John Lennon was assassinated the year I was born and the year he turned 40. I turned 40 earlier this year, and while I’ve always been a big fan of the Beatles (my first CD ever was Abbey Road — although apparently Lennon wouldn’t have liked that!) I have never read much of their history. This book makes me want to change that now.
This 40th anniversary re-release of the full Playboy transcript of the final interview of John Lennon and Yoko Ono answered a lot of questions and gave a look behind the Beatles curtain.
The new introduction by David Sheff, the writer who interviewed the couple when he was just 24 and trying to catch a break as a writer, also added a deeper element to the transcript, breathing more life into what could have just been words on paper. Sheff’s observations of Lennon’s loving — doting, really — relationship with his son Sean and how witnessing that influenced his own life and his relationship with his own future son also added a new dimension to the following transcript.
And Sheff sums it all up nicely when he writes:
“Their message is simultaneously complex and simple: Know yourself and learn to think for yourself. Do for others when you are able…Imagine a better world.”
Reading the transcript after this introduction really gives it a new dimension that shows how important Lennon was to so many people, and how important he continues to be, even four decades after his untimely death.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.