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The Lennon tapes: John Lennon and Yoko Ono in conversation with Andy Peebles, 6 December 1980
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- GenresMusicBiographyNonfiction
95 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
About the author
John Lennon
757 books1,982 followersJohn Winston Ono Lennon, MBE, was an English singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, and together with Paul McCartney formed one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the 20th century.
Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager, his first band, The Quarrymen, evolving into The Beatles in 1960. As the group began to undergo the disintegration that led to their break-up towards the end of that decade, Lennon launched a solo career that would span the next decade, punctuated by critically acclaimed albums, including John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and iconic songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine".
Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, his writing, on film, and in interviews, and became controversial through his work as a peace activist. He moved to New York City in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by Richard Nixon's administration to deport him, while his songs were adapted as anthems by the anti-war movement. Disengaging himself from the music business in 1975 to devote time to his family, Lennon reemerged in October 1980 with a new single and a comeback album, Double Fantasy, but was murdered weeks after their release on the sidewalk outside his home in the Dakota. Ironically, "Imagine" (imagine all the people, living life in peace) was a featured cut from this album.
Lennon's album sales in the United States alone stand at 14 million units, and as performer, writer, or co-writer he is responsible for 27 number one singles on the US Hot 100 chart. In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth, and in 2008 Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth greatest singer of all time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
--Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia --
Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager, his first band, The Quarrymen, evolving into The Beatles in 1960. As the group began to undergo the disintegration that led to their break-up towards the end of that decade, Lennon launched a solo career that would span the next decade, punctuated by critically acclaimed albums, including John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and iconic songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine".
Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, his writing, on film, and in interviews, and became controversial through his work as a peace activist. He moved to New York City in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by Richard Nixon's administration to deport him, while his songs were adapted as anthems by the anti-war movement. Disengaging himself from the music business in 1975 to devote time to his family, Lennon reemerged in October 1980 with a new single and a comeback album, Double Fantasy, but was murdered weeks after their release on the sidewalk outside his home in the Dakota. Ironically, "Imagine" (imagine all the people, living life in peace) was a featured cut from this album.
Lennon's album sales in the United States alone stand at 14 million units, and as performer, writer, or co-writer he is responsible for 27 number one singles on the US Hot 100 chart. In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth, and in 2008 Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth greatest singer of all time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
--Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia --
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 1, 2014
Really a key book for any Beatles fan. This is a transcript of a recorded 3 hour interview made by John Lennon just days before his death. Andy Peebles has a conversational interview style that sees a relaxed, reflective and chatty Lennon. Yoko Onos presence may be intrusive to some readers but there was no John without Yoko and it may have been a very different or shorter interview without her. After his death, there were dozens of books and magazines about Lennon's life and most of them referenced this interview, so it's good to read it in its entirety. This review is about the original 1981 publication. 95pages.
February 14, 2008
I've got this on three 90 minute cassettes.
February 17, 2024
I enjoyed this read. I would say to read this you have to have a love or interest for John, Yoko and The Beatles and it also would be helpful if your Beatles / Lennon and Yoko history is up to scratch. I sure have some additional reading and music listening to do post reading the interview!
But overall very interesting to read the dialogue between 2 very influential and quite misunderstood people. I think only John and Yoko truely understand eachother and I also understand why alot of people find it difficult to understand them and their relationship. I don’t think the world is always very forgiving when you sit so far outside of the box and I don’t think the world can truely understand what it’s like to be under such a heavy microscope as John and Yoko were.
As a side note it took me a while to get used to the interview style - haven’t read an interview before. Will likely try to find the audio version of this if possible and listen too.
But overall very interesting to read the dialogue between 2 very influential and quite misunderstood people. I think only John and Yoko truely understand eachother and I also understand why alot of people find it difficult to understand them and their relationship. I don’t think the world is always very forgiving when you sit so far outside of the box and I don’t think the world can truely understand what it’s like to be under such a heavy microscope as John and Yoko were.
As a side note it took me a while to get used to the interview style - haven’t read an interview before. Will likely try to find the audio version of this if possible and listen too.
April 5, 2024
I'd rather listen to the audio of this 3-hour interview than read the transcript but read this book is what I did. it's a good interview but obviously very sad, did he really have to die within 48 hours of this interview? Imagine being only 40, you've got the 1980s and beyond to look forward to, completely cashed up as well, and then some idiotic 25yo loser decides your time has come. As John once said "pip, pip, toot, toot."
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August 19, 2018In his own words ...
March 28, 2025
After former BBC radio presenter Andy Peebles passed away on March 22, 2025, I moved his transcript of the legendary 1980 interview he conducted with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, dubbed "The Lennon Tapes," to the top of my reading list.
