The times when John was "without" Y. Ono

[Berkeleyan]

Yes, lots of us know it was the "long weekend" (I guess John´s words).
At that time he was partially free from Ono´s grasp, with support from an apparently very nice lady (May Pang) and could have made a lot more great music if not for (a) Evil Ono´s general nastiness on keeping track of and bothering them and (b) his own insecurities about the split and life on his own(drenched in frequent boozing)[:(!].
That is not a well known period in his life.

[admiralvanderbilt]

Mmm, the so-called "lost weekend" was 1973 - 1974. JL spent a lot of time hanging out in LA with Harry Nilson et al, drinking excessive amounts. It was during this period that Lennon & McCartney jammed together in an LA studio - some terrible bootlegs kicking around.

[Gastro (gone)]

Yoko f*cked with his mind... what she did disgusts me because in her mind she had every intention of getting back with him... she used May Pang and she used John... he was her meal ticket... I actually find that John was a weaker man from the time he met Yoko .. he seemed much stronger in the early days of the Beatles ... maybe that's because he was the leader and he lost leadership of the Beatles to Paul when Brian died...

[Berkeleyan]

From a few bits of information I have gathered, your summary makes complete sense to me, Gastro.

[BandOnTheRun1]

I believe with full conviction that Mr Mccartney's "take-over" preceded Mr Epstiens death, but that is petty quibbling.

To answer the question: The times had to be the happiest of his life without the WW of the W.

[Gastro (gone)]

Thanks Berk.. I'm a big Lennon fan and am disappointed with what little there is of his solo career... in the relationship it seems that John needed Yoko more than she needed him ... can you imagine if Linda McCartney had pulled any of that s**t??? she would have been out the door in no time... with all due respect to John I cannot see any attractive qualities about her which drew him to her ... except that she encouraged his willingness to be wild and crazy and take hard drugs and in this way had some control over him though he could lash out quite visciously and humiliate her ... I find their political activism of the late 60's /early 70's quite embarassing today.. bagism really took off huh !! ... the other Beatles must have cringed when they saw that....

I think what's sad is that Paul, George and Ringo knew this but they couldn't do anything about it....

[Berkeleyan]

Yes Gastro, it was really sad that Paul, George & Ringo couldn't really do anything to help John. He was obsessed w/ Ono and with his own inner demons. Apparently he got and accepted some help from May Pang and went back to make great songs in '73.
Unfortunately his erractic/freaky (booze-induced, perhaps a little powder occasionally) behavior w/ people like Nilsson (died early - guess why) and Jesse Ed Davis (another drug casualty in the 80's) prevailed in many occasions. John had always bad company close at hand, who encouraged him to freak out. And Ono of course was no help to him - just trouble.

John Lennon's solo career - he had great moments and did great stuff but he could have done much more...

[dsnito]

John always was blind for Yoko, he lost his mind when she rejected him that time... and May Pang was only his consolation(more sexual than affective)to him could stand his "exile" in L.A., known as his "lost weekend", when he had been drunk, drugged and messed around with his mate Nilsson in the L.A.nights...despite that madness period, he yet could have inspiration from his suffering to conceive the excellent album "Walls and Bridges", and finished his album "R&R", his musical roots that caused a lawsuit against Morris Levy that got the recording masters of some of R&R tracks having released the "Roots" album. Those were his most stormy days in his life, having yet the Apple/Klein question, his troubles with the U.S.Immigration Dept., but even with all that troubles, John didn't lose his musical creativity and was always that brillant songwriter.

Peace.