Q: I’d like to ask you about the Apple Foundation for the Arts.John Lennon: It’s not for the arts! Who slipped that one on?
Paul McCartney: It’s an easy way to make a film. Say that somebody wants to make a film like Andy Warhol did on the Empire State Building. Most people wouldn’t want to finance it because it wouldn’t be commercial. Well, if you finance it through a foundation, it doesn’t have to be commercial. That’s all it is.
Q: Are you giving away some sort of Beatles scholarships?
Paul McCartney: Yeah, but don’t put it that way! It sounds terrible! We’re just giving them away.
John Lennon: We’ll see what happens.
Paul McCartney: Well, if we give one away to someone, it will be commercial in a way, too. Because, later, that someone will do another film, for us!
Q: Will Apple also be grooming new talent?
John Lennon: We hope so. Groups, actors, anything.
Q: Will you open a school in London?
Paul McCartney: Well, that’s an idea. All we’ve got to do now is to get it set up on its feet. Then, what follows will be a natural progression.
Q: Do you plan to have scouts or representatives go out and look for new groups?
John Lennon: We’ll have to find out how you do it, or how you meant to do it, and if that’s the way you should do it. Then, we’ll find out.
Paul McCartney: So, leave your tapes at the door as you go out!
Q: Is it possible that Apple can do anything about what’s happening in radio?
John Lennon: British radio, huh?
Q: Radio.
John Lennon: Radio, yes.
Paul McCartney: That’s worse!
John Lennon: Radio’s worth looking into, you know. There’s a lot of things to do.
Paul McCartney: At the moment, you know, we do the four things. It hasn’t gone into radio yet, but it might.
Q: Are your records still banned in South Africa?
John Lennon: I believe so. Well, I mean, what do you think of South Africa?
Q: John, do you plan to write any more books?
John Lennon: I’m not planning on it, but I do have bits of paper with words on them.
Q: Do the individual members of the group have specific areas of interest in Apple?
John Lennon: Well, it might develop that way. There’s nothing planned.
Q: Will it be difficult to follow up Sgt Pepper with something better?
Paul McCartney: Yes, it will be difficult all right!
John Lennon: But no more difficult than it was to do.
Paul McCartney: Oh, it’ll be all right, the next one. Don’t worry.
Q: When will the next record be?
Paul McCartney: I don’t know.
John Lennon: We start it when we get back.
Q: How would you describe your mental state right now?
John Lennon: It depends on what you’re relating it to.
Paul McCartney: Relaxed.
Q: Where are you planning to build your new recording studio?
John Lennon: It’ll be in the dungeons of our office.
Q: Who’s designing it?
John Lennon: Alex, from the electronics division.
Q: How many tracks will there be? Eight or 12?
John Lennon: Oh, millions. Millions. One track for each finger.
Q: Why did you choose the name Apple?
John Lennon: Why did you choose the names your kids have got?
Paul McCartney: It’s just a name.
John Lennon: I mean, there’s nothing to it.
Paul McCartney: A is for apple. It’s very simple, you know!
John Lennon: An apple for the teacher.
Q: Will any of the three gentlemen standing next to you control the production money?
John Lennon: They will, sort of, but the final say is with us.
Q: You’ll get the money?
Paul McCartney: Yeah. You see, we don’t know anything about business yet, so they do it, and they’re good at it. All we do is to apply common sense to it.
Also on this day...
- 2016: Beatles press officer Tony Barrow dies
- 2010: John Lennon statue to be unveiled in Liverpool
- 2009: Beatles Trivial Pursuit on sale in August
- 2003: Paul McCartney live: Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna
- 1997: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Jack Breslin Student Events Center, East Lansing
- 1984: US single release: Borrowed Time by John Lennon
- 1976: Wings live: Spectrum, Philadelphia
- 1963: The Beatles live: Rink Ballroom, Sunderland
- 1962: The Beatles live: Star-Club, Hamburg
- 1961: The Beatles live: Top Ten Club, Hamburg
- 1960: The Silver Beetles live: Lathom Hall, Liverpool
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
I was 14 and at this press conference.I wonder if this transcript contains the questions from the wider audience after the press were done. Derek Taylor opened it up to “us”. I aslo asked about meditation but I believe it was ” Why do you meditate, for rest or pleasure?”John said something snotty which I have blocked out! John Lennon spoke to me and i can’t remember what he said! Was it that he had already answered the question? The other transcript of this event online has John answering with the brushing teeth comment rather than Paul. I COULD have considered this snotty enough to close down OR he could have been further annoyed that I asked the question AGAIN and was obviously not paying attention because I was too busy peeing my pants
from excitement!
I hsve been well aware all these years that Paul met Linda the same day he met me and that somehow there was a BIG mess up in the universe- he should have been MINE!
John behaved like a real prick at this press conference harassing the press with mean spirited answers! They were only doing their jobs!
I believe Lennon was in need of a Heroin fix. He was all skin and bones compared to the Lennon who was filmed on January 25,1968 singing “All Together Now” on the Yellow Submarine insert at the the end of the movie.
Yoko Ono really did a job on the future John Winston Ono Lennon.
How do like that name change – Mr. Ono Lennon! What a feminist sap was John!
They say there’s a sucker born every minute!
John Winston Ono Lennon was the ultimate sucker in human history!!!
Binnie, I just loved your comments!!!!!!!!! Love is all we need!
“Something’s happening, but ‘I don’t know what it is, do you Mr Jones,” – sang Bob Dylan in Ballad of a Thin Man.
In another transcript I have seen, both John Lennon and Paul McCartney state their favorite group is Nilsson. Over the next several months, all of The Beatles became friends with Harry Nilsson, who eventually went to live in England for a time. It is amusing Lennon called Nilsson a “group.” He was a solo artist who used top studio musicians to create a tremendous body of recorded work, mostly from self-penned songs. His two Grammy-award winning songs were written by others. Following Lennon’s death in 1980, Nilsson spent several years campaigning for stricter gun safety laws in the U.S.
John and Paul were also on The Tonight Show that day with Joe Garagiola guest hosting for Johnny Carson.