A few years ago, I received a copy of the book, which is a verbatim transcript of the interview (complete with half-realised sentences). I am aware of some of the parts of this interview that have been quoted and used in several documentary series over the years. Here, Andy Peebles chats to John and Yoko, largely about their career since the break-up of The Beatles, and John’s candid reflections on his lost weekend, feminism, drugs, alcohol, song writing, recording, life as a house husband making bread and being a dad to Sean (then, five years-old). The interview, of course, was conducted forty-eight hours prior to John's senseless murder.
Following the release of Double Fantasy, John and Yoko are once again becoming fully engaged in the music industry. They have already recorded a significant portion of their follow-up album (later to be released as Milk and Honey) and have ideas for a third. Both are also excited about the non-Double Fantasy track, Yoko’s Walking on Thin Ice. John also expresses excitement about bands like Madness and the B52s, who use ska and (in the case of the latter) Yoko Ono's influence on their music. John also speaks warmly of British humour, admitting that he loves Fawlty Towers and Monty Python (and would loved to have been a Python over a Beatle).
While it was commonly promoted by the press that John Lennon had a large ego, this interview reveals the opposite. John only seems to be aware of negative reviews when his earlier albums are discussed (the positive reviews apparently may be hidden away, unread in a filing cabinet back at The Dakota). He even explains why he named his 1975 compilation album, Shaved Fish: he was afraid that some of his singles would be lost forever because he didn't think the public considered them to be greatest hits.
The interview also highlights how much change had happened in the years since John had left his birthland for America in 1971, especially as he had left prior to or had no experience of decimalisation.
This is a fine tribute to both John Lennon as a fun interviewee and Andy Peebles as a thorough interviewer which with hindsight, helps us glimpse the optimism and love that John and Yoko would have brought into the 1980s had fate not tragically intervened.
A few years ago, I received a copy of the book, which is a verbatim transcript of the interview (complete with half-realised sentences). I am aware of some of the parts of this interview that have been quoted and used in several documentary series over the years. Here, Andy Peebles chats to John and Yoko, largely about their career since the break-up of The Beatles, and John’s candid reflections on his lost weekend, feminism, drugs, alcohol, song writing, recording, life as a house husband making bread and being a dad to Sean (then, five years-old). The interview, of course, was conducted forty-eight hours prior to John's senseless murder.
Following the release of Double Fantasy, John and Yoko are once again becoming fully engaged in the music industry. They have already recorded a significant portion of their follow-up album (later to be released as Milk and Honey) and have ideas for a third. Both are also excited about the non-Double Fantasy track, Yoko’s Walking on Thin Ice. John also expresses excitement about bands like Madness and the B52s, who use ska and (in the case of the latter) Yoko Ono's influence on their music. John also speaks warmly of British humour, admitting that he loves Fawlty Towers and Monty Python (and would loved to have been a Python over a Beatle).
While it was commonly promoted by the press that John Lennon had a large ego, this interview reveals the opposite. John only seems to be aware of negative reviews when his earlier albums are discussed (the positive reviews apparently may be hidden away, unread in a filing cabinet back at The Dakota). He even explains why he named his 1975 compilation album, Shaved Fish: he was afraid that some of his singles would be lost forever because he didn't think the public considered them to be greatest hits.
The interview also highlights how much change had happened in the years since John had left his birthland for America in 1971, especially as he had left prior to or had no experience of decimalisation.
This is a fine tribute to both John Lennon as a fun interviewee and Andy Peebles as a thorough interviewer which with hindsight, helps us glimpse the optimism and love that John and Yoko would have brought into the 1980s had fate not tragically intervened.
March 9, 2025
This is the transcript of an interview with John and Yoko, two days before the murder. It is impossible to be objective about it: it is a piece of history.
But it is interesting in its own right. Peebles takes him on a jog-trot through his recording history, seemingly as part of a series of similar interviews. The format does confine it a little, but it keeps it factual: none of the rambling that clogs other interviews he did.
Heartbreaking to read Lennon talking about walking safely through the New York streets. "Do you wanna know how great that feels?" his voice, in the actual tape of this I heard, a mix of Liverpool and the USA.
Sad and essential book.
Recommended for anyone, but essential for fans.
But it is interesting in its own right. Peebles takes him on a jog-trot through his recording history, seemingly as part of a series of similar interviews. The format does confine it a little, but it keeps it factual: none of the rambling that clogs other interviews he did.
Heartbreaking to read Lennon talking about walking safely through the New York streets. "Do you wanna know how great that feels?" his voice, in the actual tape of this I heard, a mix of Liverpool and the USA.
Sad and essential book.
Recommended for anyone, but essential for fans.
June 7, 2021
I am very biased so I cannot be fair in a review
May 30, 2022
Intetesting book
October 4, 2023
Long live Lennon
April 4, 2020
Un hombre verdaderamente adelantado a su época, libre y natural, es fuente de inspiración para los nuevos artistas. Debela una hermosa relación con Yoko y página tras página el fantasma de su muerte se hace cada vez más doloroso.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews