John Lennon and Yoko Ono with their children, Julian and Sean, on holiday at Durness, in Sutherland, Scotland _220
Though not himself hippie in appearance or attitude, Ken loved The Beatles’ music, especially Lennon’s Strawberry Fields Forever. During the interview, Yoko’s little daughter, Kyoko (from her previous marriage to the American jazz musician Anthony Cox) surprisingly announced her desire to wed John’s son, Julian, from his marriage to Cynthia Powell.
John discusses his life as a Beatle, the business contributions of their late manager Brian Epstein and then Alan Klein, his relations with George and Paul, both of whom he described as “complicated” people.
By then, Beatlemania had passed. Some fans disliked Yoko, feeling that her presence had heightened tensions in the group. John had also changed in ways that didn’t not appeal to the conservative minds in the popular press. He had become a thinker.
He revealed that each of The Beatles in 1969 was taking £50 a week out of their collective earnings. He predicted that all four Beatles would remain friends.
“John told me that he believed in life hereafter and in reincarnation, but he didn’t have any sort of dream of a physical heaven with lots of chocolates and pretty women in nightgowns playing on harps,” recalls Ken.
John was obviously taking the interview seriously. “I believe you can make heaven within your own mind,” he told Ken. “Heaven is within you, Christ said. I believe that. I am striving for perfection; the day you are satisfied is the day you end your career or you are dead.”
“I hope you never reach perfection,” Ken said to end the interview.
Ken was a little uncertain about why he kept keep the tapes for so long, saying that he had rediscovered them while rummaging for a car boot sale, but also acknowledging that their value had “matured enormously” with time. “I sat on it and it laid eggs,” he says.
The Beatles split up the following year. The Dream was over. John was murdered in New York 11 years after the interview, but he had given a reporter his vision of heaven. Now we can hear the words of that prophet.
