son. Sadly, as a teenager Nic got heavily involved with drugs, and Sheff wrote a book about this experience which later became a movie. Of course, it was called "Beautiful Boy". I watched this movie streamed on Amazon and I also have a kindle copy of the book-which I have yet to read. This story is heart-wrenching. Thankfully, Nic is clean now for almost a decade.
This book is a must to truly know what John Lennon thought about his life, work, politics and love... just weeks before he was taken from us. Excellent.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press who provided an advance reader's copy via NetGalley.
This is the last major interview with John Lennon (and his wife Yoko Ono) to coincide with the release of their album "Double Fantasy" in 1980. At this point in John's life, he had been enjoying self-imposed retirement for 5 years following the birth of their son Sean. For the first time since all The Beatles craziness, John had no record contracts to fulfill. His artist wife Yoko, the daughter of a prominent banking family in Japan, decided to learn how to handle the business side of John's financial empire. John decided to be a househusband, baking bread and supervising everything that Sean ate. With pride, John said, "I built his bones." Yoko ran the Lennon empire from her office at the Dakota while John was parenting Sean on another floor in their apartment.
This book is really nothing new since this Playboy Interview was released as a book in 1981, following John's death. I have the original hardcover book from that time. It was also released in recent years when Playboy was celebrating their 50 year anniversary and offering kindle versions of some of their famous interviews over the decades. It's being offered here now with a new cover touting the 40th anniversary of this interview, with a new forward from David Sheff, the interviewer.
Sheff was only 24 when he snagged this interview on behalf of Playboy. He himself became a Beatles fan, and particularly a John Lennon fan, after hearing "Strawberry Fields Forever" for the first time. Growing up he felt different, like he didn't belong, but connected with John Lennon's music. For three weeks he interviewed the Lennons at The Hit Factory recording studio, The Dakota, on walks in Central Park, riding in limousines and while sipping cappuccino at the Lennons' favorite eatery, La Fortuna. They discussed so many wide-ranging topics that this has to be the most definitive interview of John Lennon. This interview is famous for the fact that they discussed many Beatles songs and just how they were written, and who in particular wrote them. Before this interview it was just accepted that John and Paul always wrote their songs together because as young composers they agreed to always publish as "Lennon-McCartney" even if just one of them wrote it. Sometimes John and Paul wrote eye to eye together, sometimes one would help with just the middle eight, and sometimes it was actually a solo effort. During The Beatles White Album, certain songs were recorded by maybe two Beatles only. For instance, "The Ballad of John and Yoko" was recorded by just John and Paul, because the other two Beatles were unavailable. Paul played drums on this track. John dismissed many songs as "trash" and "throwaways".
Another extremely poignant and eerie fact of this interview is the many things John said, not knowing he would be murdered just days from its publication. He says things like, "Life begins at 40", "I'll probably live to be 80 or 90", and that "pacifists get shot". He clearly was enjoying life and looking forward to his future, and when you read these things (and there were others) you easily get teary-eyed. I did.
I read this interview back in 1981 when it was first released in hardcover book form, and probably dabbled back into it periodically over the years. Before kindles came out and I became overloaded with too many books to actually read in my lifetime, I would often go on book reading tangents with passions of the moment. So, I would check my bookcase and revisit treasures from time to time. At this time of year I find myself thinking of John Lennon because his birthday is October 9th and he was killed on December 8th. He was forty when he died and he would have been 80 this year. Author David Sheff marvels at the fact that he's now 64. In 1980 when Sheff considered The Beatles song "When I'm Sixty-Four" - that seemed so old to him!
On the "Double Fantasy" album, John had written the song "Beautiful Boy" for his son Sean. He would sing it to him like a lullaby. When author David Sheff had his first child, a son named Nic a couple of years after John's death, he also sang the song "Beautiful Boy" to his son. Sadly, as a teenager Nic got heavily involved with drugs, and Sheff wrote a book about this experience which later became a movie. Of course, it was called "Beautiful Boy". I watched this movie streamed on Amazon and I also have a kindle copy of the book-which I have yet to read. This story is heart-wrenching. Thankfully, Nic is clean now for almost a decade.
This book is a must to truly know what John Lennon thought about his life, work, politics and love... just weeks before he was taken from us. Excellent.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press who provided an advance reader's copy via NetGalley.
December 1, 2020
Quite the informative read it's the entire last interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. I found I was sorely mistaken on a lot of things about Yoko and found out actually she and I are quite a bit alike! It gives us such a deeper insight of their love, their lives, dreams and what they were hoping to aim for and achieve. We learn about events and why/how they happened like Lennon's lost weekend that lasted 18 months. Fans and foes alike will enjoy this book...I didn't much like Yoko...I came away liking her and feeling like a sister.
October 15, 2010
It's still weird to me that there are normal people who don't like The Beatles. I mean there are always boring as dirt anti-conformists who are unable to enjoy anything adopted by the masses and/or life-affirming. I wonder if I would have even liked The Beatles if I grew up in the early sixties. (I flatter myself that I would have liked The Kinks much more.)
But when normal people who don't have a cultural axe to grind simply don't care for The Beatles I am shaken to my core. I fear that my children are going to be like this. It's like not caring for oxygen or gravity. As the character Charles Highway says in one of my favorite books, The Rachel Papers, "To be against The Beatles is to be against life."
Even more bizarre to me are those who don't like The Beatles but like John Lennon, mostly as a brand or an icon. If I had just a little more money I could set up reeducation camps for these people.
I mean, I hate Baby Boomers as much as the next Gen Xer, but I don't let that affect my love for The Beatles. To give you an idea how deeply embedded they are in my subconscious a few weeks ago I woke up and the first thought in my head was John singing "I have no time for triv-i-al-i-ties," from When I Get Home.
I'll admit that I'm sort of sick of the music because I've heard it so much and because they were so influential that the music seems a little pale now in a weird way. I hardly ever play their songs in the house. I still geek out on the music theory, though.
But I find something endlessly fascinating about these four people who grew up playing in bomb craters from World War II-- three of them from government housing -- whose message over the first world-wide satellite broadcast was a message of love.
I don't know how I never read this interview before. I recognized some parts of it that were excerpted in other books. I read an article about John Lennon's 70th birthday that mentioned these interviews were recently published as an ebook for a few dollars. So, bam, one minute later I'm reading it. Three hours later I have finished it.
This interview from 1980 for Playboy is the antidote to the crazy interview from 1970 for Rolling Stone, which I've read at least ten times. The interviews are especially poignant because they take place right before his murder in December. [Aside: Why do people say assassination? He wasn't the president or something. It wasn't even politically motivated. That has always bothered me.]
In 1970 Mr. Lennon is in full on myth-destroying, crazy-bad mode, but in 1980 he's in eager, album-sales mode, as if the ghost of Brian Epstein appeared to him and made him wear the mental equivalent of a matching suit.
There is so much in these interviews that are good. It's sort of like a "hang out" movie where nothing much happens but you are happy just to hang out with the characters.
The last third of the book is John going through the songs of The Beatles, saying what he remembers about them. This was amazing to read though a little dispiriting that he dismissed some of my favorite Beatles songs as "rubbish," like Cry, Baby Cry.
John is more enthusiastic about baking bread than The Beatles, but it sort of works. (We'll have to assume that "baking bread" is not early 80's drug slang.) He's a dad, he lives in New York, he hangs out with his kid, his wife runs the business, he has north of 150 million dollars, he's imagining no possessions but has lots of them. It's all mellow and copacetic. I can't tell how much of it is a put on and how much is real, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Note that I haven't read Albert Goldman's book.
We hear about the time that Yoko sent John away to LA to man up a little bit. John makes it sound sordid and sad, but I think Harry Nilsson sounds like an awesome drinking buddy. [Another aside: I was a much bigger fan of Harry Nilsson than John or The Beatles when I was about eight. I loved that Coconut song so much. I still remember hearing it on the Flip Wilson show.]
Yoko sounds kind of cool in this interview, and they trade sentences like an old married couple which is what they were at this point. She gets the best line when she says that John gets mad at her when she wears the same color as him and says, "We're not f-ing Sonny and Cher!"
A lot of the spiritual stuff is b.s. of the highest order. At one point John -- or the editor -- mixes up "gnostic" and "agnostic," which I found hilarious. Or maybe that was more Beatle-esque wordplay.
If you like The Beatles, you should read this. If you don't like The Beatles, you should probably still read this. If you've ever played Imagine earnestly on an acoustic guitar, you should not read this but jump off a bridge instead.
But when normal people who don't have a cultural axe to grind simply don't care for The Beatles I am shaken to my core. I fear that my children are going to be like this. It's like not caring for oxygen or gravity. As the character Charles Highway says in one of my favorite books, The Rachel Papers, "To be against The Beatles is to be against life."
Even more bizarre to me are those who don't like The Beatles but like John Lennon, mostly as a brand or an icon. If I had just a little more money I could set up reeducation camps for these people.
I mean, I hate Baby Boomers as much as the next Gen Xer, but I don't let that affect my love for The Beatles. To give you an idea how deeply embedded they are in my subconscious a few weeks ago I woke up and the first thought in my head was John singing "I have no time for triv-i-al-i-ties," from When I Get Home.
I'll admit that I'm sort of sick of the music because I've heard it so much and because they were so influential that the music seems a little pale now in a weird way. I hardly ever play their songs in the house. I still geek out on the music theory, though.
But I find something endlessly fascinating about these four people who grew up playing in bomb craters from World War II-- three of them from government housing -- whose message over the first world-wide satellite broadcast was a message of love.
I don't know how I never read this interview before. I recognized some parts of it that were excerpted in other books. I read an article about John Lennon's 70th birthday that mentioned these interviews were recently published as an ebook for a few dollars. So, bam, one minute later I'm reading it. Three hours later I have finished it.
This interview from 1980 for Playboy is the antidote to the crazy interview from 1970 for Rolling Stone, which I've read at least ten times. The interviews are especially poignant because they take place right before his murder in December. [Aside: Why do people say assassination? He wasn't the president or something. It wasn't even politically motivated. That has always bothered me.]
In 1970 Mr. Lennon is in full on myth-destroying, crazy-bad mode, but in 1980 he's in eager, album-sales mode, as if the ghost of Brian Epstein appeared to him and made him wear the mental equivalent of a matching suit.
There is so much in these interviews that are good. It's sort of like a "hang out" movie where nothing much happens but you are happy just to hang out with the characters.
The last third of the book is John going through the songs of The Beatles, saying what he remembers about them. This was amazing to read though a little dispiriting that he dismissed some of my favorite Beatles songs as "rubbish," like Cry, Baby Cry.
John is more enthusiastic about baking bread than The Beatles, but it sort of works. (We'll have to assume that "baking bread" is not early 80's drug slang.) He's a dad, he lives in New York, he hangs out with his kid, his wife runs the business, he has north of 150 million dollars, he's imagining no possessions but has lots of them. It's all mellow and copacetic. I can't tell how much of it is a put on and how much is real, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Note that I haven't read Albert Goldman's book.
We hear about the time that Yoko sent John away to LA to man up a little bit. John makes it sound sordid and sad, but I think Harry Nilsson sounds like an awesome drinking buddy. [Another aside: I was a much bigger fan of Harry Nilsson than John or The Beatles when I was about eight. I loved that Coconut song so much. I still remember hearing it on the Flip Wilson show.]
Yoko sounds kind of cool in this interview, and they trade sentences like an old married couple which is what they were at this point. She gets the best line when she says that John gets mad at her when she wears the same color as him and says, "We're not f-ing Sonny and Cher!"
A lot of the spiritual stuff is b.s. of the highest order. At one point John -- or the editor -- mixes up "gnostic" and "agnostic," which I found hilarious. Or maybe that was more Beatle-esque wordplay.
If you like The Beatles, you should read this. If you don't like The Beatles, you should probably still read this. If you've ever played Imagine earnestly on an acoustic guitar, you should not read this but jump off a bridge instead.
August 2, 2022
I read the original magazine article and the first hardcover book that came out. I’ve heard snippets of the interview over the years.
Excellent interview with a look at the “behind the scenes” life of John and Yoko. The ending, as all John Lennon fans know, is hard to take especially when the interviewer says in his epilogue “On December 7, Yoko called to say that she was very pleased with the interview, which had hit stands the previous day. She said John was also pleased and excited. The next day, December 8, John was gone”. Still, after all these years, brings great sadness to me. 😢
Excellent interview with a look at the “behind the scenes” life of John and Yoko. The ending, as all John Lennon fans know, is hard to take especially when the interviewer says in his epilogue “On December 7, Yoko called to say that she was very pleased with the interview, which had hit stands the previous day. She said John was also pleased and excited. The next day, December 8, John was gone”. Still, after all these years, brings great sadness to me. 😢
January 24, 2021
This is a digital reprint of the last interview of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, two days before John was murdered on December 8, 1980. David Sheff is a journalist and also a die-hard fan of the Lennon’s. Lucky me, I read it free. Thanks go to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the review copy. It’s for sale now.
