What John Lennon said when he was told people would be listening to Imagine '10 years later' is revealed in a new behind-the-scenes documentary

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‘Oh f*** off, it’s just a rock album’: What John Lennon said when he was told people would be listening to Imagine '10 years later' is revealed in a new behind-the-scenes documentary
º  In the summer of 1969, John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono moved to Tittenhurst Park in Ascot, England – away from London and Lennon’s bandmates
º  The Beatles were on the precipice of breaking up and would have their last photo shoot at Tittenhurst, which was where Lennon started to record Imagine in 1971
º  A new Biography documentary, ‘John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky,’ which premieres on A&E Network on March 11, looks at the making of the famous album
By DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 7 March 2019

John Lennon wanted to know if his new album was any good.

So he enlisted the help of some friends and journalists, including one Kieron ‘Spud’ Murphy, a freelancer for a music publication called Sounds, to give feedback.

Murphy listened, told Lennon he liked the one song, and said: ‘I think people are still going to be listening to it in 10 years’ time.’

‘He said: “Oh, f*** off, it’s just a rock album.” ’

That song and album were Imagine.

Murphy recalled this anecdote in a new Biography documentary, ‘John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky,’ which premieres on the A&E Network on March 11. The two-hour film offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the famous 1971 album was made: George Harrison, smoking, while he played guitar; Phil Spector wearing sunglasses and a suit while he produced songs and talking about waking up Eric Clapton so he could come play; and at the center of it all, the relationship between John Lennon and Yoko Ono.


In the summer of 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono moved to a sprawling estate called Tittenhurst Park in Ascot, England - away from London and Lennon’s bandmates. The Beatles were on the precipice of breaking up, and they would have their last photo shoot at the huge property. The official end of the Fab Four was in 1970, and their last studio album, Let It Be, was released that year. In 1971, Lennon started to record the album Imagine at Tittenhurst. Above, George Harrison, John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the kitchen, which was near the studio at the estate


A new Biography documentary, ‘John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky,’ which premieres on the A&E Network on March 11, offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the famous 1971 album was made. Michael Epstein, the documentary’s director, said they started working on it in spring last year after Yoko Ono contacted him. Epstein told DailyMail.com that he was given access to footage that had not been made public before. When he looked at the material Ono made available, he said he was ‘gobsmacked.’ Above, John Lennon in the studio during the recording of the album Imagine


There are interesting moments in a new documentary where John Lennon conferred with George Harrison about music. For instance, he plays the piano and asks his former bandmate for his opinion on whether it stays on the key of F too long. ‘You’re like a fly on the wall,’ Epstein, the director, said. Above, Lennon and Harrison during the recording of the album Imagine


Above, a scene from the recording studio featured in a new documentary about the making of Imagine. Bassist Klaus Voormann said in the film that the musicians were given the lyrics to the songs they were recording. Voormann said: ‘You got a feeling of the song just by (Lennon) just playing it.’ Voormann said that Imagine was likely the first song that they recorded that day. ‘We all stood around and listened to it and it was apparent that was going to be a big big one’


Kieron ‘Spud’ Murphy, a photojournalist, said in the upcoming documentary ‘John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky,’ he thought it was a joke when Sounds, the music publication, told him his next assignment was to go to John Lennon’s house to snap shots while they recorded songs. Murphy, pictured above in the documentary, recalled one of his photos that shows Lennon singing at the microphone while Ono sat on the floor writing out the lyrics. He said: ‘I really got this was a real team effort'

The mythology around the couple runs deep, and the documentary depicts a portrait of partners. Ono contributed ‘lyric and concept’ to the song Imagine – a debt that Lennon acknowledged later in a 1980 radio interview. Murphy, who snapped shots during the recording, remembered one of his photos that shows Lennon singing at the microphone while Ono sat on the floor writing out the lyrics.

‘I really got this was a real team effort,’ he said.

Ono, who was interviewed for the new documentary, talked about their relationship in terms of the big picture, and said: ‘The fact that John and I met was to do this song.’

Michael Epstein, the documentary’s director, said that Lennon chose Ono not only to be his romantic partner but a creative one as well.

‘They were each’s other muse and her voice had a huge influence on his work… that you can see most obviously in a song like Imagine,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘In so many ways that is very much the culmination of the two artists coming together as one.’


