AboutMelissa Davis Expertise I feel extremely comfortable with my ability to answer questions regarding The Beatles personally - backgrounds, family, education, and the genesis of the group from inception to the end. I do not feel that I have the expertise to answer extremely technical questions regarding equipment, other than to refer the questioner to other sources.
Experience Besides having been the right age at the right time to live through and enjoy The Beatles, I have continued my interest in them, in their music, and their influence on 20th century - in everything from the obvious, music, to fashion, humor, film, politics, and the music industry. As a dedicated Anglophile, I have studied at the University of London as an undergraduate and traveled in the UK extensively - yes, walked across Abbey Road, visited Savile Row - all of it. Beyond that, I am a teacher and a writer with excellent writing, editing, and research skills.
Publications The Copy Workshop advertising series
Colorado Law Journal
Various magazines
Education/Credentials B.A. History & Political Science, M.A. English History, J.D.
Awards and Honors Teacher of the Year, Archdiocese of Dallas (2000)
Expert: Melissa Davis Date: 7/8/2008 Subject: Lost Weekend
Question Hi there,
I was reading a little bit of information on the months that yoko and john seperated and john left with may pang but i am still kind of confused.
I am wondering, did yoko and john actually 'seperate' and was there any contact between them at all? How long was it even for? How did they reunite?
Answer Hi Andrea,
I think I can clear up some of the confusion about this period in John's life for you.
John called it his 'lost weekend' and in order to understand the reference to a 'lost weekend' you need to know that there is a 1945 film, Lost Weekend, about a man who goes on a drinking binge (or 'bender') over a weekend.
When John and Yoko first became involved, they were inseparable. Yoko attended all Beatle recording sessions - something no one had ever done, not even wives or girlfriends or their manager, Brian Epstein. When Yoko was hospitalized with a miscarriage, John stayed at the hospital with her for three weeks. When they moved to New York City, they got over this first stage of infatuation, but also faced new pressures.
Because of John's involvement with the Peace Movement, he became a target of FBI surveillance and the US government attempted to have him deported. He decided to fight the deportation actions, which took until 1975. During this time, he never knew if he would be allowed to remain in the US or would have to leave with 30 days' notice at any time.
They were also attempting to find Yoko's daughter by a previous marriage, Kyoko (born in 1963, the same year as John's son, Julian) who had been kidnapped by her father and living with a religious sect at various locations around the world. Although John and Yoko had official custody of the little girl, they didn't know where she was, which of course was a source of emotional pain for them. Yoko had had two miscarriages in the early part of their relationship (in 1969) and continued to try to get pregnant during this time, with no luck.
You can see how all these factors led to a lot of emotional pressure in their relationship and in 1973 they did separate. Yoko felt that they needed some time apart and it was agreed that John would move out of their home at The Dakota in New York City.
They had a personal assistant at the time, a Chinese-American woman named May Pang and Yoko suggested that May get together with John, possibly because, although she thought they should be separated, she didn't want John dating with the chance that he might fall in love and divorce her. May has written that she was shocked by the idea. John was attracted to May, though, and they did become a couple for 18 months - until early 1975.
For part of that time, John and May lived in Los Angeles where many friends were also living - Harry Nielsen, Keith Moon, and Ringo Starr among them. Ringo's own marriage was ending at this time, too.
John later said that he had never really been on his own and still wasn't and hadn't really dealt with the break-up of the group. The Beatles had been together non-stop since the time he was 16 and he thought he might have been trying to find a new bunch of guys to be friends with. The problem, of course, is that in LA at that time, drugs and alcohol were everywhere Harry Nielsen and Keith Moon were known for using both to excess. John had the sort of personality that could be easily influenced at times, and he readily fell in with that kind of behavior.
With two exceptions... First, he was very much in love with May Pang and did not go out looking for other women to date. Second, he never let anything interfere with his professionalism about recording. He produced an album for Harry Nielsen at the time and would frequently wake up the musicians - and Harry - early in the morning telling them that the studio had been booked and they needed to get going. He never liked people being late or wasting studio time and kept everyone on schedule. It's interesting how he compartmentalized these aspects of his life, but apparently he did.
He did get drunk in public on one occasion when he was at the Troubador Club in LA at a Smothers Brothers show. He was friendly with Tommy Smothers - who had sung on the Give Peace A Chance recording made in Montreal, but according to the waitress had three Brandy Alexanders and started heckling Tommy and Dick on stage. He then went into the restroom and came out with a sanitary napkin stuck onto his forehead - thinking, like so many people do when they are drunk, that he was being funny. He wasn't. He was asked to leave and was horrified with himself the next morning - sending a huge bouquet of flowers and an apology to the Smothers Brothers (who forgave him) and the owner of the Club.
Paul and Linda were in LA and stopped by to visit. Paul says that he took John aside and asked if he wanted to get back together with Yoko. John said 'yes' and Paul told him he had talked to Yoko and she, too, wanted to reconcile. He said he would help get them back together if it would make John happy.
John knew Elton John during this time, too, and recorded Elton John's version of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds at Caribou Ranch outside of Boulder, Colorado in the summer of 1974. John surprised a lot of people by driving into Boulder and shopping at the drug store for film to take pictures of the mountains and just generally being a normal guy - or as normal as people would let him be. Photographs of him at the time show a very happy, relaxed man and his creativity was in high gear. Elton John's song was a #1 and so was his own song that summer, Whatever Gets You Through The Night. He and Elton John had made a bet that if WGYTTN got to #1, he would sing onstage at Elton's Madison Square Garden show in November. It did and he kept his promise. Yoko was at the show and sent them both a lapel flower.
During the next month, John and May looked for a house to buy together and planned to attend a Paul McCartney concert to 'surprise' Paul - imagine how the world would have been surprised, too!
In addition to fostering a better relationship with Paul, May encouraged John to take his visitation time with Julian and arranged visits to Disney World for Julian and Cynthia, as well as other vacations so that John and Julian could spend time together.
Instead, Yoko contacted John and asked him to come over to the Dakota because she had an expert who was going to help her quit smoking and she wanted John to attend a session, too, so he could quit. He apparently told May he was going over for a few hours and would be back for dinner. He never returned to her.
Yoko became pregnant almost as soon as they got back together and John was granted his permanent alien status on his birthday, October 9, 1975, the day Sean was born.
Months after John died, Yoko went to dinner with May and Cynthia Lennon and there is a very nice photograph of them all together. I imagine it would have made John happy to see these three important women in his life together.
May has published a book of photographs of their time together with some narrative that is very good. I'd recommend it.
John liked to exaggerate (you're probably getting to understand that by now!), so you have to take some of what he says as the kind of poetic license that artists use. So, it was a lot more than a 'lost weekend' and it was a lot less than just a period of drinking and partying. A lot of good, positive things came out of that 18 month period - good music, better relations with friends and family, and probably a lot of life lessons.
John didn't drink well at all - it didn't take much to make him drunk and he wasn't a happy-go-lucky kind of drunk, either, so it was good that he had a few very bad experiences and then quit. Harry and Keith, of course, didn't do so well and died young. Ringo, luckily, got things together, married Barbara Bach, quit drinking and is still at it and happy today.
Hope that helps your understanding of that time in John's life; let me know if you have any other questions.
MDavis
Dear Andrea,
I have to amend my answer: I checked and the Beatles DID play in New Orleans during their 1964 tour on September 16 at the City Park Stadium. Tickets were $5. Sorry about that!!!
