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Speaker 1: Blood on the Tracks is a production of I Heart

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Speaker 1: Radio and Double Elvis. John Lennon was a musical genius

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Speaker 1: and one of the most beloved cultural figures of the

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Speaker 1: twentieth century. His songs inspired dreamers to imagine, his search

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Speaker 1: for the truth gave power to the people. But some

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Speaker 1: thought he dreamed too much. Others thought he was too powerful.

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Speaker 1: So he was followed, he was threatened, he was declared

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Speaker 1: a danger to the United States, and in night he

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Speaker 1: was assassinated. This is his story told by his so

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Speaker 1: called friends. This especial agent Jim Steele with the Federal

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Speaker 1: Bureau of Investigation work in case number double O nine

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Speaker 1: at zero eight as zero four nine one. Case subject

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Speaker 1: as Lenin John Winston. Oh No. This information pertains to

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Speaker 1: a period ending December. Interview subject is cabin Richard Alba

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Speaker 1: interview number zero dash nine one dash one dash seven one.

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Speaker 1: We call number one. What was John Lennon like? He

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Speaker 1: wasn't like anything. He was unique. Huh. I've always wanted

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Speaker 1: to hear somebody say that, and I picked you as

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Speaker 1: the victim. I liked John. I didn't get to know

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Speaker 1: him a lot. Almost all the time I spent with

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Speaker 1: him was on my show. I'm still looking for too

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Speaker 1: long letters he wrote me, which I'm hoping I simply misplaced.

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Speaker 1: And of course I saw him when I went down

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Speaker 1: to the courthouse to testify on his behalf to say

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Speaker 1: that he shouldn't be deported. He was highly intelligent, a

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Speaker 1: very available guy, accessible, easy to talk to you. The

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Speaker 1: first time you met him, that old cliche, you felt

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Speaker 1: like you've known him for a while, But it was true,

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Speaker 1: and that can be a good thing and a bad thing.

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Speaker 1: His guard was down more than people knew. In fact,

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Speaker 1: he often had no guard, and that left him vulnerable. Ultimately,

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Speaker 1: it's what killed him, because all it took was the

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Speaker 1: wrong person to get to him, to walk right out

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Speaker 1: to him. It's flattering Blood on the Tracks, Chapter eight.

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Speaker 1: John Lennon and Dick Captin. I hadn't seen John Lennon

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Speaker 1: for years when I heard the news that he had

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Speaker 1: been shot. We had exchanged letters on and off throughout

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Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies. But hoping I should be misplaced, last

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Speaker 1: time I saw him it may have been when I

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Speaker 1: went down to the courthouse to offer my support to

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Speaker 1: testify the government was trying to deport him. John had

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Speaker 1: very politely asked me for my assistance. Perhaps he wanted

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Speaker 1: a friend who bore a suit and tied to appear

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Speaker 1: on his behalf in front of the judge. And who

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Speaker 1: was I to say no? John and Yoko, who had

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Speaker 1: been on my talk show twice, once in ninety one

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Speaker 1: and again in nineteen two, when he talked at length

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Speaker 1: about their ongoing battle with the U. S. Government. Both

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Speaker 1: times they were on, our ratings went through the roof.

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Speaker 1: And that can be a good thing, and about thing

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Speaker 1: I was in his debt. And despite the fact that

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Speaker 1: our relationship consisted of those appearances on my show and

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Speaker 1: a few odd meetings here and there, and I do

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Speaker 1: mean odd, one was backstage at Madison Square Garden and

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Speaker 1: the other was in a hotel room, and he and

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Speaker 1: Yoko stayed in bed the whole time. But despite such

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Speaker 1: limited time spent together, I did consider him a friend.

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Speaker 1: So I went to the courthouse, stood in front of

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Speaker 1: the judge. The judge asked me to explain, in my

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Speaker 1: own words, what was good about John Lenny. He was

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Speaker 1: highly intelligent. I said, he was a force for good,

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Speaker 1: a force for good for young people. The judge asked

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Speaker 1: how he was a force for good for young people.

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Speaker 1: My mouth was dry. I didn't want to use too

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Speaker 1: much wit in my response. I wanted to be respectful

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Speaker 1: of the process and also do my part to guarantee

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Speaker 1: that John would be allowed to stay in New York.

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Speaker 1: So how was he a force for good? I responded, Well,

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Speaker 1: as an example for young people who want to do

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Speaker 1: something good with their lives. Have you ever heard such

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Speaker 1: an idiot out of response? Anyway, it couldn't have hurt

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Speaker 1: John's case that much because they did allow him to stay,

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Speaker 1: much to Nixon's chagrin. I'm sure John told me all

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Speaker 1: about his ongoing issues with Nixon, and I told him

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Speaker 1: about mine. Listen to this. After I testified for John,

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Speaker 1: I was told my entire staff at the show was

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Speaker 1: audited by the I R S, every last cameraman, every secretary.

