Almost at the end of the documentary ‘LENNON – THE NEW YORK YEARS‘ (dir Michael Epstein, 80 minutes, 2011) his Japanese widow Yoko Ono asks the question that nobody over the preceding 77 minutes, or anyone in the world for that matter, can answer:
‘John was an artist – why would anybody want to kill an artist?’
Broadcast again on BBC 4 last Friday (October 9) to coincide with the day Lennon would have been 80, ‘The New York Years‘ explores the nine years from 1971 until his death that John and Yoko spent living in the United States, primarily in New York City.
To the initiated the documentary reveals little about them not already known. Particular attention is paid to their move from England to the United States, a four year battle with US immigration to remain in the country, their political activism, a separation that saw John adjourn to Los Angeles for an 18 month ‘lost weekend,’ a reconciliation with Yoko which brought the birth of son Sean and withdrawal from public life in the years that followed – a period ending with release of their joint ‘Double Fantasy‘ album in October 1980.
While the documentary is eminently watchable, like any tragedy where the ending is known it becomes hard to escape the sense of impending doom – which in this case comes to pass when Lennon is shot dead outside his New York home in December 1980, his death prompting widespread scenes of mourning across the world.
Beginning with audio tape and photo stills from the August 1980 recording sessions that would yield ‘Double Fantasy‘ Lennon is described by session band guitarist Earl Slick as being in ‘good spirits‘ and ‘happy as hell to be making music again.’
After Yoko Ono reflects ‘John loved New York and often said he should have been born a New Yorker,’ Lennon is heard in a 1980 radio interview saying, ‘New York is such a great place for me. I’m known enough to keep my ego afloat, but not enough that I can’t get around.’
Such remarks only grow in resonance when considering his murder in the city only a few months later – the documentary at this point heading back to the early-70s, Mr. and Mrs. Lennon crossing the Atlantic after what avant-garde artist Ono describes as ‘inhumane treatment‘ from the UK media.
‘New York was much easier for them as they were treated so badly in England,’ recalls noted rock photographer and close friend Bob Gruen, ‘the British press ripped Yoko apart which naturally caused John a lot of hurt.’
Brief clips of late-era Beatles, whose footage is used sparingly throughout the piece, gives way to the couple being interviewed by British chat show host Michael Parkinson, John using it as a platform to voice his disgust.
‘The abuse is hurtful. We don’t mind criticism of our work, but the press here actually called Yoko ‘ugly’ – and I’ve never seen that written about anyone. Even if someone is ugly they don’t normally say it in the paper. They even say ‘attractive’ about the most awful looking people just to be kind.’
In light of these attacks, Ono stating it would have been ‘masochistic‘ to stay, they relocated to a small apartment in Greenwich Village (‘there was a romanticism about being refugees in a foreign land‘ she adds in setting the scene, even if they were refugees with a great deal of money). Aligning themselves with groups at the radical end of the political spectrum, they became high-profile opponents of the Nixon administration which included moving to the forefront of a campaign to stop the Vietnam war.
Headlining a December 1971 concert on behalf of jailed militant John Sinclair, their support leads to him being freed shortly afterwards. The influence brought to bear by the Lennon’s is noted by the FBI, US Attorney General John Mitchell (later jailed for his involvement in ‘Watergate‘) taking the view their deportation would be a ‘strategic counter-measure.’
Thus began a long-running dispute over their right to reside in the United States, the crux, publicly at least, based on Lennon being charged with possession of hash in England four years earlier.
Intimidated to the extent of being followed and having their phone tapped, they were advised by lawyer Leon Wildes to ‘lie low‘ while the visa issue played out through the courts – only for the activism to continue. Indeed, the 1972 double-LP ‘Sometime in New York City‘ recorded with New York garage band ‘Elephant’s Memory‘ abounds with excessive sloganeering of a sort John Lennon, in his music, had previously been able to avoid.
In August 1972 John and Yoko performed with Elephant’s Memory at New York’s Madison Square Garden in a ‘Concert for Peace,’ the show, like the recent album, panned by the music press – with Lennon, for the first time in his career, finding himself out of critical favour.
Worse was to follow as Richard Nixon won the 1972 Presidential Election by a landslide, precipitating continuation of the deportation threat. The night of his re-election, November 7, is recalled in ‘The New York Years‘ not out of political disappointment, but appalling behaviour from Lennon that would shape the next two years of his life – centred on an incident the documentary, to its credit, refuses to shy away from.
As a day of recording came to a close, news that Nixon was sweeping to victory began a round of commiseratory drinking (the programme makes clear Lennon was not a pleasant drunk). By the time they arrived at the house of anti-war campaigner Jerry Rubin, John, according to Yoko, was ‘already swaying.’ No sooner had they arrived then Lennon disappeared with a woman into an adjacent room, the sound of their lovemaking heard by all the guests.
