John Lennon: The Life (108 page)
“That song broke my heart after he died; I couldn’t listen to it for about ten years without getting upset because I was there when he recorded that, and I remember it coming into the universe. And I remember how when he died,
Double Fantasy
was all over the radio, you couldn’t get away from it. Every time I heard his voice, it was like a knife in my heart, it hurt so much. And it took me a good ten years before hearing his voice wasn’t an incredibly difficult thing.”
And, he admits, it still is. “If I’m at a party and someone casually puts on
Sgt. Pepper
, it’s hard for me. I can’t just hang out, drink wine, smoke cigarettes, and listen to those songs. I’m not saying it’s less intense for my mom. But she had him, she had a relationship with him. I think what hurts for me so much is that I didn’t. And it really hurts to hear his voice and hear him sing. I have to feel very strong to deal with it.
“It’s so beautiful—and it’s my dad; it’s that resonance of voice that I remember from my childhood, the first voice I ever heard. It’s the first voice I ever heard speak English. It’s the voice from which I learned to speak English.”
To many, Sean’s life might appear an enviable, effortless one, cushioned by the Lennon millions—the big houses and numerous servants; the private schools in New York and Switzerland; the doting love of a mother to whom he is everything; the reflected love of a whole planet. Yet there are signs that his chief inheritance from his father may be a horribly vulnerable heart. His romance with Elizabeth Jagger, daughter of Mick—which might have created the greatest dynastic union in pop—fizzled out when Elizabeth let it be known that she had yet to fall
properly
in love. Even more bruising was a relationship with the actress and model Bijou Phillips, whom he found to be cheating on him with his childhood friend and Dakota neighbor Max Leroy. Then Max was killed in a motorcycle accident before the two friends could reconcile. At one point in our conversation, Sean remarks that beautiful girls are doomed to a special kind of unhappiness, possibly his way of consoling himself for the unhappiness they cause him. One can almost hear an echo of John’s most wounded song on
Rubber Soul
: “Aaah—
Gerl!
”
Sean admits he has little to do with the millions of people for whom his father has become a secular saint, who speak the name “John Lennon” in the same breath as “Albert Schweitzer” or “Nelson Mandela” and create monuments to him of every kind, from an airport in Liverpool to a “tower of light” in Iceland and a graffiti wall in Prague. “My mom doesn’t really understand why I don’t want to meet those who worship John Lennon, why I don’t want to visit the John Lennon tribute concerts or go to the John Lennon Museum. It just hurts too much. I’ve sung ‘This Boy’ at a tribute concert because I love the song and I’m a professional musician, I can do any gig I’m asked to, but I didn’t like doing it.
“It’s not that I don’t want to honor him, because I feel like my whole life is a living tribute to him. But to go to a museum or see a movie that depicts his life, it just hurts. Watching a show about him on Broadway for me was like going naked through the flames of Hell. Because those memories that I have of my childhood are so important to me. To see them co-opted to make a diorama in a museum or a Broadway show makes me feel like I’m being violated.”
He accepts it is his duty to support Yoko in administering and protecting the Lennon legacy. “If I owe it to my mom to do it, I’ll do it, because I love her the most. But on a spiritual level, it doesn’t enrich my life to do interviews, to do tributes and museums and have my experience of my father turned into media. I don’t read books about him, I don’t need to see movies or shows about him. I don’t need to prove to the world that he did all these things.
“And I don’t think he’d be all that bothered that I’ve inherited his streak of rebelliousness. I have the music and I have the memories and that’s what is precious to me. I have him in my heart.”
In September 2003, I suggested to John’s widow, Yoko Ono, that I should become his biographer. I felt thoroughly qualified for the task: my book
Shout!
was regarded as the definitive work on the Beatles and I had known Yoko personally since 1981, when she invited me to the Dakota Building just five months after John’s murder. Since then, surprisingly, there had been only two full-scale biographies of the man and his music, both published in the 1980s, neither doing him justice. Ray Coleman’s
Lennon
was an honorable attempt but one that never quite brought John alive on the page, while Albert Goldman’s malevolent, risibly ignorant
The Lives of John Lennon
could be totally discounted.