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Speaker 1: They went after everybody. And not only that, but Nixon

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Speaker 1: was keeping his own scorecard on my show. Nixon was

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Speaker 1: trumpeting supersonic transport at the time, you know S S T,

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Speaker 1: and it was highly controversial. It was basically to try

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Speaker 1: to get all airplanes flying even faster, and it was

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Speaker 1: going to cost American taxpayers something like one point something billion. Right,

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Speaker 1: we're keeping it very closely held here for reasons, as

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Speaker 1: you know, but I thought you should know that today

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Speaker 1: I'm going to have conline announced. The the other one.

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Speaker 1: I thought it was silly, a waste of money, money

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Speaker 1: spent on paranoia and imagined irrelevance on the global stage.

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Speaker 1: And I said so on my show many times. And

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Speaker 1: Nixon had a guy who kept a tally. They had

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Speaker 1: a running tally of every time I spoke ill of

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Speaker 1: that program, every time I spoke ill of anything that

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Speaker 1: had to do with the president. Now, they hated losing face,

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Speaker 1: they really did. So the White House called our show,

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Speaker 1: acted as their own booking agent, and they sent the

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Speaker 1: guy William McGruder onto my show to tout s STAD thing.

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Speaker 1: At the end of our talk before we cut to commercial,

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Speaker 1: I got the final word in when I said, well,

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Speaker 1: I certainly hope the S S T is defeated. That

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Speaker 1: didn't make me any friends at the White House. John

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Speaker 1: knew that I was on his page. We were birds

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Speaker 1: of a feather that said, John and Yoko asked to

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Speaker 1: meet with me before they would agree to come on

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Speaker 1: my show. They hadn't done anything like that before. This

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Speaker 1: was before they took over the Mike Douglas Show for

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Speaker 1: an entire week, and when I met with John, he

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Speaker 1: told me that they were interested in me because I

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Speaker 1: had the only halfway intelligent show on television. I said,

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Speaker 1: are you sure you want to be on a show

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Speaker 1: that's halfway intelligent? Those two appearances that they made in

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Speaker 1: September of nineteen seventy one in May of nineteen seventy

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Speaker 1: two remained some of my fondest memories. John was nervous,

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Speaker 1: he was opinionated, and he was funny. I thought the

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventies were going to be the decade of John Lennon.

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Speaker 1: That's something truly inspirational was going to happen. But then

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Speaker 1: he made fewer and fewer appearances on shows like mine,

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Speaker 1: fewer and fewer appearances in public, And at some point

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Speaker 1: I realized that I hadn't seen or heard from John

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Speaker 1: in quite some time. I didn't get a few people,

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Speaker 1: had a few people outside his immediate family and tightly

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Speaker 1: knit social circle. What was he doing? We all wondered.

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Speaker 1: In the second half of the seventies, years went by

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Speaker 1: without an album or a single. Has he given up

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Speaker 1: being creative or making music? These were real questions that

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Speaker 1: we were all asking ourselves. It didn't seem conceivable that

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Speaker 1: John Lennon would borrow himself into a hermetic life and

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Speaker 1: never feel inspired to raise his voice again in song

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Speaker 1: or in protest. But do you know what was going on?

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Speaker 1: It's like that story about the Japanese Lord, the one

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Speaker 1: that Yoko told. Did Yoko tell you that story? Here?

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you. Let me see if I can remember

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Speaker 1: it correctly. So there's this Japanese lord, very regal, very

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Speaker 1: important man. He was anything. He commissioned a painter to

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Speaker 1: create a painting for him. I can't quite recall what

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Speaker 1: the commission was, exactly what the painting was of, but

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Speaker 1: that's not important. A year passed and no painting, nothing.

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Speaker 1: The Lord had become quite impatient, naturally, so he sent

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Speaker 1: a messenger to go call on the painter and find

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Speaker 1: out what was going on. The messenger arrived at the

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Speaker 1: painter's house and asked if the painter was finished. The

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Speaker 1: painter simply said, oh, all right, just waiting the next

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Speaker 1: room over there for a moment, and the painter in

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Speaker 1: his own room quickly scribbled and painted something. The messenger

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Speaker 1: returned to the lord and said, do you know what

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Speaker 1: the painter did. He didn't have a painting ready, so

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Speaker 1: he just scribbled one quickly while I waited in the

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Speaker 1: next room. This made the Lord furious, so he sent

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Speaker 1: the messenger out again to fetch the painter and bring

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Speaker 1: him back to the Lord. The painter arrived and stood

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Speaker 1: in front of the Lord. The Lord said, I understand

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Speaker 1: you weren't ready to deliver the painting, and you just

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Speaker 1: scribbled the thing while my messenger waited in the next room.

