John Lennon New book - An excerpt from Neil Spencer - The Guardian.com - to read all clic here.
Lennon opened up about the band's untimely demise in 1970. He told Jann S Wenner: "In a nutshell, Paul wanted to make – it was time for another Beatle movie or something, and Paul wanted us to go on the road or do something."
In the 1970 interview, Rolling Stone co-founder Jann S. Wenner and John discussed The Beatles at length. At one point, John revealed he was going to meet the other members of The Beatles soon to discuss financial matters. Subsequently, Wenner asked if John would record with them again.
“Not a chance,” John replied. “I wouldn’t record with anyone again. I record with Yoko, but I’m not going to record with another egomaniac. There’s only room for one on an album nowadays, and so there’s no point.”
A veteran journalist and screenwriter (That’ll Be the Day, Stardust), Ray Connolly lays no claim to fresh revelations about the life of the group’s self-styled leader, instead offering insights into Lennon’s complex, contradictory character. He’s well qualified, having struck up a camaraderie with Lennon over the late 1960s/early 70s; a major regret is not announcing the Beatles’ imminent split after Lennon had tipped him off. “But you said not to tell anyone,” he complains to John after McCartney had beaten Lennon to the punch. “You’re the journalist, Connolly,” fires back Lennon.
John was not merely in love with Yoko, but mesmerised. He subsumed his personality into hers
He deals with the difficult subject of Yoko deftly, not blaming her for the Beatles’ dissolution – after all, pop groups in their late 20s frequently break up – but pointing out that Paul and George had every right to resent her presence in the studio because “whatever her talents, they did not include, at that time, an ability to make or understand popular music”.
For Connolly, John was not merely in love with Yoko but “mesmerised” by her and “subsumed his personality into hers”.
Together they became a brand, JohnandYoko, wearing the same clothes and haircuts, sharing the same stage, appearing nude together on the Two Virgins cover, jointly promoting peace via bed-ins and records such as Happy Xmas (War Is Over) and Imagine. After Yoko introduced John to heroin, they shared the same drugs.
Not all Beatles fans were happy with Yoko’s arrival. A strong streak of racism was in play (even Mimi referred to her as “the poison dwarf”), but John didn’t care. “The trouble is I’ve spoiled my image.
People want me to be lovable, but I was never that. Nobody ever thought of me as cuddly,” he told Connolly.
During the what Lennon called it his “lost weekend”, but as Connolly points out, he had never been so welcoming to old friends like McCartney, Jagger, Elton and Bowie, gaining chart-toppers with the latter two.
Being John Lennon: A Restless Life by Ray Connolly is published by W&N (£20). To order a copy for £17.20 go to guardianbookshop.com
