Customer Reviews

Loving John: The Untold Story

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To find out the real truth on how/why John Lennon started seeing May Pang and then lived with her for nearly 18 months and lastly how he completely broke with everything in his past including his music to reunite with Yoko, read May Pang's book 'Loving John' aka 'The lost Weekend'.

May Pang was a young woman who had been working for John Lennon's manager, Allan Klein, back in the early 1970's when she became a personal assistant for the couple and worked at Yoko Ono's direction. Then, one day, Yoko told her that "it was OK for her" to start seeing John as a lover because Yoko and John weren't getting along and that Yoko would rather John sleep with her than with someone she doesn't know. May was in her early twenties and was rather naive and had no intention of starting an affair with her employer's husband but John started to pursue her once Yoko gave him the green light.

What started as a casual fling blossomed into a full fledged relationship in which May lived with John for 14 months out of the 18 months that she was seeing John. Their time together included the famous "Lost Weekend" in Los Angeles while John recorded two albums, "Rock n Roll" and "Walls and Bridges" plus the hit singles with Elton John "Lucy in the sky with Diamonds" and "whatever gets you through the night".

During the short 18 months with May, John Lennon began to hook up and see his old pals such as Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr. George Harrison visited John for the last time while John was living with May.

The book is a wonderful account of May's 18 months with John, their relationship, the recording sessions, and the inevitable but tragic breakup in which John goes back to Yoko and breaks with everything in his life, including May and his music pals and his music, in order to go back to Yoko and become a "house husband" for nearly 5 years to help raise Sean.

Much has been publicized about how JOhn went back to Yoko, but her book tells the real story of how Yoko plotted to get John back and succeeded. Before John went back to Yoko, John and May had been living together in their own apartment in NYC and John had picked out a house he was planning on buying so that they could live together in their own house. Before May's breakup with John, John and May were planning on meeting up with Paul McCartney in New Orleans because May had renewed John's interest co-writing songs again with Paul.

You'll have to read the rest of the book to find out what happens. May writes in a "tell-all" style but if you are a fan of John Lennon and want to know the truth of how he really lived his life, read this book to get the most accurate accounting of the real John Lennon.

To believe or not to believe - well, the more you read on John's life the more disbelief befalls you. The Ray Coleman-Eliot Mintz book is nearly unreadable as it goes overboard often (i.e., many repeats of the "John was such a super macho guy" and the oft repeated "John and Yoko are artists", as though their positions were equal. Lennon's art changed the world, Yoko's got her slight notice). Also, the mild slighting of John's work with the Beatles and comparative building up of his solo output.
Here is the account of a woman who was put in a most ridiculous position. Yoko sends May off to be John's lover. First off, if this alone doesn't convince you who wore the pants and made the rules at the Dakota, nothing will. How did Lennon deal with that? Staying in bed getting stoned all day. Wasting time.
Well, John obeys, May ends up in love with John, and it sounds as though the feelings were mutual.
Oh, and by the way, during this period with May oddly called "The Lost Weekend", John manages to record some fine albums (May assisting), make the charts, and start to see his old friends again (nearly meeting up with McCartney for the recording of Venus And Mars), something he didn't or couldn't or wouldn't (because of his depressive stupor/drug use/and dare I say Yoko's will) do during the preceeding period at the Dakota. "Lost Weekend?" Sounds more like "The Productive Weekend".
May was an enabling cure for what ailed Lennon at the time, mainly fear and loathing of his life at the Dakota, it would seem. He was quite busy during their time together. Yes, he got drunk and stupid, but he was suddenly let out of his repressive cage. He got drunk and stupid before and during the Beatles. He got stoned and stupid at the Dakota.
The drunkeness and stupidity are a small, but focused upon fragment of the John and May story. The fact that May continued in the music biz attests that she was at least a small catalyst for Lennon to resume his art. It is she whispering John's name on the recording "#9 Dream".
Anyway, seems the folks at JohnandYoko, Inc. have continually done their best to demean May's account of what happened when she and John were a couple. That's another point in favor of the feeling this book is true, otherwise they'd have nothing to fear.
Word is John continued to pine for May up until the end of his life. It doesn't seem unlikely, for during the time he spent with May, it seems he was allowed to be, or at least not prevented from being John Lennon.
Hats off to Ms. Pang for taking all the crap from the promoters and believers of the "official" manufactured JohnandYoko myth.
I found nothing unbelievable in or about this book. Why does it upset people so?
A question for you all - if John had had access to the internet at he time, do you believe we'd still be reading the same "Official" stories?