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Speaker 1: The painter wasn't disturbed by this at all. He simply

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Speaker 1: looked the Lord in the eye and said, oh, yes,

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Speaker 1: but I spent the entire year preparing for this painting.

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Speaker 1: Now those letters, I'm still looking for too long letters,

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Speaker 1: she wrote. I mentioned earlier the letters that John had

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Speaker 1: sent me over the years, the years in between when

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Speaker 1: I last saw him at court and now. The letters

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Speaker 1: were quite long, quite detailed, and quite surprising. They showed

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Speaker 1: another side of John that perhaps the public rarely saw. Warm, open, vulnerable,

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Speaker 1: wily misplaced. People have this image of John and Paul

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Speaker 1: at each other's throats. In the years following the breakup

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Speaker 1: of the Beatles, their spats were a stuff of legend.

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Speaker 1: Paul took a shot at John and Yoko and a

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Speaker 1: song called too Many People, and then John fired back

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Speaker 1: with how do you Sleep? Which was a not very

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Speaker 1: thinly veiled attack on Paul. What was that line, the

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Speaker 1: only good thing you did was yesterday or whatever. I

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Speaker 1: would argue that conventional wisdom had it that John thought

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Speaker 1: that Paul wrote saccarin ditties for tea time, and Paul

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Speaker 1: thought that John had disappeared up his own ass a

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Speaker 1: little too far with the encouragement of Yoko. I think

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Speaker 1: that was just publicity. And you know what they say

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Speaker 1: about publicity. There's no such thing as bad the city,

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Speaker 1: just like Paul admitting to the press that he dropped acid,

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Speaker 1: or John saying that thing about the Beatles being bigger

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Speaker 1: than Jesus, the two greatest songwriters of the second half

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Speaker 1: of the twentieth century duking it out in song. Now,

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Speaker 1: that sells some records, and that can be a good

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Speaker 1: thing and a bad thing, but it wasn't like that

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Speaker 1: in reality. Here's an example in n Lauren Michael's, the

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Speaker 1: producer of Saturday Night Live, offered the Beatles a check

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Speaker 1: for three thousand dollars if they would reunite and appear

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Speaker 1: on the show. To play three songs. This was the

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Speaker 1: very first season of the show. Lauren had made the

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Speaker 1: offer during the show's live broadcast on a Saturday night,

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Speaker 1: and sure it was tongue in cheek. He appeared at

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Speaker 1: a desk with one framed photo of Nixon and another

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Speaker 1: featuring President Ford and Chevy Chase and said, this check

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Speaker 1: here is made out to the Beatles. Anyway you want,

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Speaker 1: you want to give ring go less, that's up to you.

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Speaker 1: But at the same time he was it serious. In nine,

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Speaker 1: everyone was dead serious about wanting to see the Beatles

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Speaker 1: play live together again. But here's the thing. Little did

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Speaker 1: Lord Michaels, No, little did anyone know, But Paul was

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Speaker 1: hanging out with John at John's apartment in the Dakota Building,

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Speaker 1: watching Saturday Night Live. They weren't feuding, they weren't fighting,

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Speaker 1: they weren't trashing each other in song. They were relaxing

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Speaker 1: at the Dakota, sharing a drink, sharing a laugh, reminiscing.

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Speaker 1: And then on comes Lord Michael's making his offer. Paul

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Speaker 1: looked at John and said why not. John laughed and responded, sure,

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Speaker 1: why not? After all, it was only two miles from

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Speaker 1: the Dakota to Rockefeller plaza, and at that time at night,

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Speaker 1: it might take them all of ten minutes to get

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Speaker 1: there in a cab. Just think. While the majority of

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Speaker 1: the world assumed the Beatles were fuming at each other

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Speaker 1: and from separate houses, separate continents, even the most famous

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Speaker 1: of the Fab four were moments away from putting on

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Speaker 1: their coats, running to the curb, hailing a cab, riding

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Speaker 1: down Madison Avenue, and knocking on the door of Studio

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Speaker 1: eight h to do an impromptu duet on live television.

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Speaker 1: Very available guy, And that wasn't the only offer that

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Speaker 1: came the Beatles way. The whole reason that Lauren Michaels

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Speaker 1: was offering three thousand was to poke fun at this

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Speaker 1: guy who had offered the boys fifty million for just

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Speaker 1: one show. Paul said he'd do it. John said something

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Speaker 1: like I'd stand on me head in the corner for

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Speaker 1: that kind of money. But the offer had strings attached.

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Speaker 1: The guy with the money wanted the rights to make

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Speaker 1: an album and a film of the concert, which the

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Speaker 1: band would never agree to. The other myth about John

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00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:49,000
Speaker 1: was that he was Howard Hughes incarnate, that he never

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Speaker 1: left the Dakota after Sean was born, that when Howard

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00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,120
Speaker 1: Hughes died in nineteen seventy six, he was actually transfigured

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Speaker 1: into John Lennon. That John grew his fingernails out long,

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Speaker 1: so long he couldn't play a guitar anymore, that he

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00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:07,800
Speaker 1: urinated in glass jars and kept those jars all around

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Speaker 1: the apartment. Can you imagine it was all bunk? Of course,

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Speaker 1: all of it rumor and hearsay and conjecture. John wasn't

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Speaker 1: appearing to be making music during those last few years

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Speaker 1: of the seventies. He wasn't sitting in the corner of

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Speaker 1: a darkened room covered with a bedsheet for weeks and

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Speaker 1: months on end. He was getting out there. He was

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Speaker 1: living life. He was taking chances, though much of the

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Speaker 1: public never saw the chances he took, and some of

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00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:44,600
Speaker 1: those chances nearly took his life. There's this one great

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Speaker 1: story that someone told me shortly after John had died.

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Speaker 1: In right before his forty birthday, John decided he wanted

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Speaker 1: to hop on a forty three ft sloop that was

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Speaker 1: docked in Newport, Rhode Island and sail it through the

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Speaker 1: Bermuda Triangle to the act full island of Bermuda. He'd

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Speaker 1: spent some time on a friend's yacht in the Long

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Speaker 1: Island Sound, and he got the bug to go on

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Speaker 1: a longer voyage. So he found a group of friends

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Speaker 1: who would go with him. And I'm not making this up.

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Speaker 1: The guy driving the yacht was called Captain Hank seven

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Speaker 1: miles along cargo roots next to behemoth tankers. Not to

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00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,800
Speaker 1: mention the clusterfuck that is the weather in the Bermuda Triangle,

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00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:30,640
Speaker 1: John could have disappeared into thin air or into the

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Speaker 1: deep ocean the way so many other vessels and planes

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Speaker 1: had gone missing. And they had good weather at first,

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Speaker 1: great weather. Actually that probably put John and the crew

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00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:43,400
Speaker 1: a little too much at ease because when the storm hit,

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Speaker 1: and the storm always hits in the Triangle, it took

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00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:51,880
Speaker 1: them by surprise. His gardens down, The water turned black,

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00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:56,160
Speaker 1: the winds kicked up, the waves crested at twenty ft tall.

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Speaker 1: The ocean tossed that sloop from one watery hump to another.

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00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:05,080
Speaker 1: The elements conspired to swallow the yacht hole to reach

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Speaker 1: out and grab the deck hands one by one and

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00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:09,600
Speaker 1: throw them screaming into the waves and down to the

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Speaker 1: bottom of the sea. His garbage down where the people

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Speaker 1: knew for forty eight hours. Captain Hank commanded the wheel,

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Speaker 1: and when he became too tired to go on, when

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Speaker 1: the wind had snapped his face raw and the water

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Speaker 1: had soaked him to the bone, he asked John to

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Speaker 1: take over. It was a trial by fire, or rather

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Speaker 1: by wind and water, and son of a bitch, would

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Speaker 1: you believe that John came out unscathed on the other

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Speaker 1: side of that storm. He made it to Bermuda. The

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Speaker 1: entire crew made it with him. He was highly intelligent.

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Speaker 1: He felt the thrill of overcoming a life threatening challenge.

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Speaker 1: He felt untouchable, he felt lucky, and he felt inspired,

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Speaker 1: so inspired that he came back to New York City

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Speaker 1: after his unbelievable journey, and he knew what he was

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Speaker 1: going to do next. He was going to make a record.

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Speaker 1: He had it all in his head. It had been

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Speaker 1: there all along, Just like the painter in the parable

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Speaker 1: about the Japanese Lord, John was done preparing. He was

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Speaker 1: ready to create. We'll be right back after this word

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Speaker 1: word word now. I think John's intentions were good, great,

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Speaker 1: even as he entered a new phase of his creative life.

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00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:37,200
Speaker 1: I know a thing or two about starting over. ABC

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00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:40,960
Speaker 1: canceled my talk show in nine. Despite the fact that

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00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:44,960
Speaker 1: I had intelligent conversations, or as John would say, halfway intelligent,

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00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:50,480
Speaker 1: with celebrities like Marlon Brando, Laurence Olivier, Katherine Hepburn, and

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00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:53,280
Speaker 1: Norman Mailer, the ratings had dipped too much for the

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00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:57,560
Speaker 1: network's liking. Some said, if the show hadn't been halfway intelligent,

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00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:01,760
Speaker 1: then we would have fared better. Well, I didn't let

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00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:05,560
Speaker 1: it take me down. I found new challenges. I've written

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00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:08,240
Speaker 1: for The New York Times, I've been in movies, I've

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00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:11,720
Speaker 1: been on Broadway. Granted it's not sailing a sloop to

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Speaker 1: Bermuda through gale force winds. But these were things that

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00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:18,119
Speaker 1: kept me from being too comfortable. You can't let yourself

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00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:22,560
Speaker 1: get too comfortable. In John Lennon's case, I also think

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00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,399
Speaker 1: that by he had become a little too comfortable with

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00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:27,920
Speaker 1: being just another face on the street in New York City.

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00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:31,159
Speaker 1: I think he truly thought he had achieved peak anonymity,

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00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:34,400
Speaker 1: that he was just another guy wearing a New York

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Speaker 1: City T shirt, just another dad pushing his toddler and

301
00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:42,720
Speaker 1: a stroller. Of course, this couldn't be further from the truth.

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Speaker 1: He was John Lennon for God's sakes, everyone knew who

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00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:52,520
Speaker 1: he was, a very available guy. Everyone knew where he lived.

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00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:56,639
Speaker 1: Thanks to an interview in the New York Daily News,

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00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:00,240
Speaker 1: Yoko even gave specific details, not only as too where

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00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,080
Speaker 1: they were recording their new album, Double Fantasy, but what

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00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:06,320
Speaker 1: hours they were typically in the studio. Anyone who paid

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00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:09,119
Speaker 1: attention to his daily habits knew his routine. It was

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00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:11,119
Speaker 1: extremely easy to find him at the park next to

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00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:14,760
Speaker 1: the Metropolitan Museum, at Cafe La Fortuna in Central Park,

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00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:19,520
Speaker 1: going to and from the Dakota. He wasn't anything. In fact,

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00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:22,920
Speaker 1: fans just wandered up into John and Yoko's apartment off

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00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:25,600
Speaker 1: the street. I was told of one particular incident in

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00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:28,040
Speaker 1: which a fan made his way through the lobby, up

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Speaker 1: the elevator to John and Yoko's door. The door was unlocked,

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Speaker 1: of course, it was look, I always locked the door

317
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Speaker 1: of my New York City apartment, and I have a

318
00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:41,359
Speaker 1: fraction of the amount of fame that John has. But

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00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,600
Speaker 1: this curious fan found John Lennon's door unlocked and let

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00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:48,080
Speaker 1: himself in. He walked through the living room, the kitchen,

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00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:53,040
Speaker 1: He walked into John and Yoko's bedroom. Fans walking up

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00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:56,200
Speaker 1: to John's place of residence was nothing new. It happened

323
00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:59,520
Speaker 1: as early as the early seventies in England. Tittenhurst Park,

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00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:02,760
Speaker 1: the palatial country house in Ascot that John and Yoko

325
00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:06,840
Speaker 1: owned before selling it to Ringo Star. There's an unnerving

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00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:09,520
Speaker 1: and incredible scene in a documentary that was made about

327
00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:13,080
Speaker 1: the making of Imagine where a noticeably troubled man walked

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00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:14,760
Speaker 1: right up to the front door of the house and

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00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:17,359
Speaker 1: told John that he thought all of the Beatles songs

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00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:21,840
Speaker 1: had been written about him. Most people would have had

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00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,720
Speaker 1: that man ushered off the premises right away, or at

332
00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:28,879
Speaker 1: least called the authorities. But what did John do after

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00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:32,399
Speaker 1: clarifying that the Beatles songs weren't written about him? John

334
00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:35,520
Speaker 1: welcomed the man inside his house and fed him. John

335
00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:43,560
Speaker 1: showed compassion, He sought to understand. Stranger is walking into

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00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,639
Speaker 1: the Dakota Building may not have rattled John, but Yoko

337
00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:51,760
Speaker 1: was definitely concerned. Had pretty much everyone living in New

338
00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:54,680
Speaker 1: York as early as the mid seventies were pretty concerned.

339
00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:59,280
Speaker 1: Do you know about the Fear City pamphlets? I think

340
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:03,440
Speaker 1: this was ninety s. Visitors stepped off planes at LaGuardia

341
00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:06,320
Speaker 1: or JFK and walked into the terminal only to be

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00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:09,639
Speaker 1: handed these pamphlets that said Welcome to Fear City on

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00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:13,160
Speaker 1: the front with an image of Death himself. Inside were

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00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:17,240
Speaker 1: survival tips. Pulled onto your purse with both hands. Don't

345
00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:20,240
Speaker 1: leave anything of value visible in your car, not even

346
00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:25,679
Speaker 1: a couple of pennies. In fact, the pamphlet said that

347
00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,520
Speaker 1: until things got better, the best tip was to stay

348
00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:30,440
Speaker 1: the hell out of New York if at all possible.

349
00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:34,639
Speaker 1: And what's even crazier is that these pamphlets were handed

350
00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:39,359
Speaker 1: out by plane clothes officers of the NYPD. Throw the

351
00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,760
Speaker 1: son of Sam into that mix. In n while the

352
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:46,880
Speaker 1: city was enduring widespread blackouts and garbage strikes, it took

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00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:49,200
Speaker 1: a certain thick skinned individual to live in New York

354
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Speaker 1: City in the nineteen seventies. Whether or not John was

355
00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,680
Speaker 1: thick skinned, I think he was, But I think more dangerously,

356
00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:58,879
Speaker 1: he was a bit oblivious to the clear and present

357
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:03,879
Speaker 1: danger of his doubt. Yoko felt the fear and paranoia

358
00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:08,520
Speaker 1: more than most. Yoko hired an x FBI agent named

359
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:12,200
Speaker 1: Douglas McDougald to act as a bodyguard, primarily for Sean,

360
00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:15,320
Speaker 1: but she also wanted suggestions on how she and John

361
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:20,080
Speaker 1: could better protect themselves. McDougall had major concerns about how

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00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:23,080
Speaker 1: openly and lais fair the Lennen's were. He often had

363
00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:26,600
Speaker 1: no guard. He thought, at the very least, he should

364
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:29,320
Speaker 1: accompany Sean whenever he was out and about in the city,

365
00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:33,440
Speaker 1: even with Yoko there. That way, Yoko could be a

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00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:36,600
Speaker 1: mother and worry about Sean, while McDougall could worry about

367
00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:41,840
Speaker 1: everyone else. But McDougall's recommendations ran deeper than that. He

368
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:44,800
Speaker 1: wanted to assign an armed bodyguard to John and Yoko.

369
00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:47,680
Speaker 1: The armed guard would ride with them wherever they went.

370
00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:50,879
Speaker 1: He'd check their car and surroundings before they got in,

371
00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:54,440
Speaker 1: and then when they reached their destination, the bodyguard would

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00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:56,280
Speaker 1: be the first out of the car to once again

373
00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:59,560
Speaker 1: clear the area before John and Yoko emerged in plain sight.

374
00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:02,920
Speaker 1: John had made his fair share of enemies over the years.

375
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,000
Speaker 1: He spoke his mind, he didn't hold back. He was

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00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:12,600
Speaker 1: highly intelligent. He'd offended the Christian Right, He'd offended the Crown.

377
00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:19,560
Speaker 1: He'd offended Nixon. He won't like anything. He defended Beatles fans.

378
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,760
Speaker 1: He'd offended the American jingoists who thought he should just

379
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:28,080
Speaker 1: shut the hell up and go back to England. He

380
00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,040
Speaker 1: defended people in bars in Los Angeles who were just

381
00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:33,439
Speaker 1: out for a good time and instead were treated to

382
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:37,800
Speaker 1: a drunken display of entitlement. I think it's safe to

383
00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:41,440
Speaker 1: say that by just about everyone who still thought about

384
00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:44,080
Speaker 1: John Lennon had their own opinion about John Lennon, and

385
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:47,320
Speaker 1: it's also safe to say that most opinions were radically

386
00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:53,119
Speaker 1: different than they were at the height of Beatlemania. But

387
00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:57,359
Speaker 1: John had a plan. He was recording an album, Double Fantasy,

388
00:24:57,440 --> 00:24:59,480
Speaker 1: with his wife Yoko, and it was going to be

389
00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:01,800
Speaker 1: the way back into the hearts and minds of the public.

390
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:04,800
Speaker 1: He would win over those who had written him off

391
00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:07,359
Speaker 1: and remind everybody who had forgotten about him how great

392
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:11,680
Speaker 1: he was. The record buying and radio listening public would

393
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:13,920
Speaker 1: remember what it was they loved so much about John

394
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:19,000
Speaker 1: Lennon in the first place. That was the whope at least. John, however,

395
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:22,000
Speaker 1: should have been on higher alert because the people who

396
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:25,040
Speaker 1: hadn't forgotten about him, well, they thought about him a lot.

397
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:30,200
Speaker 1: He was highly intelligent. One in particular, it turns out,

398
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:32,400
Speaker 1: who did nothing but think about the ways in which

399
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:36,920
Speaker 1: John Lennon had brought him down. Let him down, left

400
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:42,240
Speaker 1: him down a very available guy. This person was down

401
00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:46,199
Speaker 1: he thought John Lennon had put him there, which, to

402
00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,000
Speaker 1: use this person's own logic meant that John Lennon was

403
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,720
Speaker 1: a charlattan, a turncoat, the very opposite of what he

404
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 1: appeared to be. And as I said, John Lennon was

405
00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,680
Speaker 1: also very much in the public eye. You could walk

406
00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:04,600
Speaker 1: up to him, ask for his autograph, shake his hands down.

