John Lennon Interview 1975 with Tom Snyder

you said earlier that it became boring to stay with that group why is what you're doing now not boring when that was because I can change musicians whenever I like and it tends to get into a format you know because we were together much longer than the public knew us you know it wasn't just from 64. I was 24 and 64 and I've been playing with Paul since I was 15. and he's very nice and and George about a year later or something so it's a long time we spent together in in all the most extraordinary circumstances from you know lousy rooms to Great Rooms and so it wasn't just the public just think oh yeah we're only together five years we've only got five million records you know but we were together a long long time and we just became stale musically it's but how are you not stale musically now aside from changing because I'm interacting with different musicians to me they're musicians they're not just you know it's not like to people they're all stars right it's it's like having Elton John and Elvis and a few people playing you know to me it isn't it's just musicians and to them it's the same so if you play with the same person all the time you get into a rut even if you played tennis with the same person gets boring it comes to a time when you know every move and you have to find somebody else to play with as you listen to music today I don't know if you listen to the radio a lot or if you listen mostly to records but what are things that you see that you think are good or bad well that's pretty General I like the disco music that's out now which is uh great great music I like the thing that happened in Jamaica called reggae yeah there's a music in Jamaica called reggae which has been around for years under the disguise of Scar blue beat etc etc but finally formed itself into reggae and that's about the really newest thing that's happened in music in the last five years do you think anything new happens to music or is it a continual series of cycles and that maybe a hundred thousand years ago somebody had the same kind of beat or the same kind of whatever it is that makes it different and that maybe the whole thing is just going in Cycles or are we in fact discovering things all the time I think there's a something to the cycle thing but I think if you apply the cycle idea to it that cycle for everything not just music but it's snowballing either with just because of electricity or because of all the garbage everybody picks up because we keep inventing things right so it does change and it has Cycles in a way you know like I think the whole the home whatever it is the universe is a series of Cycles but the music has to change because they keep inventing new things like you know films change it's now video so it's in that way it's different but don't you know that in about 1988 there's going to be a group come out that is going to pick right back to the sound that you guys had in the uh since you're 15 years old and all kinds of critics and all kinds of writers going to say wow look at this we've got this whole new sound that's reminiscent of The Beatles back in the 60s well they'll probably be playing garage blobs and Zach dungas right you know they'll have new instruments and although rock and roll was brand new when it came out and excited everybody it was sort of it had roots in blues and jazz so in that way they would have their roots in the 60s 70s and possibly further back but you can't say that rock and roll is like the 20s music although if you look for it you can find out where it came from and you can find out where Beatles music came from or any music came from it's just like that it has its history before we get into your your immigration status and we'll bring Mr Wilds out at that time all right all right and that is a controversy for you and for people who would want you to stay in this country you've been involved in some other many controversies like the time that you were on the cover of the album without any clothes on and like the time that you and Yoko had everybody or invited people to come into the bedroom while you were there we held a bed in for peace a bed in for peace exactly why do you do those things what what I and and I don't ask you that uh because I want to engender some flip response from you but what does that gain for you as John Lennon or what does it gain for the cause of Peace in the case of the bed and for you to do something like that Yoko and I when we got together decided whatever we knew whatever we did was going to be in the papers you know whether it's Richard or Liz or so-and-so gets married or whatever people like us do is going to be in the papers so we decided to utilize the space we would occupy Anyway by getting married with a commercial for peace and also a theatrical event and the theatrical event we came up with which utilized the least energy with the maximum effect was to work from bed and what we virtually had was a seven day press conference in bed where the Press fought the first day they fought at the door to get in thinking there was something you know sexy going on like that was the word I was looking for and they found two people talking about peace you know and reporters always have five minutes with you or ten minutes with you we let them ask anything for as long as they wanted for seven days and all the time we just kept plugging peace in the story that came out was John and Yoko do bad in for peace and we were just promoting peace like you promote any product you know they promote War join the Marines join this we promote in peace the naked album cover was less um General than that meaning they didn't have we didn't have that was the one of the first things we did we thought you know we felt like two virgins that's what the album was called because we were in love just met and we were trying to make something and we thought to show everything people are always looking at people like me trying to see some secret though what do they do what do they do you know do they go to the bathroom do they eat do you I do quite a lot you know and that we I just we just said here you know and that was in 1968 and all hell broke loose but now they're jumping around naked all over the place right yes they are as a matter of fact right so we were just still ahead of our time what difficulties are there for people who are in the Public Public eye who know as you and Yoko did that whatever you do it's going to be picked up in the press and you really can't go out and I suppose have a quiet dinner or go to the park or go to a movie or something like that what what difficulties are there in in your life when there's such adulation for you and such curiosity about what you do all the time well that's cool because that that's part I reckon that's part of the what part of the territory yeah but uh you see having gone through the beatle Mania thing nowadays it's nothing like that I mean I can walk down the street and somebody to say oh hi John and they usually say immigration you know if it's in New York right and they don't hassle me I might sign one autograph two autographs you know and I don't get hassled and I went through that period where I actually couldn't go anywhere and so now it's like heaven I can go and eat we go and eat we go to the movies we go whatever we want if there's an announcement like there's an opening and everybody's going to be there you get a lot of noise and cameras and Flash builds but if we just decide to go to dinner it's cool you know we're probably less recognizable than you now because at night I doubt that you're on every night you kidding but it doesn't make any difference because when you were on you had 35 40 50 million people I'll never forget the time that you came to Los Angeles I was working there for uh for a channel five and you were giving a concert at uh I don't remember where it was Hollywood Bowl is that right thank you and uh there were the lines for the tickets and there was all the attendant publicity prior to the appearance and everything else and uh one of our reporters went out and covered all this and he came back and he said it's going to be wild out there tonight and I because I'm not very smart went on the air and I say well if you'd like to know where the Beatles are call this guy and his home number is and I mean his phone didn't stop ringing for four days it was just an obscenity and I wish to if he's watching I'm sorry I did that and so your your viewability or your visibility is so tremendously high or at least was then and I just wondered if it had kind of slopped over into your career now no I mean I can get around now you know I can get it I'm glad too I don't miss it I'm glad it happened but I don't miss it yeah in spite of the board in spite of the fact that maybe there were there were little dissensions those were good times for you oh yeah yeah I mean the boredom was in the music I mean that came after all the beetle Mania did you save your money uh what we could get our hands on yeah what do you mean what you get your hand a lot of it got siphoned off before we even got near it you know I mean we didn't know anything about business or anything like that you know and there's a lot of money there's a lot of millionaires around this world so yeah but uh that's part of the action too okay let me pause here for these announcements we'll continue with John Lennon on tomorrow in two minutes and five seconds and I trust you'll stay tuned thank you

Channel: BariAndolini

Views: 411,048

Keywords: John, Lennon, Interview, The, Beatles, Tom, Snyder, Tomorrow, Show, Paul, McCartney, 1.0, 1.5, 1975, interview, talk, George, Harrison, Ringo, Starr, immigration, Yoko, Ono, New, York, imagine

Id: lAOkNc-7pVU

Length: 9min 24sec (564 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 18 2009