Yoko agreed to my suggestion, with the proviso that it should not be called an “authorized” biography. Over the next three years, in a series of interviews in New York and London, she spoke with remarkable honesty and passion about the life she and John had shared. She also made it possible for me to talk to others close to John, in particular their son Sean and her daughter, Kyoko. The only other condition was that she should read the manuscript for factual accuracy. I assumed she would approve of what I had written since it was in the same spirit as
Shout!
: candid about John’s many flaws, but portraying him as both a massive influence on twentieth-century culture and an ultimately adorable human being. Part of my mission, too, was to correct some of the myths about Yoko herself, which after these years still make her a figure of hatred and ridicule for so many. I was amazed therefore when, in late 2007, she told me she was upset by the book and would not endorse it. Her reasons were various but the
principal one was that I had been “mean to John.” I hope that in time she may revise this judgment, for I do not think any other reader will share it.
As a journalist during the Sixties, I met John only twice: first in 1965, during what turned out to be the Beatles’ last UK tour, and again in mid-1969, while he and Yoko were orchestrating their peace campaign from the Apple house in Savile Row. For his view of the world I have inevitably had to rely on quotes he gave to other people, collated from famously forthright sessions with magazines like
Rolling Stone
and
Playboy
and innumerable other sources, major and minor—for here was, perhaps, the only celebrity in history who never did a dull or dishonest interview. Otherwise, my aim was to reconstruct his life completely afresh, writing for a hypothetical reader who has never heard of him or listened to a note of his music, ignoring all preconceptions, including my own. Indeed, I would frequently find myself correcting inaccuracies and misjudgments which had been in every edition of
Shout!
Biographers rely greatly on luck, and with this project my share was exceptional. Despite the widespread (and untrue) perception that I am “anti-Paul,” Sir Paul McCartney agreed to answer questions of fact by e-mail, and did so promptly and in generous detail. Notwithstanding a conviction that he had nothing new left to say, the Beatles’ nonpareil record producer Sir George Martin saw me at his AIR studios—situated fortuitously just a couple of streets from my London home—and said much that was fascinatingly new. The late Neil Aspinall, the Beatles’ closest and most loyal associate, broke a forty-year rule not to talk to writers, granting me several interviews and also checking part of the manuscript. John’s cousins Mike Cadwallader and Liela Harvey were both unstinting in their help, as was his stepmother, Pauline Stone, who showed me documents which cast somewhat different light on his much maligned father, Freddie. John’s two closest friends from the New York years, Elliot Mintz and Bob Gruen, shared intimate memories and checked relevant portions of the text, I also received invaluable guidance from Leon Wildes, the lawyer who masterminded his fight against deportation from the United States.
Peter Trollope proved a brilliant researcher, tracking down lost links in John’s life with an indefatigability worthy of Sherlock Holmes. For fact-checking and advice I am deeply indebted to Bill Harry, John’s friend at art college, later founder-editor of
Mersey Beat
and author of the
John Lennon Encyclopedia
. Invaluable editorial help from my old
Sunday Times
colleague, Nick Mason, slimmed down the first draft from its original 360,000 words. Allan Kozinn of the
New York Times
provided CDs of John’s lesser-known American radio interviews and took immense pains in weeding out errors from the manuscript—as did my fellow biographer Johnny Rogan during a six-hour session at London’s Groucho Club. In Liverpool, many old friends made through
Shout!
were kind and hospitable all over again, notably Brian Epstein’s old friend and adviser Joe Flannery, and former Quarrymen Colin Hanton and Len Garry. New ones also emerged, like Bill Heckle of Cavern City Tours, who gave me the run of his contacts book, and Colin Hall, the custodian of John’s childhood home in Woolton, now run by the National Trust.
Although every care has been with fact-checking, a work of this size cannot hope to be 100 percent error-free. Few subjects generate experts like the Beatles and I am aware how many will be combing my text for the smallest slips. For these I apologize in advance and promise that as many as possible will be rectified in future editions.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to Sir Paul McCartney for the quotation from
Many Years from Now,
his authorized biography by Barry Miles (Secker & Warburg, 1997); to Pauline Stone for the unpublished writings and deposition of Freddie Lennon; to Michael Cadwallader for Mimi Smith’s letters; and to Bill Harry for material from
Mersey Beat.
