The Last Interview

by **admiralvanderbilt** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 4:53 am

I've just been reading the book containing the full text of the 1980 Playboy interviews (with David Sheff).

Well worth reading - gives a lot of insight into the Beatles recordings, and John's solo work - and into his state of mind at the time.

There's a real mood of excitement, expectation that really comes across. He talks about hitting 40 as like being 21 again - he says with luck, he's got another 40 years of creativity and who knows what he can achieve yet....

by **theDingle** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 9:47 am

av, that one had some revelations to me. Particularly where John is still bringing up the complaint that the songs he offered for Beatle 45 single releases were relegated to the B side. John suspected Paul had deliberately sabotaged his tunes with ideas of experimentation in order to make John's tunes less commercial and Paul's appear MORE appealing.

Could be some truth to that. Paul refers to it as more of a good-natured rivalry, but what-the-hey? John has always known how to raise hell! Of all people, I would think John would insist on the last word regarding how his songs were produced before they were released.

by **Steve-o** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 9:53 am

John...Paranoid? Never!! [:D]

by **theDingle** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 10:31 am

quote:Originally posted by stevew628
John...Paranoid? Never!! [:D]
Don Pardo:....and now, back to Dr. Phil Dingle.

Dr. Dingle: Thank you, Don. Before the commercial break, stevew628 had brought up, in a humorous spirit of sarcasm, that John Lennon could not possibly have succumbed to paranoia. HAHAHA! Good one, steve-O! Don, send steve-O a couple of free tickets to the show, would you please?

John could very well have been experiencing paranoia, given the pressures of fame--life in a fishbowl, as it were---not to mention the volume of mind-altering chemicals he admits to ingesting. A bad combination, quite capable of negatively warping one's perspective.

What makes this seem so "preposterous", as steve-O so effectively pointed out, is that WE as FANS would never suspect our heroes of being so vulnerable. After all, they have acquired this "DEMI-GOD ROCK STAR" status, they are untouchable, unblemished and not tarnishable by the same maladies and struggles that we might experience.

Not so, dear viewers, not so. You would do well not to be deceived by the myths of celebrity. We ALL have our cross to bear, we're ALL in this together. Realizing this should enable you to better cope with your own difficulties. Even though being filthy, disgustingly rich would probably help, too.

NEXT!!

by **admiralvanderbilt** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 10:59 am

Whoa. Is that Dr Dingle or Dr Springer there... [;)]

by **Steve-o** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 11:14 am

Good one Dr Dingle!!!

Seriously though.....I am always quite amazed at how John let that paranoid stuff seep into his interviews. It just jumps out at you....

by **maccastheman** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 11:18 am

Sean seems to have inherited that paranoia as well. (The CIA was behind the idiot that killed John - no need to mention his name)

by **Steve-o** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 12:13 pm

Interesting---I wonder if both of them were influenced by a certain paranoid person in the first place? I don't see the same thing in Julian, so maybe it's environmental:

All things are toxic and in question in the presence of Bin Ono....and there are no coincidences or bad luck in life.

Welcome to the freak show!!

[:D]

by **maccastheman** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 12:15 pm

quote:Originally posted by stevew628
Interesting---I wonder if both of them were influenced by a certain paranoid person in the first place? I don't see the same thing in Julian, so maybe it's environmental:

All things are toxic and in question in the presence of Bin Ono....and there are no coincidences or bad luck in life.

Welcome to the freak show!!

[:D]

EXCELLENT point.

by **admiralvanderbilt** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 12:47 pm

In the interview, John says that when it was time to record his songs, everyone would get looser and more "experimental". This he suspected as McCartney deliberately sabotaging the outcome....

I think this probably reflects the respective approaches of Lennon and McCartney in the studio as much as anything.

McCartney - very professional, trying to get exactly the right sound, very demanding of the other musicians. Sometimes to extremes causing one or more of the band to walk out. Eg number of takes on Maxwell's Silver Hammer.

John - abstract, in terms of the compositions and the terms in which he explained what he was trying to achieve. Extreme example that I've used before - Lennon asking George Martin to make a song "sound like an orange".

The Last Interview

The Last Interview

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