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All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono

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Actually I have the original version of this book, The Playboy Interviews, but since I'm an avid collector of "all things Lennon" I'll probably buy this newer version as well. But man! What a great read this book is! I learned so much about John here in his own words. Do people remember when he was shot, and the current issue of Playboy had just come out with the John & Yoko interview? Man, I clutched that thing like a bible in those sad sad days of December 1980. That interview turned out to be just a portion of the whole interview, and now that is published in this book. A cautionary note: reading this book can re-awaken your love and feelings for John and the Beatles, and this can lead to some pretty serious melancholia. Twenty-plus years later! I still ponder the what-ifs of it all, if John had been allowed to live - for instance, how would that Beatles Anthology thing on Tee Vee had been with a living John? And would there have ever been a Beatles reunion? ( I doubt it.) Not to mention how the politics of the Reagan-80s if John had been there to help out! Anyway, buy this book. It is still very valid and even timeless in its depth and scope.

My favorite Lennon quote comes not from this book, but from the Beatle's set during the Royal Variety Performance for the British Royal Family in 1963: "Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelry." I love that, though I've been told you need to be raised in the British class-consciousness to fully appreciate the insolence of that.


I grabbed this book just out of curiosity, as a Beatles fan and a Lennon fan in particular. I read in a review that Lennon goes through the whole catalog of Beatles songs and comments on them. I thought that would be interesting to read. Yoko Ono was the least of my concerns, but they were and are a package deal. I bought into the popular cultural conception of Yoko as the villainess who broke up the Beatles. So the first thing that struck me, reading these interviews, is what an intelligent, sympathetic, and likeable figure she is, when heard in her own words, in the comforts of her home base. And the two of them together actually seem like a nice, well-matched couple, decent people who- against the odds- had found contentment amid the surreal circumstances of their lives. No doubt that they are eccentric in some ways, and some of their philosophizing has that post-Hippie, flaky, dated feel, as you might expect. They are artists after all. But at the same time, they surprised me at times at how level-headed they came off. Despite the near deification of the Beatles, it is John who continuously reminds us that they were just a rock and roll band that was in the right place at the right time and wrote some good songs. And they are able to honestly talk about the strain on their relationship caused by their celebrity. With all the typical defiant talk about letting people think whatever they are going to think, Yoko admits to the heartache of bad press: "It's a very strange thing that society can do that much to a relationship, but it does because we're social animals. We're social beings. A relationship is not isolated from society." "Society can break an individual. That is what happened." John, too, often displays the vulnerability buried within the armor of the iconoclast: "We're both sensitive people and we were both hurt by a lot of it." Enough time has passed for them to analyze the hostility garnered by Yoko, as a woman, when she began managing John's business affairs. John talks about the attitude towards Yoko at these meetings where she was the only woman, "They're all male, you know, just big and fat, vodka lunch, shouting males, like trained dogs, trained to attack all the time." Yoko is wonderful, chiming in with "I was emasculated." Then launching into her formulation of male aggressiveness, "you must have the womb-envy thing," she speculates. Men are aggressive to mask their intimidation and jealousy. After all, she notes, "we give life."

The most valuable part of this book, in which John systematically goes through almost every Beatles and solo Lennon song, is a concession John granted after blowing Playboy's scoop by giving an interview to Newsweek magazine. We get John's feelings about each of the songs as well as the memories triggered by them, what was going on in that period of his life and how they were written. Though John continues with the superficial model of `John songs' and `Paul songs,' we see that the truth is more complicated, they wrote the best of the Beatles "one-on-one, eyeball to eyeball... both playing into each other's noses." We see why they were great together (and why George and Ringo are two very lucky men to have been along for the ride) and why neither of them, as solo musicians, could produce songs that measure up well to the Beatles. There are several examples of the two of them contributing little touches to each others songs, the little shadings that profoundly deepen the work. Without Paul, John was mostly a writer of catchy tunes, superficial fluff with great hooks. Some of Paul's solo works come close to the best of the Beatles, but for the most part, he was missing the nuances- the melodies and tenderness- of Paul's sound. A song like "Michele" is a perfect example. Paul wrote a pretty little love ballad. John heard it shortly after hearing Nina Simone sing the blues, and he suggested the bluesy "I love you, I love you, I love you," bridge. Paul writes "It's getting better all the time," and John adds "it couldn't get much worse." Paul writes "We can work it out" and John adds "Life is very short..." Or conversely, John writes about "A Day in the Life," about a man violently killing himself, and Paul adds the sweetest little lick to ever float into a song from nowhere: "I'd love to turn you on." And so on. I particularly recommend this section as a morning commute read, riding the train with Ipod in hand, keeping the songs in your ears as you read John's analysis of them.