Special thanks to Michael Sissons and Peter Matson for unfailing support and friendship; to Dan Halpern of Ecco, a rock throughout the long and often fraught composition process; to Trevor Dolby who commissioned the book for HarperCollins UK and Carole Tonkinson who took it over; to Carol MacArthur and Fiona Petheram at PFD, and Sam Edenborough and Nicki Kennedy at the Intercontinental Literary Agency for taking the book so enthusiastically to its non–English language publishers; to Tariq Mazid for ever reliable
technical support; to Gordon Smith and Stephen Simou of Citroen Wells; and to François and Danièle Roux for giving me a summer sanctuary at La Colombe d’Or in St. Paul de Vence.
Grateful thanks also to: Helen Anderson, Les Anthony, David Ashton, Andrew Bailey, Tony Barrow, Dot Becker, Sid Bernstein, Cilla Black, Tony Bramwell, Peter Brown, James Burrows, Tony Calder, Ronnie Carroll, James Chads, Maureen Cleave, Tyler Coneys, John O’Connor, Wendy Cook, Ray Connolly, Celia Crighton, Rod Davis, Sheridon Davis, Jeff Dexter, Sonny Freeman Drane, John Dunbar, Ron Ellis, Royston Ellis, Horst Fascher, Yankel Feather, Colin Fellows, Michael Fishwick, Ray Foulk, June Furlong, Johnny Gentle, Olwen Gillespie, Harry Gooseman, Bob Green, Sam Green, Frances Greenhous, the late Eric Griffiths, John Gustafson, Rolf Harris, Jon Hendricks, Kevin Hewlett, Simon Hilton, Peter Hodgson, the late Nicholas Horsfield, Thomas Hoving, Peter Howard, Maurice Hyams, Patricia Inder, Arthur Janov, Vivian Janov, Tim and Joyce Jeal, Iris Keitel, Jim Keltner, Jonathan King, Astrid Kirchherr, Cosmo Landesman, Sharon Lawrence, Sam Leach, Caroline Lee, Spencer Leigh, Joyce Lennon, Richard Lester, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Kenny Lynch, Barbara McKie, Laurie Mansfield, Gerry Marsden, Ann Mason, Albert Maysles, Barry Miles, Lee Montague, Colin Morris, Rod Murray, Paul du Noyer, Geoff Nugent, Andrew Oldham, Simon Osborne, William Pobjoy, Sir Cliff Richard, Dan Richter, Cynthia Riley, Charles Roberts, Craig Sams, Gregory Sams, Sandy Sams, Robert Sandall, Art Schreiber, Jackie de Shannon Tony Sheridan, Victor Spinetti, Peter Stockton, Ursula Stone, Peter Suchet, Jimmy Tarbuck, Joan Taylor, Klaus Voormann, Nigel Walley, Michael Ward, and Jane Wirgman.
Finally to my wife Sue, who suggested I should write this book, go all my love and gratitude.
PHILIP NORMAN
LONDON
, 2008
Note: Entries in this index, carried over verbatim from the print edition of this title, are unlikely to correspond to the pagination of any given e-book reader. However, entries in this index, and other terms, may be easily located by using the search feature of your e-book reader.