A new documentary, ‘John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky,’ revisits the tale of how the couple met. It was 1966 and John Lennon went to one of Yoko Ono’s exhibitions. Black-and-white footage shows Ono explaining the piece that caught his eye. A person was to climb a ladder, and then, using a magnifying glass, look up at the ceiling. There, they would see one word: yes. ‘Because it was positive, it said “yes,” I thought okay, it’s the first show that said something warm to me,’ Lennon recalled later on a talk show. Above, the couple from a still from the video for Imagine


In 1966, when the couple met, John Lennon was married to Cynthia and they had one child, Julian. Yoko Ono was married to Anthony Cox, and they had one child together as well, Kyoko. Klaus Voormann, a bassist who played on Imagine, recounted how he met Lennon when The Beatles were making their Strawberry Fields video, and Lennon was in bad shape, telling Voormann how unhappy he was. But that after Ono came on the scene, Lennon changed completely, he said. Above, Yoko Ono and John Lennon in the video for Imagine


For the recording of the song Imagine, John Lennon was seated at the white piano in a white room – seen above in a still from the music video. In a new documentary, he first took a puff of a cigarette and then exhaled. ‘Okay, let’s just try it with piano, bass and drums,’ he said. The studio's engineer said that the song probably took no more than two or three hours to get its core in shape, and then it was refinement. Ultimately, there was too much reverberations in the white room, and so Lennon went to the studio to play the piano there






John Lennon and Yoko Ono, above, seen her at their home Tittenhurst Park sometime in 1970. The couple met in 1966 after meeting at one of Ono's exhibitions. Dan Richter, Lennon’s assistant, said in a new documentary: ‘He got (her art). Yoko touched him. It’s as though it had something missing he was looking for. He had an emptiness.’ They were married on March 20, 1969, and that summer they moved to the sprawling estate in Ascot, England

 
When the couple were speaking to a journalist about the nature of relationships, John Lennon noted that intellectually it’s ‘rubbish’ to want to own somebody. However, he also said: ‘I love Yoko. I want to possess her completely.’ Above, John Lennon and Yoko Ono at Tittenhurst Park in Ascot, England sometime in 1970


In 1971, John Lennon started recording both the song and album called Imagine at Tittenhurst Park, seen above, in Ascot, England. He had a studio built, which was near the kitchen. An upcoming documentary, ‘John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky,’ features never-seen-before footage of the recording at Tittenhurst as well as interviews with the musicians who played on the album and the journalists who covered it




On yet another talk show, Lennon addressed the question that has lingered: did Ono cause tension in the group?

‘The tension was already there, you see,’ Lennon explained in the undated clip.

Famed photographer David Bailey talked about a shoot he did with the couple and said that Lennon 'fancied her so much.’

‘He was an a******* so I thought he was great. I really got on great with him,’ he said and then laughed.

At Tittenhurst, where much of the album Imagine was recorded and the video for the song was filmed, the couple spent a lot of time in their huge suite, and the documentary showed footage of them in bed surrounded by newspapers.

‘He liked to sit in bed, playing his guitar, smoking dope and watching television,’ Richter, his assistant, said.

Lennon wanted his own studio at Tittenhurst and one was built close to the kitchen. Many scenes from the documentary show, at different times, Lennon and Ono eating and gathering around the table with journalists, George Harrison, the musicians who were playing on the album, and Phil Spector.

Kieron ‘Spud’ Murphy, the photojournalist, said he thought it was a joke when Sounds, the music publication, told him his next assignment was to go to Lennon’s house to take images while they recorded. Murphy said he arrived at around 5pm, and Lennon wasn’t up.

Then, people started to funnel into the kitchen, including George Harrison.

‘Phil Spector arrived, he was dressed in a three-piece suit and a collar and tie in the middle of summer in England in a rock session and shades. He was a heavy presence and he just looked menacing,’ Murphy said and then laughed.

Spector, who co-produced the song Imagine, told the musicians it was time to get started and they filed into the studio.

There are interesting moments in the documentary where Lennon conferred with Harrison about music, for instance, he plays the piano and asks his former bandmate for his opinion on whether it stays on the key of F too long.

‘You’re like a fly on the wall,’ Epstein, the director, said about this interaction.

Epstein directed the 2010 documentary ‘LennoNYC’ about the former Beatle’s life in New York City, and through that film, he met Ono.

‘I have a nice relationship with Yoko and when she contacted me that they wanted to make this film, I was elated. I mean, you know, there was upfront a promise that the vault, that the archives was going to be doors blown open, and that everything that had not been seen from this period was going to be at our disposal,’ he said, adding that he started working on the documentary in spring 2018.

When he looked at the material Ono made available, he said he was ‘gobsmacked.’

‘It was surprise after surprise after surprise.’