Of course, one can't read these interviews without being constantly reminded that John was assassinated just months afterwards. It gave me chills to read some of John's philosophizing in that light, "Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King are great examples of fantastic nonviolents who died violently. I can never work that out. We're pacifists, but I'm not sure what it means when you're such a pacifist that you get shot."

And the heartbreak is palpable when reading of the pride John took in stepping out of the action and becoming a full time father to Sean. "Here we are: I'm going to be forty, Sean's going to be five. Isn't it great! We survived!"

John Lennon gave two interviews in particular that were extraordinary for their length, depth, and honesty. One was his famous "Lennon Remembers" interviews with Rolling Stone in 1970, and the other was this one, shortly before his death in 1980. Lennon was a complex man, and it is interesting to compare his attitudes among the two milestone interviews. Yet this one (conducted over several days) stands alone for its insights into Lennon's personal life, his relationship with Yoko, his philosophising, and his song-by-song discussion of his work, both with the Beatles and afterwards. It offers an unprecedented glimpse into his mindset and outlook at the time of his death, filled with the usual engaging Lennon wit and wisdom. Lennon comes across not just as a vital source of information about his own life and career but as an interesting conversationalist, period. We are also treated to Sheff's brief glimpses of Lennon and Ono at work on their "Double Fantasy" album. This book is an important document for anyone interested in the man or his music.

Drew Barrymore, who is not someone I'd particularly credit with a great deal of intelligence, said something a few months ago in Rolling Stone that I think is close to profound. She said that if you have a question for the universe, put it out there and a John Lennon song will answer you back. As we all know, this is true, and if you ever need reminding, here's the book that will do it. It's the real insider's scoop - during these interviews you get the feeling that Lennon was really trying to set the record straight on quite a few things: and not by making nice all the time, either. Just by being frank and honest and egoless about his life.

Here is a man who went through a lot of heartbreak and withstood it. Not only did he survive - he survived it without a lot of baggage. He came out the other end happy, and these interviews let you in on how he did it. Inevitably sad, since we know what's about to hit him, this book is ultimately very inspiring.

John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono give an excellent interview by pulling out all stops. Sheff's interview in "Playboy" with the pair is a vital oral history about the former Beatle's life and his insight on each Beatle song. Sheff takes readers on a Magical Mystery Tour through the recording studio; the Dakota and in and around the neighborhood. The interview is candid and direct; readers are given a clear look of and at John and Yoko.

John is shown, warts and all in real, living color. He is not glamorized nor vilified; he is presented as the man that he was. John Lennon was many things to many people; Sixties icon; musician extraordinaire; artist; spouse; father; author; actor; joker; interviewee; "militant pacifist," an oxymoronic term. John was a very complex man and this Rubik's cube of a book puts the pieces together in such a way that readers can readily assemble their image of John Lennon.

John makes no bones abut the Beatles being part of his past; he appears to want to move further down the Long & Winding Road without further Hard Day's Nights in re his Beatle history. It was also interesting to learn what groups and artists John liked and how he felt they influenced him.

Hats off to Sheff for introducing readers to each person in the interview. If there is one literary pitfall to avoid, it is never, repeat, never spring characters or real people onto readers without introducing them. That weakens a work and Sheff is quite adept at dodging this trap.

John appeared to be moving at a quicker pace in this interview; whereas Sheff wanted to discuss the Beatles more in depth, John gave one word answers to Beatle related questions and seemed eager to discuss his 1980 album, "Double Fantasy" as well as works he was planning after that.

This is a bittersweet book for Beatle and Lennon fans because of John's untimely death in late 1980. Even so, the book remains an excellent source of information about the man who founded the World's Number One Band, the Beatles and the man who made the world listen.

Listen to John Lennon.

This is not a literary classic,and I normaly do not read books about celebraties, but this paperback is just great. John Lennon goes through many of the Beatle songs and lets you know who did what, and what he thought about each song. Many little story's, and some verbal feedback on his solo album's. I cannot say I have/had a favorite Beatle, I liked all four of them and this book is just like sitting down with a Beatle and discussing the old days. It's not a Bio discussing the dark side of a rocker, or a sunny picture of a celebratie. It's just a Beatle on The Beatles. For a baby-boomer like myself it is pure nostalgia. It also re-kindles the old depressing feelings I had when he was murdered back in 1980, and I wonder why anyone would kill a Beatle.