This interview is a treasure trove for anyone interested in John Lennon, Yoko Ono, or the Beatles. 192 pages makes for a short book, but as interviews go, it’s a whopper. Lennon and Ono were about to release an album together, and so when Playboy requested an interview, they consented. The most wonderful thing about it is that because of the format, nearly everything is a direct quotation of either John’s or Yoko’s. Nobody knew during the course of the interview, which took multiple days, that John would be shot to death by a stranger two days later.
It makes for interesting reading. There are passages I love and others that make me see red, but I am not irritated with the author, who’s done a bang-up job, but rather, in places, at things said by his subjects. Most of it is tremendously entertaining. And in some places, it is almost unbearably poignant. At the outset, John makes a comment, almost off the cuff, about how the way to be really famous as an artist is to die in public, which he surely isn’t planning to do. Later, he quotes someone that says it’s better to burn out than to rust, and he says he disagrees, that “It’s better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out.” And he notes that he has another forty years or so of productivity ahead of him.
Lennon was a happy man when this interview took place. He’d been a “house husband,” staying home and taking care of Sean, their son, although they acknowledge that it’s easier to do that when there’s a nanny available anytime he needs to go out for some reason, and someone else that will clean the house and so forth. Ono, on the other hand, is the one who’s handling their finances, and it’s a princely fortune at that.
And to me, the most interesting aspect of this interview isn’t him, it’s her. I was a child in elementary school when John left his first wife and married Yoko, but I remember the virulent, nasty things that appeared in the media. Those that don’t think any progress has been registered regarding race and gender should look through some archives. And John comments that the press treated their relationship as if he were “some wondrous mystic prince from the rock world dabbling with this strange Oriental woman.”
Ono said, “I handled the business…my own accountant and my own lawyer could not deal with the fact that I was telling them what to do…”
John continued that there was “…an attitude that this is John’s wife, but surely she can’t really be representing him…they’re all male, you know, just big and fat, vodka lunch, shouting males…Recently she made them about five million dollars and they fought and fought not to let her do it because it was her idea and she’s not a professional. But she did it, and then one of the guys said to her, ‘Well, Lennon does it again.’ But Lennon didn’t have anything to do with it.”
There’s a lot that gets said about the women’s movement and all of it is wonderful. Once in awhile John holds forth about something he knows nothing about (anthropology and the early role of women) and he makes an ass of himself. He may have been more enlightened than most men, but he still hadn’t learned to acknowledge that there were some things he just didn’t know.
There are passages that make me grind my teeth, and all of them have to do with wealth in one way or another. Ono is from a ruling class Japanese banking family, and the airy things she and John say about being rich make me want to hit a wall. People shouldn’t pick on them for being wealthy. And oh my goodness, when Sheff mildly suggests that John and the other former Beatles surrender and do a single reunion concert for charity, his response is horrifying. He points out that the concert for Bangladesh that George Harrison roped them into doing turned out to raise no money at all for the cause because all of it went to red tape and lawsuits; ouch! But the truly obnoxious bit is when he whines about how the world just expects too much of him. He wants to know, “Do we have to divide the fish and the loaves for the multitudes again? Do we have to get crucified again? We are not there to save the fucking world.”
The part that makes me laugh is when Ono describes how The Beatles broke up at about the same time she and John got together: “What happened with John is that I sort of went to bed with this guy that I liked and suddenly the next morning I see these three guys standing there with resentful eyes.”
Those that are curious about Lennon and Ono, or that are interested in rock and roll history, should get this interview and read it. There’s a good deal of discussion about the roots of the music, and about the music he made that the radio never played. There’s a good deal here that I surely never knew. For these readers, I highly recommend this book.
This interview is a treasure trove for anyone interested in John Lennon, Yoko Ono, or the Beatles. 192 pages makes for a short book, but as interviews go, it’s a whopper. Lennon and Ono were about to release an album together, and so when Playboy requested an interview, they consented. The most wonderful thing about it is that because of the format, nearly everything is a direct quotation of either John’s or Yoko’s. Nobody knew during the course of the interview, which took multiple days, that John would be shot to death by a stranger two days later.
It makes for interesting reading. There are passages I love and others that make me see red, but I am not irritated with the author, who’s done a bang-up job, but rather, in places, at things said by his subjects. Most of it is tremendously entertaining. And in some places, it is almost unbearably poignant. At the outset, John makes a comment, almost off the cuff, about how the way to be really famous as an artist is to die in public, which he surely isn’t planning to do. Later, he quotes someone that says it’s better to burn out than to rust, and he says he disagrees, that “It’s better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out.” And he notes that he has another forty years or so of productivity ahead of him.
Lennon was a happy man when this interview took place. He’d been a “house husband,” staying home and taking care of Sean, their son, although they acknowledge that it’s easier to do that when there’s a nanny available anytime he needs to go out for some reason, and someone else that will clean the house and so forth. Ono, on the other hand, is the one who’s handling their finances, and it’s a princely fortune at that.
And to me, the most interesting aspect of this interview isn’t him, it’s her. I was a child in elementary school when John left his first wife and married Yoko, but I remember the virulent, nasty things that appeared in the media. Those that don’t think any progress has been registered regarding race and gender should look through some archives. And John comments that the press treated their relationship as if he were “some wondrous mystic prince from the rock world dabbling with this strange Oriental woman.”
Ono said, “I handled the business…my own accountant and my own lawyer could not deal with the fact that I was telling them what to do…”
John continued that there was “…an attitude that this is John’s wife, but surely she can’t really be representing him…they’re all male, you know, just big and fat, vodka lunch, shouting males…Recently she made them about five million dollars and they fought and fought not to let her do it because it was her idea and she’s not a professional. But she did it, and then one of the guys said to her, ‘Well, Lennon does it again.’ But Lennon didn’t have anything to do with it.”
There’s a lot that gets said about the women’s movement and all of it is wonderful. Once in awhile John holds forth about something he knows nothing about (anthropology and the early role of women) and he makes an ass of himself. He may have been more enlightened than most men, but he still hadn’t learned to acknowledge that there were some things he just didn’t know.
