Rock Stars Boxed Set: Murder, Manslaughter and Misadventure

by Joe Bensam

  Touring and performing had been such a huge part of John’s life for so long that when he got home, he found there was a huge void to fill. Sadly, the opportunity to spend more time with Cynthia and Julian did not seem to be enough. He took a part in a film, How I Won The War, and went to Spain to play the part of Private Gripweed. John’s character comes to a tragic end in the film - being shot whilst walking...a grim forebear of things yet to pass. John’s performance received good reviews, but he realized that a film career would mean yet more public exposure, so he retreated into the comforting world of LSD.

  One of his companions in his druggie adventures was John Dunbar, who ran the Indica Gallery in London. The two of them spent a lot of time spaced out, while Cynthia desperately tried to regain the John who was fast moving away from her. Little did she know that the first nail in the coffin of her marriage was about to be firmly nailed. On returning from filming in Spain, John received a catalog from the Indica gallery, announcing an exhibition by a Japanese artist, Yoko Ono.

  Chapter 7 - John Meets Yoko

  Dunbar offered to give John a preview of this new exhibition, as he had done many times before at other events, mainly because he knew John had the spending capacity to make the trip very worthwhile. At the gallery, John was initially baffled by Yoko’s exhibits - which included a couple of nails in a plastic box, and an apple (which John took a bite out of). He thought this was all slightly nutty, until he saw a ladder leading to a spyglass. John obediently climbed the ladder, and looked through the Spyglass to see nothing but the word ‘Yes.’ This piqued his sense of humor, and he was intrigued enough to stay and find out more about Yoko and her art.

  John and Yoko

  After the first meeting, Yoko sent John a copy of her book of poems. Much to Cynthia’s disgust, John was fascinated by this little book, with it’s weird messages such as ‘Light a match and wait until it goes out.’ Cynthia was even more disgusted when Yoko was invited to join a dinner party at their house, finding the Japanese intruder somewhat inscrutable and baffling. But at that time, John’s main preoccupation was with The Beatles next album project.

  As the end of 1966 turned into 1967, George Martin had a problem. The Beatles were due to release an album, but they did not have enough material ready. So instead, he decided to release a double A side - Strawberry Fields plus Penny Lane. Both are exceptional songs that showed how Paul and John were still developing as songwriters, yet for the first time, a Beatles release failed to hit the number one spot in Britain, reaching only number two. The press leaped onto this ‘failure’ and began to express the thought that the days of The Beatles were numbered. John, Paul, George and Ringo assembled in the studio, ready to prove them wrong.

  Paul’s first contribution to the project was a song called Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Once again, the lads explored whole new territories in music, from the sheer creativity of A Day in the Life to the magical world of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The album was completed with an innovative cover to match the music within, and launched to an unsuspecting public in the ‘Summer of Love’ in 1967. It made an arrow for the number one spot, and stayed there for the next six months, notching up another 19 weeks at number one in America. A few weeks after it had launched, The Beatles took part in the inaugral international satellite broadast, singing All You Need is Love to an audience of over 350 million worldwide.

  Sergeant Pepper was a landmark album

  Although an Indian influence had been creeping into the Beatles’ music for some time, it wasn’t until August 1967 that a more intense chapter in their relationship with the Far East developed. George had invited John to a seminar in London given by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. They were so intrigued by the concepts he discussed, that all of the Beatles, plus wives and hangers-on, were soon on a trip to Bangor, North Wales to join the Maharishi for an in-depth course on transcendental meditation. As usual, a press pack hounded them all the way from the London train station where they started their journey (leaving Cynthia behind in the confusion) to Bangor. For a couple of days, the group was able to enjoy relative peace and seclusion while they learned meditatoin techniques, but soon some tragic news broke the spell.

  Brian Epstein had been found dead in his flat at the age of 32 from an accidental drug overdose. All of the Beatles were mortified, especially John. Apart from losing a close personal friend, he knew that the band was now leaderless and rudderless...a ship sailing aimlessly at sea.

  ‘I knew we were in trouble then,’ John said later. ‘I didn’t really have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music, and I was scared.’

  Finding a new manager proved to be a complex undertaking, and realizing that they had to do something to take control of the situation, the Beatles formed their own company, Apple. This allowed them to expand into new areas of business, beginning with the Apple boutique. This foray into the fashion industry was followed by the creation of a music publishing company, which signed up a whole roster of acts with little talent or hope of success. A great deal more of the the Beatles’ money was wasted on projects which proved to be colossal loss makers.

  The Apple Boutique brightens the streets of London

  But if the Apple ventures were doomed to failure, they had nothing on the Beatles next project, The Magical Mystery Tour. As the Summer of Love drew to a close, the idea of making a film whilst rambling around the country seemed suitably hippy-ish and creative. Unfortunately, the result was as rambling and disorganized as the mystery tour itself, and so the Beatles first major flop was created.