‘The Elephant’s Memory guys were very sweet,’ remembers Yoko, still sounding pained, ‘one of them put on a Bob Dylan record very loud so we couldn’t hear what was going on. I didn’t like what happened and was embarrassed, but I sort of understood it. After all we’d been through and being together twenty fours a day, we both needed a rest from this situation.’
Accompanied by Ono’s PA May Pang, with whom he quickly began an affair, Lennon headed for Los Angeles on the basis ‘Yoko kicked me out,‘ ready to enjoy some rock and roll high-life – finding when he landed a ready-made 70s ‘Rat Pack‘ eager to assist.
‘LA was completely new for John,’ says Pang, ‘he met up with old friends, re-connected with Paul like two brothers meeting up again and without any animosity. At times life was exhilarating.’
When asked, Gruen described the times with a slight difference. ‘The bright side of that time was very bright – hanging out with Harry Nilsson, Keith Moon and Ringo, but there was also a lot of turmoil. You don’t get drunk every night if you’re happy. It was obvious – he missed Yoko.’
From the mayhem in his personal life came ‘Mind Games‘ (October 1973), an album that repaired some of the damage caused by its predecessor, although was still a long way short of his finest work. On its completion, Lennon began sessions for what would become the ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll‘ LP, but they quickly descended into chaos.
‘There’d be twenty-eight people in the room playing,’ he later recalled, ‘15 of them, including me, out of their minds.’
Recording engineer Roy Cicala, concerned at how the 24-hour party life had consumed Lennon, contacted Ono with the plea: ‘You have to come and get him – he’s falling apart.‘
It brought a curt (and loaded) response. ‘After all the time of being told I came between him and his friends,’ says Yoko, still appearing to bristle, ‘I said its now your turn to look after him. You take care of him.’
Craving a reconciliation with his wife, 1974 brought little for Lennon to enthuse over until the closing weeks. His ‘Walls and Bridges‘ album while not exactly lambasted met with critical indifference and although Nixon left the White House in disgrace after ‘Watergate‘ the unsettling deportation/appeal saga showed little sign of abating.
But on November 28 Lennon was invited on stage by Elton John at his Madison Square Garden concert – and in explaining the background of how Lennon came to be there, Elton reveals:
‘He came on to the greatest ovation I’ve ever heard for anyone – it was an incredible moment.’
As Lennon came off, he found Yoko waiting in the wings – the two then reunited for the rest of his life. This instance of an upswing in fortune heralded the start of happier times, exemplified by events of October 1975. Yoko gave birth to Sean (born October 9, his father’s 35th birthday), while in the hours before, notification came through they had won the right to stay in the United States, receiving their Green Cards the following year.
Retreating into a much quieter life, Lennon spent much of the next few years raising their son, the Lennon’s by now living at an apartment in the Dakota building, Ono dealing with business affairs as John took on the role of ‘house-husband‘.
Emerging from this hiatus to begin recording again in the summer of 1980, on release ‘Double Fantasy‘ (split evenly between seven ‘John’ songs and seven by Yoko) received generally negative reviews – deemed ‘lousy‘ by the New Musical Express – the general consensus being their domestic bliss did not make for particularly substantive music.
Nevertheless, John was clearly pleased to be back and enjoying his roles as husband, father and recording artist. On Sunday 7 December he met old friend Gruen at the Record Plant studios in New York, in order to capture some publicity shots for forthcoming releases.
‘It took a long time to get started as John was happy just talking,’ he says, ‘he spoke about making some videos and perhaps getting a band together and doing some shows. He was also keen on going to visit his Aunt Mimi in the UK. John was very positive about his life. When we went outside to do the photos, we laughed about how it had been nine years since I first took his photograph outside the Record Plant.’
The words fade away to the sound of an incessant siren, blurred images of darkened New York streets as if taken from a fast-moving car and finally the out-of-focus sign of the Roosevelt Hospital.
The moments immediately after Lennon was murdered, (commendably the programme does not refer to his killer by name), are recounted with great poignancy by Ono and record company boss David Geffen. Having signed John and Yoko to his label earlier in the year, Yoko and Geffen were together when a doctor broke the tragic news John was dead – the violent death of a man who once joined Beatle-bandmates Paul, George and Ringo, to sing ‘All You Need Is Love,’ the saddest and ultimate contradiction in a life of many.
‘The New York Years‘ is a commendable attempt to depict the life of John Lennon during this period – the ironies, inadvertent perhaps, laid bare all the same; Lennon spending more time partying with Harry, Ringo and Moonie than he did with party politics, his most enjoyable album of the era being the 1975 ‘Rock ‘n Roll‘ covers set.
This from a songwriter who ranks with Bob Dylan as the most important cultural icon of the 1960s.
The same sense of unfortunate irony shrouds his final few weeks. Lennon, content and relaxed, releasing ‘(Just Like) Starting Over,’ an upbeat ode to beginning again, as the first single from ‘Double Fantasy‘ – the New York years and sadly his extraordinary life, coming to an end in a burst of gun shots on Monday 8 December 1980.
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.