There are passages that make me grind my teeth, and all of them have to do with wealth in one way or another. Ono is from a ruling class Japanese banking family, and the airy things she and John say about being rich make me want to hit a wall. People shouldn’t pick on them for being wealthy. And oh my goodness, when Sheff mildly suggests that John and the other former Beatles surrender and do a single reunion concert for charity, his response is horrifying. He points out that the concert for Bangladesh that George Harrison roped them into doing turned out to raise no money at all for the cause because all of it went to red tape and lawsuits; ouch! But the truly obnoxious bit is when he whines about how the world just expects too much of him. He wants to know, “Do we have to divide the fish and the loaves for the multitudes again? Do we have to get crucified again? We are not there to save the fucking world.”
The part that makes me laugh is when Ono describes how The Beatles broke up at about the same time she and John got together: “What happened with John is that I sort of went to bed with this guy that I liked and suddenly the next morning I see these three guys standing there with resentful eyes.”
Those that are curious about Lennon and Ono, or that are interested in rock and roll history, should get this interview and read it. There’s a good deal of discussion about the roots of the music, and about the music he made that the radio never played. There’s a good deal here that I surely never knew. For these readers, I highly recommend this book.
July 12, 2022
John Lennon had one of the great traits associated with artistic genius: he was gifted with two minds about everything and everyone. (It's a good thing this is not a trait of scientific or political genius, otherwise we would all still be living in caves.) This exhaustive interview, first published the very month Lennon was murdered, December 1980, is a rare and treasured glimpse of an artist doing soul searching. (Yoko, as usual, is here only for wall decoration material.) Some choice Lennonism: "My son Julian was born out of a bottle of whiskey on a Saturday night. Sean is a planned child, and that's why I call him my 'first son'"...Re Paul McCartney: "Paul can be a pretty good songwriter when he's not on his pedestal, but now he's back on it again"..."No, WORKING CLASS HERO is not about the proles or socialism. I was trying to tell people 'don't wind up like me'"...and his credo as an artist: "I believe everything is true until it's disproven. Even in dreams."
January 13, 2010
John's other major interview as a solo artist, published in book form as Lennon Remembers, occurred at the outset of the 70s. He was sarcastic, angry, bitingly funny, and radical. His second interview, All We Are Saying, took place at the end of the decade and sadly, the end of his life. In this book, though, we see a far different Lennon.
As the former Beatle reaches midlife, he comments on the apparent disparity between the lyrics of one of his early solo hits and his quite comfortable existence. He attempts to argue that “imagine no possessions” referred to only hang-ups in the mind, rather than luxury lofts in New York and dairy farms full of thoroughbred Holsteins. (Ah, middle age.) I’m not buying it. I’d have more respect for John’s statement if he had simply said “Look, I have millions of dollars, and I want nice things.” (They also talk a lot about their son, which further cements in my mind the idea that breeding can make even rock superstars insufferable bores.)
Even though I am a huge follower of rock music and the Beatles specifically, I also realize our tendency to deify rock stars, especially when they died too young. Reading the musicians’ actual words help put things in perspective. Lennon was not the hippie saint and modern-day Gandhi that both society and Yoko have depicted him as in the years following his death. He was very much a human being.
As the former Beatle reaches midlife, he comments on the apparent disparity between the lyrics of one of his early solo hits and his quite comfortable existence. He attempts to argue that “imagine no possessions” referred to only hang-ups in the mind, rather than luxury lofts in New York and dairy farms full of thoroughbred Holsteins. (Ah, middle age.) I’m not buying it. I’d have more respect for John’s statement if he had simply said “Look, I have millions of dollars, and I want nice things.” (They also talk a lot about their son, which further cements in my mind the idea that breeding can make even rock superstars insufferable bores.)
Even though I am a huge follower of rock music and the Beatles specifically, I also realize our tendency to deify rock stars, especially when they died too young. Reading the musicians’ actual words help put things in perspective. Lennon was not the hippie saint and modern-day Gandhi that both society and Yoko have depicted him as in the years following his death. He was very much a human being.
February 5, 2017
This book is special to me for many reasons: as a fan, because it opened up the door for me between seeing John Lennon as a musician versus a person; and personally, when I first read the book back in1983, John's words provided a stable, secure place for me to go as I was experiencing my parents' divorce. I was overjoyed that there was finally someone I could read about that thought and felt similarly to myself. I never was a child in the head, and it was quite a lonely existence. His words kept me company, and to this day, it's my most treasured book.
August 15, 2016
David Sheff va entrevistar al John Lennon i la Yoko Ono poques setmanes abans de l'assassinat del músic de Liverpool. Durant setmanes, el matrimoni Lennon va deixar entrar al periodista de Playboy al seu pis de l'edifici Dakota de Nova York, als estudis de gravació on s'estava enllestint el seu darrer disc (Double Fantasy, 1980) i als llocs que freqüentaven a la ciutat en aquell moment. De totes aquelles sessions en van sortir més de vint hores de gravació que es van publicar de manera resumida a la revista Playboy i de forma més completa en aquest llibre (ja després de la mort del cantant). Es tracta d'un document imprescindible per als fans dels Beatles i sobretot per a qui vulgui saber més del pensament del Lennon (i la Ono) cap al final de la curta vida d'aquest. Hi ha tan bona sintonia entre entrevistador i entrevistats que en un moment donat Lennon decideix repassar un per un gran part dels temes de la seva discografia i explicar-ne anècdotes i la seva gestació (entrant en contradicció amb les versions d'altres membres del grup, sobretot les d'en Paul McCartney). En aquest llibre llegirem moltes coses ja sabudes sobre la vida del músic, però també n'aprendrem de noves i en qualsevol cas, sempre serà interessant acudir a la font original, i més quan el mateix Lennon va dir en més d'una ocasió durant l'entrevista que aquest seria "EL llibre de referència".
February 11, 2017
Μία απόχρωση των 60ς, και των απόνερων αυτών, με επίκεντρο την ατομική βόμβα των Beetles μέσα από τα μάτια του ιδιοφυούς Lennon και της δυσκοίλιας Ono.
Αν οι Beetles ή τα 60ς είχαν κάποιο μήνυμα, αυτό ήταν: Μάθετε κολύμπι. Τελεία. Και μόλις μάθετε κολύμπι, κολυμπιστε.