  After a few fleeting meetings with John, Yoko had moved to Paris temporarily as her career unfolded. When she got back to London, she found a mound of letters awaiting her - all from John. And so their growing relationship resumed, yet still surreptitiously. The Beatles and their entourage left for India to study with the Maharishi, a trip that Cynthia hoped would save their marriage. But throughout the trip, John was secretly receiving daily postcards from Yoko. During this time, though, John took advantage of the hours of relaxation to write some of what he came to regard as his best work. But after a few weeks, John became disillusioned with the Maharishi, feeling that he was more concerned with fame and money than he was with enlightenment. He left in a hurry, angrily writing about the Maharishi in the song who’s name would later be changed to Sexy Sadie...’what have you done? You made a fool of everyone...’

  However, if anyone was making a fool of someone, John was the culprit, and Cynthia was the victim. A few weeks later, Cynthia arrived home from a holiday overseas to find Yoko in residence at her house with John, and it was immediately clear they had become lovers. Yet it was another four weeks before the general public found out that Yoko was now John’s official partner, to a general sense of shock and bewilderment.

  Paul, George and Ringo were equally bewildered when John started bringing Yoko to recording sessions. It had always been a firm rule that no outsiders were allowed to attend recording sessions, including wives and girlfriends. Despite George Martin’s reseverations, the sessions produced some great music, including the songs for the first single on the Apple label, Hey Jude and Revolution. The first of these had originaly been entitled, Hey Jules, written by Paul to Julian when he heard that John had separated from Cynthia.

  For the album itself, the sessions produced so much music that the only way to accommodate it all was to release a double album. George Martin fought against this, wishing to choose only the best songs and make one excellent record, rather than two average ones. But he was over-ruled, and the double disc The Beatles, generally known as The White Album, was born. But what this album shows more than anything else is a band reaching the end of the road, with Paul and John diverging in very different directions, never to meet again.

  Just as the album was being prepared for release, John and Yoko were raided by the police at home, and charged with the possession of cannabis. The circumstances around the raid were unusual, with hea
vy resources deployed to find cannabis in what John had believed to be a ‘clean’ apartment. A few years later, the police officer leading the raid was jailed for corruption. John agreed to a plea bargain where he pleaded guilty to possession in return for Yoko’s release without charge, this avoiding the risk of her being deported. It was a decision that would come back to haunt him in a few years time.

  The next day, John and Yoko’s first album, Two Virgins, was released to a very dubious public. Yoko had recently suffered a miscarriage, and so Cynthia was able to sue for divorce with Yoko as correspondent. She got custody of Julian, and accepted a pitiful financial settlement in order to avoid a lengthy legal battle.

  Having put his personal affairs in order, John was now under pressure to put his business affairs in order, too. The Beatles still had no official manager, and the Apple company was bleeding money heavily on a whole range of unmanaged and loss-making projects. Paul suggested bringing in his future father-in-law as business manager, but the others objected to Paul gaining more influence in the band and vetoed the idea. Instead, they proposed Alan Klein, who was already managing the Rolling Stones...but now it was Paul who had serious doubts.

  While they wrangled over business issues, they continued to record together, albeit with increasing acrimony. It was decided that the next album should be a simple recording with an almost live feel, and George Martin was brought over to the new studio at Apple headquarters to produce it. They temporarily acquired an extra Beatle in the shape of keyboard player Billy Preston, who they had originally met back in the Hamburg days. Apart from adding a new dimension to their sound, Billy’s presence help to combat the tensions within the band, with everyone acting on their best behaviour when the newcomer was in the studio.

  For the finale of the album, the band played a short but famous gig - their last ever live appearance - on the roof of the Apple building on a cold and dreary January day. Despite looking cold and windswept, the Beatles managed to capture some of the old magic, while onlookers in the streets of London looked up in amazement. But inevitably, they had only managed few songs before a contingent of policemen arrived on the roof to close down the disturbance. Two songs recorded in this session, Get Back and Don’t Let Me Down, were released as a single.

  Playing on the roof of the Apple building

  When both John and Yoko’s previous marriages had been dissolved, John was keen to marry Yoko as quickly as possible. They flew to Paris, believing they could arrange the ceremony there, but soon found that a wedding almost anywhere in Europe was impossible at such short notice. There was only one place where a ceremony could be arranged almost instantly, the British territory of Gibraltar. Arrangements were hastily made, then John and Yoko flew into for a brief one hour visit and an an even briefer wedding ceremony...then flew out again immediately to return to Paris. There they settled into the Presidential suite of the Hilton hotel, and commenced ‘bed in for peace’ that was destined to last a week.

  Having engaged the attention of the international press on a grand scale, the couple followed up this success with another PR stunt. In Vienna, they staged a Bag Event. The bemused media found John and Yoko hidden inside a sack. Back in London, John was soon back on the roof of the Apple building, this time to affirm his commitment to Yoko by officially changing his name to John Ono Lennon. With Ringo and George out of town, John temporarily called a truce with Paul to record The Ballad of John and Yoko, with Paul playing the drums and John playing lead guitar.