407
00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:07,880
Speaker 1: On a visit to New York, you were just as

408
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:10,719
Speaker 1: likely to see John Lennon walking down seventy Street as

409
00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 1: you were to see yellow cabs and rats scurrying in

410
00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:19,520
Speaker 1: the subway cliche. So evil came to Fear City, and

411
00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:24,000
Speaker 1: evil found John Lennon living without fear. I used to

412
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:26,639
Speaker 1: live near the Dakota Building, and had I still been

413
00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:30,199
Speaker 1: living there in December, I probably would have heard the

414
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:34,240
Speaker 1: shots ring out, though I'm glad I didn't, because I

415
00:26:34,280 --> 00:27:06,040
Speaker 1: don't think the sound would have ever left me. On

416
00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:11,320
Speaker 1: November sevente John and Yoko on No Lennon released Double Fantasy,

417
00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:14,000
Speaker 1: the first album by either of them in more than

418
00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:17,280
Speaker 1: five years. It was the longest John had gone between

419
00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:21,439
Speaker 1: albums since nineteen sixty three. The fourteen songs on the

420
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:25,600
Speaker 1: album alternated between John songs just Like Starting Over, Watching

421
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,399
Speaker 1: the Wheels, and Women, to name a few, and Yoko

422
00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,600
Speaker 1: songs like Kiss, Kiss Kiss, and every Man Has a

423
00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:35,280
Speaker 1: Woman Who Loves Him. The lead single, Just Like Starting

424
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:38,600
Speaker 1: Over didn't exactly fly into the number one slot upon

425
00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:41,200
Speaker 1: its release, but it did make it into the top

426
00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:45,800
Speaker 1: ten within the first few weeks. Some fans, who had

427
00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:49,080
Speaker 1: waited so long and so patiently for new John songs

428
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:52,120
Speaker 1: were loath to be subjected to Yokos songs in between.

429
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,040
Speaker 1: Some would pick the needle up on their turntable every

430
00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:57,320
Speaker 1: time a John song ended and move it forward to

431
00:27:57,359 --> 00:27:59,320
Speaker 1: the next groove in the vinyl where the next John

432
00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:03,679
Speaker 1: song began. In Critics, however, weren't especially kind to Yogo

433
00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:07,560
Speaker 1: or John. The l a time said, quote, those expecting

434
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:11,400
Speaker 1: the return of the mythical Lenin will be sorely disillusioned unquote.

435
00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:15,480
Speaker 1: The Washington Post accused John's songs of quote general lack

436
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:20,880
Speaker 1: of substance, lyrical directness, and undistinguished melodies unquote. The UK

437
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,320
Speaker 1: press was even nastier. Melody Maker declared the record to

438
00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:27,400
Speaker 1: be a quote god awful yawn unquote. In the New

439
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:31,240
Speaker 1: musical Express, Charles shar Murray suggested that quote Lennon keep

440
00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:34,280
Speaker 1: his big happy trap shut until he has something to say,

441
00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:37,240
Speaker 1: even vaguely relevant to those of us not married to

442
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:42,720
Speaker 1: Yoko Ono unquote. The critics were wrong, of course, as

443
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:46,280
Speaker 1: critics often are. The last album John Lennon released while

444
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:49,040
Speaker 1: he was alive did extol the laid back virtues of

445
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:52,200
Speaker 1: house husbandry and family life. It may have even defined

446
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:54,400
Speaker 1: the sub genre that, with decades later, come to be

447
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 1: known as dad rock. The songs, however, are simple and expressive,

448
00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:03,280
Speaker 1: and the melo these are anything but undistinguished. Yokos songs

449
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:07,160
Speaker 1: offer an experimental counterbalance to John's and strive to keep

450
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:11,280
Speaker 1: one of his feet firmly planted in the avant pop scene.

451
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,400
Speaker 1: A few weeks after Double Fantasy was released, on the

452
00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 1: afternoon of Friday, December five, Mark Snyder pulled his cab

453
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:22,640
Speaker 1: over at the intersection of Eighth Avenue in fifty five

454
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:25,600
Speaker 1: Street to pick up a fair. The man who climbed

455
00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:30,120
Speaker 1: into the back seat was heavy set, a spectacle, invisibly agitated.

456
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:32,840
Speaker 1: He carried a heavy Duffel bag and had a copy

457
00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:35,640
Speaker 1: of the latest issue of Playboy magazine rolled up under

458
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:38,600
Speaker 1: his arm, the one that featured an extensive interview with

459
00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:43,040
Speaker 1: John Lennon. The man gave the cabby three addresses. The

460
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:47,320
Speaker 1: first was the Century Apartments on Central Park West. Snyder

461
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:49,520
Speaker 1: pulled the cab to the side of the road and

462
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:52,240
Speaker 1: the man told him to wait. A few minutes later,

463
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 1: the man was back in the cab and gave Snyder

464
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 1: a second address, sixty five and Second Avenue. Snyder drove

465
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:01,600
Speaker 1: to the location, and once again the man asked Snyder

466
00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:04,760
Speaker 1: to wait while he ran inside for a moment. Both

467
00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:07,120
Speaker 1: times the man carried the heavy Duffel bag with him,

468
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 1: and both times he returned to the cab out of breath.