I like Yoko's early albums.I think she was a great artist at one time. But if what May Pang says in this book is factual, then Yoko Ono truly was a sick woman. Totally controlling, and totally after John Lennons money. After reading this book, I just wished John had stayed with May Pang. Who knows, things might have turned out a whole lot differently if he had.
Fascinating read for a Lennon fan.

I've always been a Beatles fan and John was always my favorite. Reading this book though was definitely eye opening and I discovered how human John and Yoko really were. May Pang was so young and naive. She really put up with more than she should have. Here, she tells of the good times but also of times that she endured abuse from a drunken Lennon and a total lack of compassion from Yoko.

May did a great job telling her story. I hope she made some money with her books. It was disturbing that after being a great "employee" and doing what Yoko wanted, she was, in the end, tossed aside like a worn out pair of shoes. John and Yoko made no effort to look out for May or even make sure she had the means to pay for an apartment or eat.

This book also gives some interesting details about other well known people like Phil Spector, Mick Jagger, Harry Nilsson and many others. I enjoyed the read and would definitely recommend it to other rock and roll fans.

I wasn't aware of May Pang's contribution to the Lennon tale until recently, after having read about her newly released collection of photos titled "Instamatic Karma". So it was mostly by accident, searching for other books that she may have written, that I discovered a pricey used hardcover of her 1983 book, "Loving John". I don't feel that I need to recap all the storyline that's been discussed above, but I have to say - this book hit me hard. May Pang appears as a level-headed island of love and stability for John, despite being pressured into the most awkward of awkward situations by a scheming Yoko who was fighting a rearguard action to hold on to what was left of their marriage. Yoko's solution? Rather than risk losing John to an unknown future female, she sets him up with a naïve young office assistant that she hopes to be able to use as a tool. And if this doesn't seem creepy enough, it's just scratching the surface when you read more about the wheels-within-wheels logic of psychological manipulation that, unlike art, is Yoko's true calling. Yoko is to John Lennon what Dr. Eugene Landy was to Brian Wilson - and May, bless her soul, took part in a foolish game indeed - while revealing much about John as a good-intentioned, but flawed and frail human being. Excellent stories involving all the players of the day, including ex-Beatles, ex-wives, various progeny, Phil Spector and Elton John.

The over-riding tone of the book is one of honesty. To write a book that reveals the author's own weaknesses and occasional moral double standards is commendable and lends credibility to her writings about the main topic of interest: Lennon. This book gives much insight into the man's personality away from the limelight, his fears and insecurities, and the seemingly unhealthy relationship he had with Yoko Ono.

For musos, there are interesting descriptions of his recording sessions and other musical collaborations, including those with Paul McCartney.

Highly recommended.

This book was released in 1983 or so. That is important because Pang is reflecting on a period of time 8 or 9 years prior, not as if it was written today 25+ years ago, so her memory is still fresh.
It deals with John Lennon and herself (May Pang) when John was sent into 'exile' by Yoko. Pang was supposedly chosen by Ono to accompany John and keep Yoko informed of things. The book deals on two fronts, one being John and Mays life in LA and NY making the "Rock and Roll" album with Phil Spector and the "Walls and Bridges" albums with Elton John and others, the other details Yokos attempt to be a solo artist without John and her launching the disasterous tour of Japan she did.
The book is filled with interesting stories and insights from Pangs point of view, and she really does hold your interest when talking about how John interacted with other musicians like Mick Jagger, Harry Nilson, and even Paul McCartney. She loses it with her repeated telling of how often John said he was in love with her, and her painting of Yoko as 'evil' in her actions. Now both of those may be true, but its written about in excess. I enjoyed the book and found it more interesting than a lot of the new multi-paged Lennon biographies that have been flooding the market lately. I think its a book most John Lennon fans should read, as this was an important time in his life and Pang was there.