  Following the success of their first bed-in-for-peace, John and Yoko planned another one for the US. But en route to board the QE2 for the transatlantic voyage, he found that he had been denied a visa because of his drug conviction. Instead, they travelled to Canada, to make their protest from just across the US border. When a journalist asked John what they were trying to achieve, he said: ‘all we are saying, is give peace a chance.’ With some encouragement from Yoko, John turned this into a song soon afterwards. The press gathered around them at their hotel in Montreal, and on the final day Give Peace a Chance was recorded in their hotel room on an 8-track recorder, with a whole group of hangers on joining in with the singing. This proved to be the first incarnation of The Plastic Ono Band, a flexible group that became the vehicle for John and Yoko’s musical work.

  Bed-in for peace in Montreal

  For once, John began to miss his son Julian, who was now six years old. Back in England, he invited Julian to stay with him at weekends, and they began to rebuild something of a relationship. This took an unexpected turn when John decided to take Yoko, her daughter and Julian on a trip to Scotland to visit his relatives. They made it safely as far as the North of Scotland before John lost control of the wheel, and the car pitched into a roadside ditch. They all escaped with minor injuries, and a few days later, John was back in the studios at Abbey Road, ready to record the next album.

  After the acrimony which had marred their last recording sessions, the recording of what was to become the Abbey Road album was a pleasant surprise to all of the Beatles. Somehow, they all sensed that this would be their last album together - a glorious swansong that they would be remembered by forever. Consequently, they managed to recapture the magic, working together with George Martin in the way they had for so many years.

  ‘We all knew this was the end,’ George Martin said later. ‘There was an unspoken feeling of “Let’s make it the best we possibly can.” I’m sure that’s why John was so collaborative.’

  Indeed, John, Paul, George and Ringo all poured all of their energies into making their final recording a masterpiece, and they achieved their goal. They collaborated together in a way they hadn’t done for many years, and succeeded in producing a masterpiece that will live on as a classic end to the 1960s.

  The classic ‘Abbey Road’ album cover

  John and Yoko moved into a new mansion called Tittenhurst Park, near Ascot, to start the next chapter in their lives together. Unfortunately, this took a downward turn when John took an interest in heroin. Friends soon noticed that John was a shadow of his former self, as heroin addiction set in and threatened his future. But to his credit, when he realized that the drug could threaten his future child if Yoko became pregnant, he decided that the two of them should quit. The pains of the withdrawal process led to a new song Cold Turkey, which - after being rejected by Paul, George and Ringo - became the Plastic Ono Band’s second single.

  Chapter 8 - Beyond The Beatles

  Finally, John made the decision that he had been agonizing over for time. At a meeting in the Apple boardroom, he told the others that he was leaving the band. The days of the Beatles were over.

  ‘I started the band, I disbanded it. It’s as simple as that,’ John said later. ‘When I finally had the guts to tell the other three...they knew it was for real.’

  Officially, though, the band was still in one piece, because no-one wanted to damage the sales of Abbey Road. The album was released in September 1969 to great acclaim, shortly followed by the John and Yoko’s Wedding Album. The couple became involved in more and more peace projects, notably protesting against the Vietnam War. To mark his feelings, John returned his MBE to the Queen.

  As the 1960s rolled into the 1970s, John and Yoko launched themselves into a series of live performances, art projects and musical activities. George Harrison joined them onstage, along with other band members that included everyone from Eric Clapton to Klaus Voorman, their old Hamburg buddy. Instant Karma was released as a single, reaching number five in the UK, and number three in the US. In March, it was revealed that Yoko was pregnant.

  At this time, John took an interest in Primal Scream therapy, designed to help people rid themselves of the demons of their younger lives. For John, this was a chance to bury the hatchet with the problems that had dogged him throughout his life - the absence of his father in his life, being forced to leave his mother and live with Mimi, and the deaths of Julia, Stu and Brian.

  The recordings of the previous were finally
salvaged thanks to some superb production work by Phil Spector, and the final Beatles album Let It Be was released to become a number one hit on both sides of the Atlantic. At about the same time, the public finally realized that the Beatles had split, when Paul let the bombshell drop. John was philosophical about the breakup of the band that had been his life for a decade and a half.

  ‘It’s just natural. It’s not a great disaster. People keep talking about it as if it’s the end of the earth. It’s only a rock & roll group that’s split up. It’s nothing important.’

  ***

  Good news and bad news followed in October 1970. Yoko unfortunately miscarried her baby, but the album John Lennon/The Plastic Ono Band was released successfully. On the business side, John, George and Ringo found themselves on the receiving end of lawsuits by Paul, as the breakup of the band became acrimonious.

  John continued to write, with his output varying from vicious attacks on Paul to the sublime message of Imagine and Happy Christmas/War is Over. But growing tired of life in the dreary Britain of the early 1970s, he and Yoko moved to New York. From the very start, John enjoyed his new life in New York:

  ‘New York is at my speed...I like New Yorkers because they have no time for the niceties of life. They’re like me in this. They’re naturally aggressive. They don’t believe in wasting time.’

  After a short hotel stay, they moved to SoHo, where John loved the chaotic downtown life that he found there. More importantly, he found that for the first time in years, he could enjoy the freedom to walk the streets without being hounded by thousands of fans. Yes, there were always a few fans demanding autographs, but as John said ‘they don’t bug you.’