Abbey Road
, 608–609, 611–614, 625, 719
ABKCO Industries, 600, 709
Acorn Event
, 542–543
Acorns, burying for peace, 602, 604 Ad Lib club, 325, 423
Adler, Lou, 715, 721
Aftermath
, 480
Alchemical Wedding, 593
Aldridge, Alan, 560, 575
Ali, Tariq, 661–662
“All My Loving,” 349
All Things Must Pass
, 655, 657, 669–670
“All Together Now,” 561
“All You Need Is Love,” 499–500, 561
Allsop, Ken, 417
Alpert, Richard, 430
Amaya, Mario, 476
“And Your Bird Can Sing,” 433
Anderson, Helen, 115, 154, 155–156, 164
Anderson, Jim, 669, 670–671
“Angela,” 699, 700
Animals, 412, 415
Anthony, Les, 388, 466, 545–546, 609, 675
Alf Lennon and, 510, 511
hired, 384–385
How I Won the War
and, 459
JL and Yoko Ono’s wedding and, 594, 595
on marijuana use, 396–397
at Tittenhurst Park, 616
Apotheosis
(film), 620, 668
Apple Corps, 588, 589, 600–601
Bag Productions and, 601–602
JL and, 559, 560
projects of, 514, 515–516, 542, 559–562, 563–565, 584–585, 661
“Western Communism” and, 539, 564, 583–584
Arden, Don, 283
Aronowitz, Al, 351, 660
Dylan meeting and, 374, 375, 376
Asher, Jane, 310, 324, 429, 434
breaks engagement to McCartney, 546
Transcendental Meditation and, 533, 536
Asher, Peter, 324, 429–430
Apple Corps management, 560, 584, 601
Ashton, David, 46, 52, 76
“Ask Me Why,” 270–271, 296
Aspinall, Neil, 223, 230, 243, 683, 773
Apple Corps and, 585, 661, 756–757
Beatles’ drug use and, 396, 492, 573
on Beatles’ performance, 293
Best and, 272, 275
Dylan meeting, 375, 376
Epstein and, 254, 507
Get Back/Let It Be
project and, 587
How I Won the War
and, 458–459
“Imagine” and, 776
on JL and Dylan, 415
JL and Yoko Ono’s wedding and, 594
LSD and, 426
on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 504
Presley meeting and, 405
as road manager, 332–334, 431
on rumored reunion, 786
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
and, 487
Transcendental Meditation and, 534, 536
world tour, 1964, 364–365
world tour, 1966, 441, 442
“Yellow Submarine” and, 434
Astaire, Fred, 682
“Attica State,” 699
ATV company, 603–604, 630, 665, 700
“Baby It’s You,” 295
“Baby You’re a Rich Man,” 503
“Baby’s in Black,” 393, 397–398
“Back in the USSR,” 576
Bag One
, 633–634
Bag Productions, 601–602, 626
“Bagism,” 593
Bailey, R. F., 60
Bainbridge, Beryl, 172
Baker, Barbara, 45, 75–76, 93, 111, 146
“Ballad of John and Yoko, The,” 598–599, 699
Ballard, Arthur, 128–129, 134, 136, 153, 161, 190
Band on the Run
, 729–730
Barber, Chris, 86
Bardot, Brigitte
Cynthia and look of, 166, 203, 302, 457
fantasies about, 73, 131, 521, 525, 550
Inder and, 272
JL meets, 563
Barrow, Tony
on Beatles in 1965, 403
hired, 284
on JL and Cynthia, 344
on JL’s singing, 317
Julian’s birth and, 306
keeps JL’s marriage secret, 301
Presley meeting and, 405
public relations work of, 297–298, 331, 431
US tour, 1966, 451–452, 453
Wooler fight and, 311
world tour, 1966, 441, 442
Bart, Lionel, 496
Bassanini, Roberto, 544–545, 572, 578, 609, 722
BBC Light Programme
Beatles on, 292, 300, 309
JL listens to as youth, 42
“Be Bop-a-Lula,” 746, 750
Beach Boys, 413, 480, 538
Beatals, 171–178
Beatlemania
in UK, 222, 315–322
in US, 343–348, 369–370
Beatles, 192, 308.
See also specific albums, films, individuals, and songs
answers to questions about name, 322
appearance of, 288, 293, 403–404
audition for Decca, 253–254
audition for Parlophone, 259
as Beatals, 171–178
breakup of, 622–625, 645–646
business interests after Epstein’s death, 513–515
at Cavern, 225–232, 258
“comeback film,” proposed, 580–583, 586–588
comedy of, 231
competitors and rivals, 340, 412–415, 479–481
end of touring and, 454–462
Epstein signs to manage, 251–253
first LP of, 294–296
first professional film footage of, 275–276
first single of, 281
friendships among, 333–334
Hamburg trips and, 189–225, 232–240, 265–269
individual names become known, 304
insecurity of, 339–341
JL on breakup of, 645–646
JL’s marriage to Cynthia kept secret, 301
JL’s
Mersey Beat
history of, 241–242
Kirchherr’s photos of, 212–213
with Little Richard, 282–283
management after Epstein, 585, 592
McCartney leaves, 644–645
MBE, 399–400, 407
meet Dylan, 374–376
meet Presley, 404–406
named permanently, 186
record with Sheridan on Polydor, 238–240, 250, 253
recording sessions, 269–270, 408–412, 570–573, 587