For all those people who have puzzled over the famous Annie Leibovitz "Rolling Stone" photograph of a nude John Lennon in fetal position lying on the sofa and snuggling with a fully-clothed and very bored looking Yoko, this book will answer your questions about this haunting portrait, which was taken the afternoon of Lennon's murder on Dec. 8, l980. The portrait of Lennon apparently clinging to and kissing a stone-faced Yoko was reported by Leibovitz to have pleased both Yoko and John. John said to Annie, "You've captured our relationship exactly. Promise me it'll be on the cover." John was dead five hours later. The photo session was never completed but the test Polariod picture did appear on magazine covers all over the world.
This book by May Pang, the girlfriend/mistress Yoko chose for her husband doesn't directly discuss the above described portrait because May wasn't present at the time of it's creation, but her book indirectly answers all the questions viewing the picture raises.
It's amazing this story of their ten years together, which Pang originally joked with John about and called "Pang Remembers" was ever written and published. "John suddenly sounded very happy. I had been kidding him, but I realized he liked the idea of my speaking out. It was just like John. He would have liked to have me relieve him of the responsibility of telling the truth." John almost never told the truth. He said what Yoko told him to say even if it didn't make an iota of sense.
Yoko was Japanese. In her culture "I knew it was a tradition in Japan for wives of the upper class to understand the need of their husbands to have a mistress. In Japan often the wife and mistress were friends. I was not a Japanese mistress, however and the arrangement did make me uncomfortable and embarrassed."
Yoko pushed both John and May into a relationship. She had been working as their personal assistant for several years anyway. Yoko felt that since she and John were "not getting along and had been arguing and growing apart" that Yoko felt that she'd "rather see him going out with you (May) than with someone else, someone who might hurt him." Yoko probably also knew May wouldn't want to trap John by becoming pregnant even though John thought he was sterile from taking too many drugs over the years. He was apparently wrong because Yoko became pregnant with Sean after John and she were reunited.
Oddly enough once the relationship began after hours, Yoko permanently stopped May's salary for the long hours she continued to work taking care of business for both John and Yoko.Yoko also made certain that John never had any petty cash to spend.
This memoir is filled with important insights into the life of both John and Yoko. It will disappoint many of John's loyal fans, but it all fits together and the relationship is documented with photographs and accounts of witnesses. The material is incredible. A couple of unplanned Jam sessions are mentioned. As of the publication of this memoir neither tape had been released. The first jam session was the "Lennon-Jagger 'Too Many Cooks.'" The second "tape of 'Midnight Special'--the one and only time John and Paul, backed by Stevie Wonder and Harry Nilsson, played together after the breakup of the Beatles--still exists." Have those tapes been released to the public yet? This reviewer is not an expert so I don't know, but the readers may indeed know?
John kept a note pad next to his bed and often woke up at night to write down some notes or lyrics that came to him while he slept. He was always excited in the morning when he read what he'd written on the pad. In one case, John woke up and discovered he'd written an entire song that he loved. Writing songs was apparently a complete joy for John as was recording his music. John made the writing seem effortless.
This memoir contains some unbelievable material, but material that makes perfect sense in hindsight. It proves the folklore wisdom that "truth is stranger than fiction."
It's definitely a page-turner and is easy to read. It shows how Yoko was the traditional Japanese Puppet Master who stood in plain sight so she could bask in the fame of her puppets.
(For people who may not want to read a 336-page memoir on this subject, check out a more recent "Cliff Notes-like" version. May's Lennon photographs and captions book is called "Instamatic Karma". Please read my review of that 2008 book at the Amazon Listing Site for the book.)

Thoroughly entertaining, I didn't want the book to end. May Pang was right when she said a psychiatrist could have a field day with the relationship between John, Yoko, and May. May comes out sounding like the sanest one, followed by John, with Yoko trailing far, far behind.

I didn't find much insight into John and Yoko, or men and women, or militant feminists and cowardly, confused, complicated musical geniuses.
The real value is for the fan-historian who can enthuse over countless backstories involving all the names we saw on John Lennon's album liner notes. Great stuff on the "Rock and Roll" album insanity.
Along with that, we find some of the best black and white photography ever on JL, and from that "dark" period.