John Interviews | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

QuarryMan said
Eurgh, I don’t like that John referred to Yoko as ‘Mother ‘. Reminds me of Mike Pence. 

He makes a good point though – it seems like a similar situation to the Voluntourism thing that goes on at the moment, where people think they’re helping a situation that would require a lifetime’s work to actually solve, and end up doing more harm than good in the long run.   

You’d be surprised, “Mother ” or “Mom” is actually a common pet name between husband and wife.

Ever see The Rankin-Bass Christmas specials? Santa & Mrs. Clause call each other “Mama” and “Papa” respectively in a few films.

Ron Nasty said
I don’t see how an opinion John expressed in 1980 is “PROOF” about what he would have done in 1985. John’s opinions often veered wildly back and forth, turned inside out and upside down. It isn’t difficult to find examples of John saying something, contradicting himself later with a different view of the same thing, and then reverting to something closer to his original view at a later date, @MattWatchingWheels.

The idea that opinions given in 1980 were John’s settled position for all-time and would never change had he lived just doesn’t stand up to much examination as the man’s life was full of contradictions and shifting opinions.

He criticises Bangladesh, an event he was originally going to appear at but withdrew from when George didn’t want Yoko to appear, at a time he was annoyed with, and heavily criticising, George over his lack of mentions in the I Me Mine  book.

Relaunching his solo career, he criticises the suggestion that the Beatles reuniting for a charity gig would save the world.

Interestingly he doesn’t criticise his own One-to-One concerts raising money for the Willowbrook Foundation, a charity he was supportive of until his death (with it being among those organisations Yoko suggested giving money to in the immediate aftermath). In fact, in more than one interview in 1980, he showed pride in the awareness raised and good done by the One-to-One concerts.

John’s views were only frozen in aspic because of the man with the gun, and there is no way of knowing how his opinions might have changed had he had the much longer life that he deserved.

Now, I’m not saying that John would definitely have appeared at Live Aid, either solo or with other Beatles, but I definitely think John in 1985 (had we had the pleasure) would not have been exactly the same man without any changed views from those he expressed in 1980.

The shame is we didn’t get to see.

  

To be fair, that IS why I put the question marks there, isn’t it?

The fact remains that though his opinion may likely have mellowed, all we have to go on for fact is what he said at the latest. Anything else is speculative and we’re already speculating as it is.

I don’t think Bangladesh was called ca-ca here because he was merely at odds with George. I think he saw right through it from a promoting standpoint. Some charities are worth it like one to one was to John, others were not.

Ron Nasty said

@MattWatchingWheels said
To be fair, that IS why I put the question marks there, isn’t it? 

Erm, sorry, and this may sound like I’m being a grammar Nazi, and I understand this may be generational, but you didn’t:

PROOF JOHN WOULD NOT HAVE APPEARED AT LIVE LIVE AID ’85?!

A question mark + an exclamation mark = an interrobang: an interrobang indicates either an excited or surprised question, or a rhetorical question which is making a point rather than expecting an answer as the answer is self-evident. You phrasing it more like a statement than question made me think you were being rhetorical. It looked like a big bold statement rather than question, especially with the capitals and the bold.

So I read it as a statement and reacted as if it was. I apologise.

I would point this out about John’s knowledge of what went wrong with Bangladesh though – he knew exactly what went wrong and him saying Yoko understands better than him is rubbish because it wasn’t complicated, it was dead simple, and was one of the major planks against Allen Klein when John, George and Ringo sued him for mismanagement in November 1973: Klein didn’t register the concert as a charity performance for UNICEF, therefore any monies flowing from it – which included the box set and film – were taxed rather than tax-exempt as they should have been, and meant that because it wasn’t separated from Apple by having charity status, every time Apple’s finances were frozen because of Beatle legal cases, so were the Bangladesh royalties.

One thing went wrong with Bangladesh and John knew exactly what it was, Allen Klein.

No reason to damn all charity because the guy you helped get in charge was a crook.

Peace + Love

  

I think the reason John said that was because she ran the finances at that point in House Ono-Lennon, and so she, while he may have had the same understanding of it you put forth, was not up to date on the current status of the situation. We’ll never know.

As far as the grammar issue goes, you’ll have to believe me when I tell you that the question mark was indeed meant to signify a question, but I suppose I should have said “IS THIS PROOF” in stead.

God , it all feels so moot….I miss him so much that the entire discussion seems pointless knowing he’s not here. What good even comes of it? 🙁