Beatles Rumors Ended!
KRLA Beat Magazine
April 14, 1965
Derek: John Lennon,
in dark glasses, white trousers, blue Plimsolis, black socks, lilac shirt and
multi-colored jacket. Lovely to see you
again, John, after about 3 months.
John: Good to see
you, Derek, in your grey shirt, blue tie, grey trousers and tweedy thing.
Derek: How many songs
have you written for the film, John?
John: Altogether we’ve
written fourteen but only seven will be in the film, Derek.
Derek: could I have a
few titles?
John: Uh, no.
Derek: Why?
John: Because they don’t’
like giving title out until they’re published.
People might write songs with the same title and confuse the market.
Derek: How many songs
were there in “A Hard Day’s Night,” how many originals?
John: I can’t
remember. They were all originals.
Derek: What I mean by
originals was how many were created especially for the film?
John: Oh, I don’t
know how many of them were --Say eight out of ten., if it was ten. But all of these are for the film in this
one.
Derek: Are you taking
the same plans to introduce the songs naturally as part of the plot?
John: I think it’s
very easy in this film. A lot of them
are going to be behind-the-scenes, like the running the in the field in “Hard
Day’s night.”
Derek: Sort of
background music?
John: Yeah, and a lot
of them are going to be just potty. We’ve
done a lot of mad stuff.
Derek: The script,
which I had a look at this morning, looks rather eccentric. The end of the operation, I pressure is to
get a different sort of film from “Hard Day’s Night.”
John: Yeah and we’ve
done it, haven’t we?
Derek: Well, from the
look at the set you have—sitting on the beach in holes in the sand and people
in khaki uniforms, red sashes and red turbans---some of them carrying guns and
some of them carrying shovels. Over by
the water’s edge Leo McKern, the British actor, is standing looking like a
Polynesian high priest. The whole scene
is pretty wild. John hasn’t’ been doing
too much this morning. I presume you
got up later than Ringo?
John: Ringo got up
about 7:00, I got up at about 9:00, which is late for a film. It’s early for me.
Derek: How do you
come to terms with getting up so early when normally you are late risers and
late to bed?
John: Well, we just
go to bed about 12:00 every night. We go
out at 6:00 and pretend it’s 11:00 and night, and come in at 12:00, you see.
Derek: Are you
finding it fairly easy to move around in the Bahamas?
John: Oh yeah, it’s
not bad at all. Just the usual
tourists. Aside from that it’s not bad.
Derek: Did you have a
big send-off at London Airport?
John: Yes. It was very big because it was a half day for
the schools. There were about eight or
ten thousand there. It was like the
crowd we had when we got back from America.
It was very good.
Derek: That’s
probably the biggest send off. Well you have had huge crowds going in. Normally you don’t get a big crowd to see you
out.
John: No, that’s
right. That’s probably the biggest
send-off we’ve had.
Derek: The
Beatlemania level in England, if you forgive the phrase, I know you don’t like
the phrase, is still pretty high. It’s
very high in America, too.
John: Good.
Derek: When are you
due back in America?
John: I think it’s
about the autumn or fall, as they call it, I think.
Derek: There are a
few other things I would like to talk to you about, John. Like killing a few rumors. Is it still true that you have only one
child?
John: I have the only
one child and none on the way.
Derek: There are an
awful lot of rumors about you having been in Hollywood recently, with Cyn, and
that wasn’t true either?
John: No, I haven’t been in America seen we were last
there.
Derek: When you leave
here where will you be going?
John: To England for
two days and then to Austria for a week, and then back to England for the rest
of the film.
Derek: That you very
much, John. I’ll turn you over to Dave
now.
Dave: How are you John?
John: Fine, Dave, how
are you?
Dave: How’s Cynthia?
John: She’s great.
Dave: Good,
good. How do you like the weather down
here? I understand you’re not too happy
with it.
John: It’s too humid
for me. It’s not bad. It’s better than rain, I suppose.
Dave: The weather’s
quite different back in England right now.
Rather grey, isn’t it?
John: I think they’re
having a bit of snow here and there.
Dave: What about the
movie. How do you feel about it compared
to “Hard Day’s Night.” Is it somewhat
the same for you? Are you having less
work to do?
John: So far we’ve
had less to do but it’s only in the first week.
But you know, it’s okay.
Dave: What about your
part in “Hard Day’s Night.” You know a
lot of it was spontaneous. The part in
the bathtub, you recall you talked to me last time…are you doing the same here
or are you sticking to the script?
John: We’re sticking
to the script until there’s an opportunity of, you know, going away form
it. We’ve done a bit that has nothing to
do with the script. Filmed little bits
that the director thought might come in handy for something or other. Whenever a situation arises we do it.
Dave: Are you
thinking of a great deal of things yourself, John?
John: Well, we’ve
hardly done anything on it. It’s mainly
been people chasing Ringo. So far we
haven’t done much at all.
Dave: What about your
new book? “A Spaniard in the Works” is
the title. It’s being published by whom?
John: Simon &
Schuster, I presume.
Dave: They’re the
ones who published your other one. Is it
almost the same as your other one?
John: Well, it’s
pretty similar, yeah. Better, I think, because
it’s developed a bit bigger. The
drawings are better and it’s longer…there’s more of it.
Dave: Well that’s
good. I know it will make your fans
happy. Your other one was a very
successful book. Is this one done on
short stories again?
John: Yeah, but the
stories…but there are none that are really short. They’re all about four or five pages long.
Dave: Are these new
stories or are they ones you did a long time ago?
John: They’re brand
new.
Dave: The title is “A
Spaniard in the Works.” Now, you’ve made
a play off the word spanner.