Above, The Beatles - George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr - in 1970. Michael Epstein, the director of the upcoming documentary, ‘John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky,’ told DailyMail.com that the official end of the band happened the same year the above photo was taken. The group's last studio album, Let It Be, was released that May


The Fab Four, seen above in 1968. George Harrison and Ringo Starr hold a submarine at an announcement about the animated film 'Yellow Submarine,' which would be released later that year. John Lennon, bottom right, had wanted to say publicly that he had quit The Beatles in 1969 but had held back due to the release of Let It Be in May 1970, according to Michael Epstein, the director of an upcoming documentary, ‘John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky.' However, Paul McCartney, bottom left, released his eponymously-named solo debut in April that year, and announced that he was not in the band anymore. Epstein said: ‘John was livid,' but by 1973, the two former bandmates were on good terms again


Michael Epstein, the director of ‘John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky,' said that John Lennon chose Yoko Ono not only to be his romantic partner but a creative one as well. ‘They were each’s other muse and her voice had a huge influence on his work… that you can see most obviously in a song like Imagine,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘In so many ways that is very much the culmination of the two artists coming together as one.’ The couple is seen above in October 1969 with Ono's daughter, Kyoko, from her previous marriage to Anthony Cox

In addition to Imagine, Lennon was in the studio recording other songs such as How Do You Sleep, which Murphy soon realized had lyrics that pointed to titles of Paul McCartney songs.

‘It became clear it was a smash between John and Paul, which I as a member of the public was not aware of,’ he recalled.

Lennon had wanted to say publicly that he had quit The Beatles in 1969 but had held back due to the release of Let It Be in May 1970, according to Epstein. However, McCartney released his eponymously-named solo debut in April that year, and announced that he was not in the band anymore. ‘John was livid,’ he said.

In the documentary, Lennon said that he used his ‘sibling rivalry resentment’ against McCartney to create How Do You Sleep.

‘Paul doesn’t personally feel like I insulted him or anything because we had dinner together last week,’ he said on a talk show. ‘It’s not about Paul, it’s about me.’

By 1973, the two former bandmates were on good terms again, Epstein said.

Another song on the album was Jealous Guy, which had lyrics that included: I was feeling insecure / You might not love me anymore / I was shivering inside.

When the couple were speaking to a journalist about the nature of relationships, Lennon noted that intellectually it’s ‘rubbish’ to want to own somebody.

However, he also said: ‘I love Yoko. I want to possess her completely.’

After they were done recording Jealous Guy, it was around 5am, and everyone gathered to listen to the cut, calling it a ‘powerful’ and ‘very moving’ song. Somebody said it was great to which Lennon first replied with a thank you and then ‘you lying git.’

The musicians who played on the album, like bassist Klaus Voormann, said they were given the lyrics to songs they were recording. Voormann said: ‘You got a feeling of the song just by him just playing it.’

For the recording of Imagine, Lennon was seated at the white piano in a white room – the same as in the video. He then took a puff of a cigarette and the exhale was heard.

‘Okay, let’s just try it with piano, bass and drums,’ he said.

The studio's engineer said that the song probably took no more than two or three hours to get its core in shape, and then it was refinement. There was too much reverberations in the white room, and so Lennon went to the piano in the studio.

Voormann said that it was likely the first song that they recorded that day.

‘We all stood around and listened to it and it was apparent that was going to be a big big one.’

The album was released in the fall of 1971, and, according to the documentary, it went to number one in the United Kingdom, the U.S., and around the world.

Julian Lennon said that the song is not religious or political, but rather about humanity and life.

‘A lot of people said, well, you know, it’s all a bit too dreamy, yeah, but we all actually want what he’s singing about,’ he said. ‘I think that’s why even today the song is so important.’

Dan Richter, Lennon’s assistant, said that in the song, he hears Yoko Ono.

‘I love John but those were her words. She was speaking through him. I don’t think the world’s got that quite yet,’ he said.

Lennon owned up to her contribution in a radio interview in late 1980.

‘That should be credited as a Lennon Ono song because a lot of it, the lyric and the concept came from Yoko. But those days, I was a bit more selfish, a bit more macho and I sort of omitted to mention her contribution. But it was right out of “Grapefruit,” her book.’

Epstein, the director, said: ‘They really come together and fuse so beautifully in that song and, you know, if you love Imagine, if you’re inspired by Imagine, then you’re inspired by Yoko.’


Famed photographer David Bailey, pictured above, talked about a shoot he did with the couple in an upcoming documentary called ‘John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky.' He said that John Lennon 'fancied her so much. He was an a******* so I thought he was great. I really got on great with him,’ he said and then laughed


John Lennon's assistant, Dan Richter, pictured above, said that in the song, Imagine, he hears Yoko Ono. ‘I love John but those were her words. She was speaking through him. I don’t think the world’s got that quite yet,’ he said in the new documentary, ‘John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky.' Lennon recognized her contribution in a late 1980 radio interview when he said 'the lyric and the concept' for the song Imagine 'came from Yoko'