Nash recently released an official statement regarding the award, stating, “This is a very special award. I thank Yoko (Ono) and the Theatre Within for thinking of me.
Over many years, I watched John and Yoko ‘fight the good fight’ for many whose voices were not being heard, a fight that Yoko continues to this day,” Nash’s statement continued. “I’m proud to be associated with the many fine artists who were previously honoured with the John Lennon Real Love Award.”
John Winston Ono Lennon ; 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980
The September 29th 1980 issue of Newsweek featured an exclusive interview with John Lennon. Newsweek's conversation with Lennon.
Barbara Graustark and John Lennon discuss his five-year break from the music scene, being a househusband, Paul McCartney, Yoko's influence on the Beatles break-up, and the upcoming 'Double Fantasy' album. Double Fantasy would be released on November 17th 1980 This is an extract from Article ©1980 Newsweek Magazine
Q: "Why did you go underground in 1975? Were you tired of making music, or of the business itself?"
JOHN: "It was a bit of both. I'd been under contract since I was 22 and I was always 'supposed to.' I was supposed to write a hundred songs by Friday, supposed to have a single out by Saturday, supposed to do this or that.
I've withdrawn many times. Part of me is a monk, and part a performing flea! The fear in the music business is that you don't exist if you're not at Xenon with Andy Warhol. As I found out, life doesn't end when you stop subscribing to Billboard."
Q: "Why five years?"
JOHN: "If you know your history, it took us a long time to have a live baby. And I wanted to give five solid years to Sean. I hadn't seen Julian, my first son (by ex-wife Cynthia), grow up at all. And now there's a 17-year-old man on the phone talkin' about motorbikes.
I'm an avid reader, mainly history, archeology and anthropology. In other cultures, children don't leave the mother's back until 2. I think most schools are prisons - A child's thing is wide open and to narrow it down and make him compete in the classroom is a joke. I sent Sean to kindergarten. When I realized I was sending him there to get rid of him, I let him come home... If I don't give him attention at 5, then I'm gonna have to give him double doses of it in his teenage years. It's owed."
Q: "Paul McCartney's theory is that you became a recluse because you'd done everything - but be yourself."
JOHN: "What the hell does that mean? Paul didn't know what I was doing - he was as curious as everyone else. It's ten years since I really communicated with him. I know as much about him as he does about me, which is zilch. About two years ago, he turned up at the door. I said, 'Look, do you mind ringin' first? I've just had a hard day with the baby. I'm worn out and you're walkin' in with a damn guitar!"
Q: "John, how hard was it not to be doing something musical?"
JOHN: "At first, it was very hard. But musically my mind was just a clutter. It was apparent in 'Walls And Bridges' (his 1974 solo album), which was the work of a semisick craftsman. There was no inspiration, and it gave off an aura of misery. I couldn't hear the music for the noise in my own head. By turning away, I began to hear it again. It's like Newton, who never would have conceived of what the apple falling meant had he not been daydreaming under a tree. That's what I'm living for... the joy of having the apple fall on my head once every five years."
Q: "Did you just stop listening to music?"
JOHN: "I listened mostly to classical or Muzak. I'm not interested in other people's work - only so much as it affects me. I have the great honor of never having been to Studio 54 and I've never been to any rock clubs. It's like asking Picasso, has he been to the museum lately."
Q: "Why did you decide to record again?"
JOHN: "Because this housewife would like to have a career for a bit! On Oct. 9, I'll be 40 and Sean will be 5 and I can afford to say 'Daddy does something else as well.' He's not accustomed to it - in five years I hardly picked up a guitar. Last Christmas our neighbors showed him 'Yellow Submarine' and he came running in, saying, 'Daddy, you were singing... were you a Beatle?' I said, 'Well, yes. Right.'"
Q: "Why did you collaborate with Yoko on this LP?"
JOHN: "It's like a play and we're acting in it. It's John and Yoko - you can take it or leave it. Otherwise (laughing) it's cows and cheese, my dear! Being with Yoko makes me whole. I don't want to sing if she's not there. We're like spitiual advisors. When I first got out of the Beatles, I thought, 'Oh great. I don't have to listen to Paul and Ringo and George.' But it's boring yodeling by yourself in a studio. I don't need all that space anymore."
Q: "People have blamed Yoko for wrenching you away from the band and destroying the Beatles. How did it really end?"
JOHN: "I was always waiting for a reason to get out of the Beatles from the day I filmed 'How I Won The War' (in 1966).
I just didn't have the guts to do it. The seed was planted when the Beatles stopped touring and I couldn't deal with not being onstage. But I was too frightened to step out of the palace. That's what killed (Elvis) Presley. The king is always killed by his courtiers. He is overfed, overindulged, overdrunk to keep him tied to his throne. Most people in the position never wake up. Yoko showed me what it was to be Elvis Beatle, and to be surrounded by sycophant slaves only interested in keeping the situation as it was - a kind of death. And that's how the Beatles ended - not because she 'split' the Beatles, but because she said to me, 'You've got no clothes on.'"
Q: "Do you ever yearn for the good old days?"
JOHN: "Nah! Whatever made the Beatles the Beatles also made the 60's the 60's. And anybody who thinks that if John and Paul got together with George and Ringo, the Beatles would exist, is out of their skulls. The Beatles gave everything they had to give, and more. The four guys who used to be that group can never ever be that group again even if they wanted to be. What if Paul and I got together? It would be boring. Whether George or Ringo joined in is irrelevant because Paul and I created the music. OK? There are many Beatle tracks that I would redo - they were never the way I wanted them to be. But going back to the Beatles would be like going back to school... I was never one for reunions. It's all over."