Right before his death in 1980, John Lennon gave his most open and candid interviews. In 1980, Lennon was out of the public limelight for 5 years, was happily married, had a son, and his comeback album Double Fantasy was selling well. Previous interviews were usually marred by his overhwelming sense of anger, cynicusm anbd political activism that almost got him deported in the early 70s. With that behind him, Lennon was ready to move forward with life, and candidly talked about his troubled youth, his inspiration from rock and roll, his time with the Beatles, his solo career, Yoko, and his plans for the future. You read htis and think "oh how nice, he has finally found himself, and he's finally happy," but then unfortunately you feel sad at the same time, considering the events that happened right after these interviews. It's very sad and a letdown because he was so optimistic with quotes like "and I'll continue to do what I'm doing until I'm dead which hopefully won't be for a very long time."

Even though his bliss was tragically cut short, these interviews with John Lennon serve as a good epitaph of his life, and even serve him better than most of his uneven solo career.

Indeed, All We Are Saying: The Last Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono pulls out the punches. The book shows how far former Beatle, John Lennon, had come and where he was headed. David Sheff's "Playboy" interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono is the most fascinating piece of oral history about Lennon's life as well as the story behind every Beatle song. Sheff intimately takes reader through the studio, John and Yoko's Dakota apartment, and down the neighborhood coffeeshop sharing a cappuccino. All We Are Saying presents an extremely candid and frank interview that was held two months prior to Lennon's passing. Sheff reveals Lennon's growth and new beginning that would unfortunately be cut short.

All We Are Saying does not lack in humor and seriousness. This was the man, not the Sixties icon who sang against a "Revolution," who still had dreams and aspirations to accomplish at the time the interview was conducted. For fans of Lennon as well as the Beatles, this was Lennon stripped down and open for questions, and he merely tells it like it is or was. He expresses the breakup of the Beatles, and emphasizes that they were great, but they were in the past. He talks about the ups and downs of his individual experience from being a heroin addict to a househusband. He was living in the here and now, and the music that he was making at the time reflected that mantra. Though the references he made about the music scene now appear dated, Lennon was ahead of his game and kept up with bands, such as the Clash, Pretenders, and the B-52's. He even raves how the B-52's rip-off Yoko's style of music.

Sheff writes the interview in clear and picturesque narrative. For every new chapter, he introduces the reader to where the interview is going. However, the concluding portions of the book appear too rushed. Sheff appears to have wanted to discuss or at least learn about every tidbit about each Beatles song, which almost portrayed a to-do list, and at times it appears as if he did not want to run out of tape. From the transcript of the interview, Lennon appears too tired to talk about each and every Beatle song as he answers with yes and no answers. For the most part, Lennon wanted to speak about his new album at the time, "Double Fantasy", and new projects he was planning.

All We Are Saying is an important document of the life of John Lennon. For Beatle and Lennon fans, the book is quite ironic and sad due to the circumstance, but that should not stop any one from learning more about one of the most legendary artists of the twentieth century.

John Lennon gave only two lengthy, in-depth interviews in his life. The first was in 1970 to Rolling Stone magazine and his final interview was given in 1980 to Playboy, which is reproduced here. Both are instructive to read, especially when you contrast their tone and content. The Lennon in the 1970 Rolling Stone interview had just left the Beatles and was trying desperately to convince the interviewer and the public that it just didn't bloody matter. Though history has shown Lennon emerged from the Beatles break-up much more undamaged emotionally than McCartney, the dissolution of his band was bound to leave some scars. John puts up a bit of a front here and I fear he doth protest too much, especially when he says he can't remember much about the Beatles and didn't think they were that great of a band to begin with.

In 1980, John was coming out of his self-imposed "house husband" exile and had recorded his first record in five years. The most interesting chapters of the interview are undoubtedly his thoughts about the Beatles and his individual bandmates. Whereas in 1970, John claimed Lennon and McCartney rarely collaborated on a song post-1964, he corrects this in these '80 recollections. He tells some wonderful stories about Ringo and how he helped George with the lyrics to Taxman in 1966. He also talks about how hurt he was when George omitted reference to him in his memoirs.

These interviews should be an integral part of any Lennon collection and makes for some excellent reading. Whether you've grown up on Lennon or are new to him, this is an indispensable tool in trying to understand his mindset just before he was senselessly murdered by Mark David Chapman on the sidewalk in front of the Dakota. What a terribly dark day that was.

Search "The PLAYBOY Interviews w/ John Lennon and Yoko Ono" by David Sheff - it's the same exact book (minus the new foreward) and it's selling for a lot less!