It
was in the first week of March, 1975, that I next interviewed John and
beforehand I watched and listened as from an office at Capitol Records he talked on the phone to no less than 35
different disc jockeys simultaneously at radio stations across America. “I like
‘Stand By Me’ and ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’ is one of my all-time favourites,” he said,
before going on to discuss the problems he had in making the album. “There’s
been more trouble with this album than soft mick,” he stated, using an
expression that I’m sure 99% of his listeners had never heard before.
When he put the phone down, he grinned
at me and muttered something about how great it was to speak to so many people
at once. I wonder now what he would have made of the internet. John had
opinions about everything and wasn’t afraid to share them regardless of the
consequences, so the internet would have like manna from heaven to him. I’m
pretty sure John would have blogged and tweeted like crazy.
I began by asking him about the
background to the Rock’n’Roll album.
“...
I just finished Mind Games when I
started the new album and I just wanted to have some fun. It was so soon after Mind Games that I didn’t have any new
material. I wanted to just sing and not be the producer. I thought, ‘Who’s the
one to do it with?’ and I thought of Phil Spector. We went down to the Record
Plant and started cutting and, well, it got pretty crazy... it really got wild
at times. But we managed to cut seven or eight in the end before it
collapsed... which is the only way to put it.
“Next thing Phil had apparently had an
auto accident. Only he knows whether he did or didn’t, but that’s what the
story said. That was the end of it then, because he’d got the tapes and I
didn’t get them back until two days before I went into the studio to cut Walls And Bridges. I went on to do the
Harry Nilsson thing [Pussycats] and I
tried everything to get them [the Rock
’N’ Roll album tapes] back, even just hanging around LA to see if Phil
would get better. I couldn’t think what to do, so I did the album with Harry
while I was waiting. When I got the tapes, I couldn’t get into them because I
was all geared to Walls And Bridges.
When I did get into them, I found that out of the eight, there were only four
or five that were worth using. The sessions had 28 guys playing live and a lot
of them out of tune, which is too much, even for rock and roll. So I didn’t
know whether to forget it or carry on, but I hate leaving stuff in the can. I
thought about putting out an EP – remember them? But they don’t have them in
America, and thought about a maxi-single. In the end I decided to finish it off
and produce the rest myself.
“I did ten tracks in three days in
October, all the numbers that I hadn’t got around to with Phil. I had a lot of
fun and mixed it all down in about four or five days. My one problem was
whether it would sound weird going from the Spector sound to my sound, from 28
guys down to eight. But they match pretty well I think. So there it was, I
suddenly had an album.”
I
mentioned to John that Paul now owned the publishing rights to ‘Peggy Sue’, the
Buddy Holly song that John included, and would therefore profit from the album.
“What a clever move that was,” he replied. “I hope he gives me a good deal. I
don’t care who gets the money. With Paul it’s cool, ‘cos we’re pals, and even
Klein’s all right really. I’m not gonna get much money from this album anyway.”
John
seemed happier with his Beatle past than at any time since 1970. “I’ve lost all
that negativity about the past and I’d be happy as Larry to do ‘Help!’ I’ve just changed completely in two
years. I’d do ‘Hey Jude’ and the whole damn show, and I think George will
eventually see that. If he doesn’t, that’s cool. That’s the way he wants to
be.”
John also told me he was back with Yoko.
“I’m happy as Larry,” he beamed, “and she is... I hope. We’ve known each other
for nine years. I met her in 1966. We had a sort of breakdown last year, one
way or another, but we called each other often even when I was going crazy out
on the West Coast, and I probably said a lot of balmy things to her which I’ll
regret.”
Regrettably
I don’t have a complete transcription of this interview, so that’s all I can
post. I’ll conclude my thoughts on knowing John tomorrow.
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