Αν οι Beetles ή τα 60ς είχαν κάποιο μήνυμα, αυτό ήταν: Μάθετε κολύμπι. Τελεία. Και μόλις μάθετε κολύμπι, κολυμπιστε.
August 21, 2020
https://rogueliterarysociety.com/f/jo...
…”A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.”
What a great love story, John and Yoko. Sadly it had to end by a nutsack with a gun.
...Although it looks like what John and Yoko were doing for five years was not doing anything, we were doing a hell of a lot. Sitting still is one way of describing it. Sitting still, amazing things happen, you see. And now we’re not sitting still. Now we’re moving around. And maybe in a few years we’ll sit still again. Because life is long, I presume…
In a manner of weeks after finishing this extensive interview John Lennon would be dead. On December 7th Playboy published it and on December 8th John was gone.
...Some people cannot see that their parents are still torturing them, even when they are in their forties and fifties—they still have that stranglehold over them and their thoughts and their minds. I never had that fear of and adulation for parents. Well, that’s a gift of being a so-called orphan— which I never was at all…
The interview was more than informative. There was so much revealed in this last interview. So much explained and so much they were both looking forward to achieving in the forty or fifty years they thought they might have left.
...PLAYBOY: The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill.”
LENNON: Oh that was written about a guy in Maharishi’s meditation camp who took a short break to go shoot a few poor tigers, and then came back to commune with God. There used to be a character called Jungle Jim and I combined him with Buffalo Bill. It’s a sort of teenage social-comment song and a bit of a joke. Yoko’s on that one, I believe, singing along…
Since he was two and a half years old my grandson has known the words to Bungalow Bill by heart. All the children sing…
I recommend this book for anyone wanting to be told the truth about the Beatles, their beginnings and their breakup, and to know more intimately the greatest one of them all, John Lennon.
…”A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.”
What a great love story, John and Yoko. Sadly it had to end by a nutsack with a gun.
...Although it looks like what John and Yoko were doing for five years was not doing anything, we were doing a hell of a lot. Sitting still is one way of describing it. Sitting still, amazing things happen, you see. And now we’re not sitting still. Now we’re moving around. And maybe in a few years we’ll sit still again. Because life is long, I presume…
In a manner of weeks after finishing this extensive interview John Lennon would be dead. On December 7th Playboy published it and on December 8th John was gone.
...Some people cannot see that their parents are still torturing them, even when they are in their forties and fifties—they still have that stranglehold over them and their thoughts and their minds. I never had that fear of and adulation for parents. Well, that’s a gift of being a so-called orphan— which I never was at all…
The interview was more than informative. There was so much revealed in this last interview. So much explained and so much they were both looking forward to achieving in the forty or fifty years they thought they might have left.
...PLAYBOY: The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill.”
LENNON: Oh that was written about a guy in Maharishi’s meditation camp who took a short break to go shoot a few poor tigers, and then came back to commune with God. There used to be a character called Jungle Jim and I combined him with Buffalo Bill. It’s a sort of teenage social-comment song and a bit of a joke. Yoko’s on that one, I believe, singing along…
Since he was two and a half years old my grandson has known the words to Bungalow Bill by heart. All the children sing…
I recommend this book for anyone wanting to be told the truth about the Beatles, their beginnings and their breakup, and to know more intimately the greatest one of them all, John Lennon.
June 21, 2023
haunting to hear the word of someone unawarely close to death
June 13, 2023
Let it be known, I love John. He is so funny and clever and tender and brilliant. But he can also be incredibly frustrating and self-contradictory and message-conscious in a way that makes me want to tear my hair out. This book is the full transcript of the weeks-long interviews that became the famed 1980 Playboy interview released just one day before John was shot. The blurb on the back of the book called it the "definitive" interview. Definitive, it was not. I don't think anything this fickle genius says can really be called definitive.
This book had a lot of the old John and Yoko spin. Obviously, their spin on the Lost Weekend remains legendary. I wonder how May Pang must have felt reading this incredibly public stuff! John and Yoko act out this well-rehearsed routine for the benefit of David Sheff where John was apparently begging to come back and Yoko deigned to let him return, where he was in abject misery without her, needed her for inspiration and basic life skills, blah blah blah. In this interview obviously, they are presenting the John and Yoko Story with a capital J.Y.S. The way they describe their love is so annoying. It's the platonic ideal, it's the romantic ideal, she's a complete genius, we have to be together every minute of every day! David Sheff even calls him on it when he said something like "In those days we had to be together all the time." He asks, "How is that different from now?" One minute John's contriving complete surprise that the reporters were expecting them to be having sex during the bed-in publicity stunt, the next, he says of 1969, "We were either in the studio or in bed."
Yoko is so fucking weird. Nothing she says makes any sense. I realized she is still so stuck in this 60s ethos with her avant-garde art and War is Over if you want it bullshit. She has the WEIRDEST ideas about gender and motherhood, rooted in absolutely nothing, no recognizable feminism. "These days society prefers single people. The encouragements are to divorce or separate or be single or gay. Corporations want singles." What the hell are you talking about??? This is 1980 and family values are on the rise and women are face to face with a glass ceiling and Susan Faludi Backlash and all that. She talks like a college freshman who just took a gender studies intro course, but missed half of it. Or how she insisted that she and Cyn exclusively deal with Julian issues and John and Tony Cox exclusively deal with Kyoko issues (effectively barring Julian from John and really herself from Kyoko too because John was not a good mediator.) But she plays it off with these grand pronouncements of like, oh women understand only each other and men understand only each other so of course it had to be this way. Honey that is the most batshit co-parenting arrangement I've ever heard. Also this weird gem: "'Free' means we were becoming whores. We're taking the pill and sticking Tampax in and making it very convenient for the guys. Then we realized taking pills gives us cancer. Tampons give us cancer. We're looking good but we're dying." Hmm... One last thing, I was absolutely baffled by: this aside on how the sixties were like an orgy while the seventies... well just read it. "After that big come [the sixties] that we had together, men and women somehow lost track of each other and a lot of families and relationships split apart. I really think that what happened in the seventies can be compared to what happened under Nazism with Jewish families." What now????? There was no further explanation.
Then there is John's brutal discussion of Julian...woof. See Cynthia's book for more of my take on that one. It's so fucking sad, I can't even begin. Sean had some cute moments tottering in and out of the interview though.