John: Spanner is a
wrench in America. When you “put a
spanner in the works” you louse everything up.
In America you say “put a wrench in the works.”
Dave: Yes, toss a
wrench in the works. How do you use the
play off words for the title of the book?
John: It’s the title
of one of the stories about a Spaniard, who gets a job in Scotland, that’s
all. I thought everybody knew the
expression. I didn’t know they had a
different expression in America.
Dave: Well, we
do. Usually we say, “don’t throw a
monkey wrench in the works,” or “don’t throw a monkey wrench in the machine.” But now we understand. You use “a spanner” and “a Spaniard “to play
off words. It’s very clever.
John: Thank you.
Dave: What about
sales? The book is published?
John: No, it’s not
published yet. Won’t come out for
another month, I don’t think. It’s finished
and everything’s done. They’re just
putting it together in the publishers.
Dave: Did Paul get a
chance to write the front?
John: There’s no introduction
on this one. They’re thinking of putting
the same introduction again exactly.
They thought it didn’t need one this time or they didn’t want one. There were enough page as it was.
Dave: What about the
people here? Have you have many problems
getting around the Bahamas?
John: No, it’s not
bad at all. There are not many people
here.
Dave: What about your
night life. Are you enjoying any night
life here?
John: We’ve been to a
couple of places. They clubs aren’t sort
of wild. We wouldn’t bother normally
with them but they’re the only places to go so we have to go to them.
Dave: You and Paul
and George are more or less protectors during the movie. You’re trying to keep him from being chased by these different people?
John: He comes in
possession of this ring and whoever wears it has to be sacrificed by this big
mod that Derek described before, and we’re trying to save him and get this ring
off his finger. They’re other people trying
to get it off for various reasons. It’s
very complicated. Basically what it is
is to stop him getting sacrificed.
Dave: John, there’s
been a controversy in the States concerning one tune out of your recent “Beatles
for Sale” album. The tune was also on
the “Beatles ‘65” album released in the States.
Most magazines say that it’s Paul doing the tune “Rock n Roll music” and
I’ve continued to say it’s you. Will you
please straighten this out for us once and for all?
John: It’s definitely
me. There’s only one voice on it and it’s
me. On the British album, you see, they
explain who sings what exactly, and who sings the harmony. They
seem to miss it off in the American one, which is silly. It saves all the messing. I heard one on the radio last night who said
George was singing and it was me and Paul.
There were about eight voices on it and it’s all me and Paul. It’s mad.
They should print it on the album like they do in England and there
wouldn’t be any messing.
Dave: On these trips
that take you away from your family don’t you miss Cynthia and Julian a great
deal?
John: Yeah, I miss
them like mad. I was going to bring them
out here but they’d just be hanging around all the time because that’s all
there is.
Dave: You kept your
son out of the press. Has that been your
own doing or is it that the press is not really interested in your son?
John: I don’t’
know. They want pictures, I suppose, but
I’m…you know…he’s going to have enough problems as it is being my son without
getting pictures in when he’s a kid. I
don’t like family pictures anyway.
Dave: When you go
away for any length of time and return, do you find he’s developed new traits
that you weren’t aware of before?
John: Oh yeah, they
change all the time at that age. He’s
only two. Mainly new words he’s
learned. Quite good fun to see what he’s
learned.
Dave: You made a
statement that I understand was more a put-on than anything else. I thought at the time it was a John Lennon
put on, but most of the American press are not aware of your talent of kidding
and that was when at the marriage of Ringo and Maureen when you and your wife
drove up in your Rolls Royce, and you said that George had driven over on his
bicycle. You were putting on the world,
weren’t you?
John: Yeah. Did that get around? I didn’t know.
Dave: Yes, it made
press all across the nation. Everybody
was saying, “which was the Beatles who arrived on a bicycle?” but he really didn’t, did he?
John: No. It was just a joke. He came with me in the Rolls. We just said it to a friend of ours,
Maureen
Cleve, on the phone and we thought she’d know.
But it was so early in the morning that she probably didn’t think. She just wrote it down. I forgot to apologize to her, but it’s got around
the world.
Dave: Well it was a
surprise to everyone, Ringo’s marriage.
I know it wasn’t a surprise to the Beatles because I knew for some time
he’s been very much in love with her.
How long as it before they really got married did they plan on it? Actually the marriage date?
John: I haven’t a
clue. I knew there was something in the air
but I went on holiday so I was way out of touch. Nobody was in touch. And I just got back and they suddenly said
the date is in two days’ time. I said,
right. It was quite a shock to us, too
because we knew he was going to get married but not exactly when.
Dave: your last
holiday was spent were?
John: St. Moritz,
Switzerland, skiing.
Dave: the fact of the
matter is, I saw a picture of you sitting down in the snow. You had fallen while skiing. Did you take your wife? And Julian?
John: I didn’t take
Julian because he’s too young to learn to ski.
They learn about four. I’ll take
him about four. I took my wife. It was great.
Dave: Was it publicity
set up or did you really fall down?
John: Well I fell
down a few times but that actual photograph I couldn’t fall over. When they waited for the fall, I kept doing
it right, so the ski instructor told me I had to downhill and fall over as
well. So I did fall over. I did fall over a lot. Obviously everybody does.
Dave: Are you really
a good skier? An average skier? How do you rate yourself?
John: Well, both my
wife and I did well because we had a private instructor, you see. The people who were in big classes were doing
the same stuff at the end of two or three weeks. And we were going down from the tops, so I
suppose we were above average. It takes
a long time if you’re in a big class of forty.
They can’t teach you properly.
Dave: Well, I don’t’
want to bug you anymore. I know you ‘d like
to relax for a second. Thank you so
much, John.
John: Good to see you
again, Dave.
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