Most of the interview is Beatle-related. I could tell David Sheff was not quite satisfied and was still trying to get to the goods when John kept responding with maligning comments towards Paul and Beatledom. Interestingly, when they do the rapid fire reactions to old Beatles hits is when I felt a particularly strong bitterness. Resentment towards Paul is present throughout, and although he throws him a few "So you see, it proves he can write a good lyric if he tries hard," mentions, there are also a good amount of "more of Paul's garbage," quotes. This kind of interview must have been so incredibly frustrating for the other three to see. He shits all over their life's work, partially out of extreme insecurity (I'd remake all of the old albums if I could! Across the Universe is terrible!) and partially from stubborn insistence that his career and his life are more fulfilling now and that he certainly HASN'T peaked. George must have also been fuming at the digs at him, his songwriting abilities and kid-brother idolizing of John in the old days (he never could get away from that!) John says it outright: "I don't want to start another thing between me and George just because of the way I feel today. Tomorrow I will feel absolutely differently." EXACTLY why there can be no real "definitive" interview with this man.
Obviously, we are all here to hear about Paul. You can feel his anger towards Paul, even when Yoko is not in the room so you know it's not for her benefit nor is it lightly maneuvered by her. (Hate to be one of those people, but you know Yoko was threatened by Paul and haaaated John and Paul's close bond.) The Paul stuff is not as much of an open wound here as the Lennon Remembers interview from 1970. He even references some of those barbs saying simply, "I was lying." But you can tell John still feels slighted and jealous as hell. He never really goes into the slights--too much pride probably--and plays the jealousy off like ugh, Paul and his constant need for a single, he took the power of band leadership from me and then he couldn't handle it when I came back creatively. (Side note, John, that is so, so wrong. The period you are referring to--being awakened creatively having been inspired by Yoko--also happens to be when you were hideously strung out half the time, so Paul and the others never knew what they were going to get from you. Also someone had to step up and lead!) It's so odd then, since those two were on good terms at the end of his life. Just like John's bitterness and criticism came through so strongly while talking about the old hits, maybe that's why Paul is always on about their last conversation being a pleasant one about baking bread. Maybe they had to just avoid all talk of the slightest Beatle sensitivities in order to enjoy each other's company. Sad.
It really makes me wonder how many other left turns John would have taken had he lived longer. Would he have come around in his own mind on the Beatle issue? We know that he had plans to play with Paul and potentially do something with all four (my GOD can you imagine??) I have even heard rumors that he and Yoko were kind of on the rocks in 1980. Where would that relationship have gone?
This was both incredibly frustrating and incredibly interesting. I just wish that John could have come to a place of peace--real, actual peace--regarding the Beatles, Paul, his own career, and his own mental health. It really makes me sad to think of how unsettled and maybe even a little unfulfilled he seemed, even in a relatively calm period, all while desperately trying to convey exactly those two things. I still love John.
This book had a lot of the old John and Yoko spin. Obviously, their spin on the Lost Weekend remains legendary. I wonder how May Pang must have felt reading this incredibly public stuff! John and Yoko act out this well-rehearsed routine for the benefit of David Sheff where John was apparently begging to come back and Yoko deigned to let him return, where he was in abject misery without her, needed her for inspiration and basic life skills, blah blah blah. In this interview obviously, they are presenting the John and Yoko Story with a capital J.Y.S. The way they describe their love is so annoying. It's the platonic ideal, it's the romantic ideal, she's a complete genius, we have to be together every minute of every day! David Sheff even calls him on it when he said something like "In those days we had to be together all the time." He asks, "How is that different from now?" One minute John's contriving complete surprise that the reporters were expecting them to be having sex during the bed-in publicity stunt, the next, he says of 1969, "We were either in the studio or in bed."
Yoko is so fucking weird. Nothing she says makes any sense. I realized she is still so stuck in this 60s ethos with her avant-garde art and War is Over if you want it bullshit. She has the WEIRDEST ideas about gender and motherhood, rooted in absolutely nothing, no recognizable feminism. "These days society prefers single people. The encouragements are to divorce or separate or be single or gay. Corporations want singles." What the hell are you talking about??? This is 1980 and family values are on the rise and women are face to face with a glass ceiling and Susan Faludi Backlash and all that. She talks like a college freshman who just took a gender studies intro course, but missed half of it. Or how she insisted that she and Cyn exclusively deal with Julian issues and John and Tony Cox exclusively deal with Kyoko issues (effectively barring Julian from John and really herself from Kyoko too because John was not a good mediator.) But she plays it off with these grand pronouncements of like, oh women understand only each other and men understand only each other so of course it had to be this way. Honey that is the most batshit co-parenting arrangement I've ever heard. Also this weird gem: "'Free' means we were becoming whores. We're taking the pill and sticking Tampax in and making it very convenient for the guys. Then we realized taking pills gives us cancer. Tampons give us cancer. We're looking good but we're dying." Hmm... One last thing, I was absolutely baffled by: this aside on how the sixties were like an orgy while the seventies... well just read it. "After that big come [the sixties] that we had together, men and women somehow lost track of each other and a lot of families and relationships split apart. I really think that what happened in the seventies can be compared to what happened under Nazism with Jewish families." What now????? There was no further explanation.
Then there is John's brutal discussion of Julian...woof. See Cynthia's book for more of my take on that one. It's so fucking sad, I can't even begin. Sean had some cute moments tottering in and out of the interview though.
Most of the interview is Beatle-related. I could tell David Sheff was not quite satisfied and was still trying to get to the goods when John kept responding with maligning comments towards Paul and Beatledom. Interestingly, when they do the rapid fire reactions to old Beatles hits is when I felt a particularly strong bitterness. Resentment towards Paul is present throughout, and although he throws him a few "So you see, it proves he can write a good lyric if he tries hard," mentions, there are also a good amount of "more of Paul's garbage," quotes. This kind of interview must have been so incredibly frustrating for the other three to see. He shits all over their life's work, partially out of extreme insecurity (I'd remake all of the old albums if I could! Across the Universe is terrible!) and partially from stubborn insistence that his career and his life are more fulfilling now and that he certainly HASN'T peaked. George must have also been fuming at the digs at him, his songwriting abilities and kid-brother idolizing of John in the old days (he never could get away from that!) John says it outright: "I don't want to start another thing between me and George just because of the way I feel today. Tomorrow I will feel absolutely differently." EXACTLY why there can be no real "definitive" interview with this man.
Obviously, we are all here to hear about Paul. You can feel his anger towards Paul, even when Yoko is not in the room so you know it's not for her benefit nor is it lightly maneuvered by her. (Hate to be one of those people, but you know Yoko was threatened by Paul and haaaated John and Paul's close bond.) The Paul stuff is not as much of an open wound here as the Lennon Remembers interview from 1970. He even references some of those barbs saying simply, "I was lying." But you can tell John still feels slighted and jealous as hell. He never really goes into the slights--too much pride probably--and plays the jealousy off like ugh, Paul and his constant need for a single, he took the power of band leadership from me and then he couldn't handle it when I came back creatively. (Side note, John, that is so, so wrong. The period you are referring to--being awakened creatively having been inspired by Yoko--also happens to be when you were hideously strung out half the time, so Paul and the others never knew what they were going to get from you. Also someone had to step up and lead!) It's so odd then, since those two were on good terms at the end of his life. Just like John's bitterness and criticism came through so strongly while talking about the old hits, maybe that's why Paul is always on about their last conversation being a pleasant one about baking bread. Maybe they had to just avoid all talk of the slightest Beatle sensitivities in order to enjoy each other's company. Sad.
It really makes me wonder how many other left turns John would have taken had he lived longer. Would he have come around in his own mind on the Beatle issue? We know that he had plans to play with Paul and potentially do something with all four (my GOD can you imagine??) I have even heard rumors that he and Yoko were kind of on the rocks in 1980. Where would that relationship have gone?
This was both incredibly frustrating and incredibly interesting. I just wish that John could have come to a place of peace--real, actual peace--regarding the Beatles, Paul, his own career, and his own mental health. It really makes me sad to think of how unsettled and maybe even a little unfulfilled he seemed, even in a relatively calm period, all while desperately trying to convey exactly those two things. I still love John.
February 6, 2017
This book, along with the Plastic Ono Band album, were to me what pscyhedelia and the "bigger than Jesus" comment must have been to a Beatlemaniac in the 1960's.
Like taking the rug out from under you at first, the realization that John Paul George & Ringo exist apart from their cheeky grins and catchy tunes.
After the initial bruising, though, you develop a greater and truer appreciation for the men underneath the moptop -- in this case, John Winston Ono Lennon.
Plastic Ono Band has since become one of my favourite albums, and The Playboy Interviews with John & Yoko has since become one of my favourite reads.
The book itself is about as straightforward as you can get. The text of the questions and answers, word for word, with the only interruption coming when there would be a day(s)-long break in the interviewing.
David Sheff, of course, chooses some questions and comments during the interview that are intended to bring out sensational responses, but that's as to be expected, and at least it all took place during the interview and not in "touching up" for the book.
My only complaint is that, though this book is hailed as a complete text of the days of interviewing they had to condense for the magazine publication, there is still some editing. Which I only know about after hearing snippets of the recordings through Sunday morning Beatle radio shows, and hearing what I consider important comments that I'd never read.
Like taking the rug out from under you at first, the realization that John Paul George & Ringo exist apart from their cheeky grins and catchy tunes.
After the initial bruising, though, you develop a greater and truer appreciation for the men underneath the moptop -- in this case, John Winston Ono Lennon.
Plastic Ono Band has since become one of my favourite albums, and The Playboy Interviews with John & Yoko has since become one of my favourite reads.
The book itself is about as straightforward as you can get. The text of the questions and answers, word for word, with the only interruption coming when there would be a day(s)-long break in the interviewing.
David Sheff, of course, chooses some questions and comments during the interview that are intended to bring out sensational responses, but that's as to be expected, and at least it all took place during the interview and not in "touching up" for the book.
My only complaint is that, though this book is hailed as a complete text of the days of interviewing they had to condense for the magazine publication, there is still some editing. Which I only know about after hearing snippets of the recordings through Sunday morning Beatle radio shows, and hearing what I consider important comments that I'd never read.
January 7, 2015
unbelievably revealing insights into lennon and the beatles. the wit, the anger, the scathing putdowns. of special interest: the song by song review of almost every beatle song he wrote.
and while you're reading this, why not listen to "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur"? It's 2 CD set of various artists covering john's songs, benefitting Amnesty International's campaign to spread the news about the crisis in Darfur.
and while you're reading this, why not listen to "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur"? It's 2 CD set of various artists covering john's songs, benefitting Amnesty International's campaign to spread the news about the crisis in Darfur.
March 4, 2013
A very insightful account of a man awakening to his feminine identity yet still wrestling with a former macho aggressive one. It is clear in this interview, which took place a little over a month before he was shot outside the Dakota, that John Lennon was troubled by knowing an inner beauty and peace that is still not supported or encouraged by our society.
August 12, 2009
Really liked it, but of course it's an interview so it's not really about the writing. Knowing it was John's last interview was sad. Sheff did a great job with a difficult interview. I've read a lot of books about the Beatles and was happy to read some things I didn't know.
March 15, 2022
An amusing book that will give you a perspective into the creative minds of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
Favourite quote:
Why is it so special for you and Yoko? LENNON: Well, you’re asking why we met. I mean, I don’t know. It’s like asking why were you born. I
Favourite quote:
Why is it so special for you and Yoko? LENNON: Well, you’re asking why we met. I mean, I don’t know. It’s like asking why were you born. I
November 28, 2007
I read this after Peter read it after getting a copy from Bill & Jessica.
May 31, 2015
I've got less than four years to have a Playboy interview by John Lennon's age. Uh oh.
Does Playboy still do interviews / exist?
And yes, obviously I read it for the interview.
Does Playboy still do interviews / exist?
And yes, obviously I read it for the interview.
May 5, 2021
This was a great interview with John and Yoko. It was honest and brutal. There is some information about the Beatles and John's solo work. Of course there is a complete song list from the early days to Double Fantasy. I remember when Lennon was shot. I was suffering from insomnia and had woken up for the news that night. When we returned to school after Christmas Break we were all listening to "Yellow Submarine" . This may tell you I was not old enough for Double Fantasy, yet.
There are a lot of good points and interesting facts in this book. This was a well conducted interview and it helps to understand a man murdered in his prime. We learn of parenting, violence, and the reasons for all of those sleep-ins. We also learn of John's relationship to the Beatles and his opinions on all of the music he created,
There are a lot of good points and interesting facts in this book. This was a well conducted interview and it helps to understand a man murdered in his prime. We learn of parenting, violence, and the reasons for all of those sleep-ins. We also learn of John's relationship to the Beatles and his opinions on all of the music he created,
December 5, 2020
I can honestly say that I knew very little about Yoko Ono but like most people, the rumors of her relationship with John and the break up of The Beatles made her an intriguing figure for all the wrong reasons.
I agreed to review this book because of my love for Lennon but what I discovered was a deep respect and admiration for Yoko that I never expected. This beautiful series of interviews brought me to tears many times knowing the fate ahead for the couple who spoke so often in foreshadowing moments.
I think we have a poetic desire to believe last words mean more then what was simply spoken, but this interview reveals a man finally finding happiness, coming to terms with his fame and his life after changing his idea of what life is. And beside him is an unapologetic woman completely secure with her gifts and faults. She's mesmerizing, to be honest, and I might have become a little infatuated with her.
I cannot recommend this book enough for people who like me knew nothing of Yoko Ono but admired John Lennon. To know his other half and hear them interact... well for anyone married a while it will sound familiar and wonderful all at once. It was an enlightening insight into a marriage and a partnership that ended too soon.
Thank you St. Martin's Press for this opportunity to read a wonderful book!
I agreed to review this book because of my love for Lennon but what I discovered was a deep respect and admiration for Yoko that I never expected. This beautiful series of interviews brought me to tears many times knowing the fate ahead for the couple who spoke so often in foreshadowing moments.
I think we have a poetic desire to believe last words mean more then what was simply spoken, but this interview reveals a man finally finding happiness, coming to terms with his fame and his life after changing his idea of what life is. And beside him is an unapologetic woman completely secure with her gifts and faults. She's mesmerizing, to be honest, and I might have become a little infatuated with her.
I cannot recommend this book enough for people who like me knew nothing of Yoko Ono but admired John Lennon. To know his other half and hear them interact... well for anyone married a while it will sound familiar and wonderful all at once. It was an enlightening insight into a marriage and a partnership that ended too soon.
Thank you St. Martin's Press for this opportunity to read a wonderful book!
February 2, 2020
How can you not give 5 ⭐️’s to this interview that was finally published in Playboy in the days right before John’s death. Even tho there were some things John had to say that I wondered - what? - like about evolution - he was totally true to himself and who he was in that moment in time. His last words in the interview- “who knows what’s going to happen”.
May 10, 2021
A great insight into the lives of John and Yoko, I found this book to be very interesting and captivating. It was a very well structured interview that I believe was beautifully done. David Sheff did a great job with articulating his questions and I am very glad I read this book
November 23, 2020
This and the Lennon Remembers 1970 Rolling Stone interview make excellent bookends to each other. In 1970 he was bitter and angry following the breakup of the Beatles, in 1980 he’s open and happy where he is in life with Yoko and Sean. Though they show John at two very different points and moods in his life, they’re both revelatory and insightful. I could listen to him talk forever. The final quarter of this is David Sheff going through every Beatles song and John says his thoughts on them and whether him or Paul wrote. The last 40 years have sorely missed John’s presence. I will always miss him.
September 30, 2018
5 stars because I was shocked to see how relevant the conversation is almost 40 years later - the stuff about family, gender roles, society perceptions, politics and corporations. Then you see both John and Yoke get very personal, very sincere and open about what they are and who they want to be and what they thought of other musicians.
Some rough comments on Paul, George and Ringo, Stones and Dylan, and 100% admiration for Elvis.
The last part is a little bit boring cause they review song by song a big part of the Beatles anthology, but anyway it is a great read to sneak a peak into a great mind in the last days of his life.
Some rough comments on Paul, George and Ringo, Stones and Dylan, and 100% admiration for Elvis.
The last part is a little bit boring cause they review song by song a big part of the Beatles anthology, but anyway it is a great read to sneak a peak into a great mind in the last days of his life.
January 3, 2024
I’m glad I took the time to get this insight into the minds of John and Yoko. When you strip away the celebrity status you realize there are just regular folks underneath. They both make a lot of sense, and I will never see “celebrities” in the same light again. Rest in peace John, and God bless Yoko.
December 7, 2020
In questo weekend ho letto un libro, per me, bellissimo. Avete mai letto l'ultima intervista fatta da David Sheff a John Lennon e Yoko Ono per Playboy? L'intervista uscì il 7 dicembre (come oggi) di quarant'anni fa. E il giorno dopo spararono a Lennon. Sarà perché la mia adolescenza è fatta delle loro canzoni, sarà perché mi ricordo benissimo quell'otto dicembre, sarà perché l'anno scorso mi sono trovata d'estate davanti al Dakota Building a New York a pensare a loro due...non lo so, ma questa intervista mi è parsa da "leggere assolutamente", sia Lennon che Yoko si raccontano in maniera vera, chiara e riesci a capire tutti i passaggi, le fatiche, le idee, le cose che avevano intenzione di fare in futuro. Per i fan dei Beatles è oltretutto incredibile perché John Lennon racconta una volta per tutte come scrivevano le canzoni e chi ha scritto quel pezzo o l'altro. E poi il racconto del disco della rinascita: "Double Fantasy" che sarebbe uscito di lì a poco. E molte altre cose: la politica, la paternità, l'arte. È veramente una bellissima intervista e mi stringe il cuore pensare che Lennon non ci sia più per colpa di uno squilibrato. Anyway, se non sapete cosa regalarVi per natale, questo è un bel regalo. [Ora riparto con il mio progetto - questa era una piccola pausa - TINA (This is Not America) Viaggio letterario negli Stati Uniti : Due romanzi per stato]😎
January 16, 2016
Kudos to David Sheff for getting John and Yoko to be open and honest about their lives and for focusing more on their careers than on their personal lives. I particularly enjoyed the end section n which John talks about how each of his songs got to be a recording. John and Yoko are artists in the most artsy fartsy way imaginable. It's astounding to see what they fell for and how little critical thought they gave to both external and internal ideas. It seemed to me that most of their decisions and beliefs were base on what made them feel good. It surprises me that Yoko was a successful business woman except that she might have been a master at he art of bullshito. John revealed himself to be paranoid, narcissistic, delusional, unsympathetic and petty, but probably not to the point of being a sociopath. Fame may have taken its toll on him. It seems to me that John was a very flawed human being and he was at least honest about his flaws and used the same harsh judgment on himself that he used on others. I certainly think that he cared more about the image of wanting peace, love and the truth than he cared about peace, love and truth. When it comes to famous people being REALLY decent, give me Chris Hadfield any day, thanks.
September 5, 2018
7/10.
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