469
00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:13,480
Speaker 1: This time, when the man returned, his irritation seemed to

470
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:18,000
Speaker 1: have subsided. He was no longer stewing, his eyes had softened.

471
00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:20,800
Speaker 1: Snyder looked back at the man's pudgy face and the

472
00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:23,960
Speaker 1: CAB's rear view mirror and saw a smile come over him.

473
00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:30,479
Speaker 1: The man laughed, and then he started talking. I just

474
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:32,960
Speaker 1: have to tell you this, it's just too cool. I

475
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,200
Speaker 1: just dropped off some tapes of John Lennon and Paul

476
00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:39,840
Speaker 1: McCartney studio sessions they just recorded today. Lennon and McCartney.

477
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,160
Speaker 1: They played for like three hours. I was the engineer.

478
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:45,720
Speaker 1: I engineer all of John's stuff. Snyder admitted that he

479
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,000
Speaker 1: was too cool. Eight million stories in the Naked City,

480
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:50,760
Speaker 1: and this was one of them who would have thunk it.

481
00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:54,400
Speaker 1: John and Paul at it again. But what Snyder didn't

482
00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:56,520
Speaker 1: know was that the man in the back of his cab,

483
00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:00,480
Speaker 1: the man telling this incredible story, wasn't an audio engineer

484
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:03,200
Speaker 1: at all. He'd never laid eyes on John Lennon in

485
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:06,280
Speaker 1: his lighte. Snyder didn't know that the man in the

486
00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:09,400
Speaker 1: back of his cab had recently stopped having hallucinations for

487
00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:12,200
Speaker 1: long enough to get himself from Hawaii to New York City,

488
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:15,040
Speaker 1: where he booked a sixteen dollar and fifty cent room

489
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:17,240
Speaker 1: at the y m c A and hit the streets

490
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:19,080
Speaker 1: of the Big Apple with a copy of The Catcher

491
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:23,040
Speaker 1: in the Rye stuffed in the back pocket of his jeans. Suddenly,

492
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:27,000
Speaker 1: the man's mood changed again, his smile bent into a grimace.

493
00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:29,480
Speaker 1: He shook his head a few times in quick succession.

494
00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:33,840
Speaker 1: The man then gave Snyder one final destination, Bleaker Street,

495
00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:37,960
Speaker 1: Fifth Avenue, and they arrived and the man paid his fare.

496
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,440
Speaker 1: Thanks Snyder and asked him his name. Snyder's answer appeared

497
00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:44,520
Speaker 1: to give the man some fleeting happiness. Wow, he said,

498
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:47,440
Speaker 1: your name is Mark too. Huh, what are the chances?

499
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,920
Speaker 1: And then Mark David Chapman hoisted up his duffel bag,

500
00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:55,280
Speaker 1: exited Snyder's cab, and headed out in search of a

501
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:57,720
Speaker 1: record store so that he could purchase a brand new

502
00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:01,120
Speaker 1: copy of Double Fantasy, the lay this album from John

503
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:03,840
Speaker 1: Lennon and Yoko Ono. He would then bring it over

504
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,320
Speaker 1: to the Dakota Building off Central Park West for the

505
00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:09,520
Speaker 1: next phase of his plan, a plan that will begin

506
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:12,640
Speaker 1: with asking the phony people for an autograph and end

507
00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:31,280
Speaker 1: with Blood on the Tracks. Kay, all right, everybody, thanks

508
00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,480
Speaker 1: for listening to Blood on the Tracks. If you like

509
00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:35,760
Speaker 1: what you hear, be sure to find and follow Blood

510
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,760
Speaker 1: on the Tracks on Apple podcast, I Heart Radio, app,

511
00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:42,200
Speaker 1: Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. On this

512
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:44,720
Speaker 1: season two of Blood on the Tracks, we'll be releasing

513
00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:47,960
Speaker 1: ten episodes on the Incredible Life of John Lennon, with

514
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,080
Speaker 1: a new episode every Thursday. You can also binge all

515
00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:54,479
Speaker 1: ten episodes of season one on the insane story of

516
00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:58,000
Speaker 1: the notorious record producer Phil Spector right now. It's available

517
00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:00,920
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. This episode of Blood on

518
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,440
Speaker 1: the Tracks was written by Zeth Lundie and hosted an

519
00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:07,320
Speaker 1: executive produced by me Jake Brennan. Also executive produced by

520
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:10,959
Speaker 1: Brady sab Story and copy editing by Pat Healy. This

521
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:14,320
Speaker 1: episode was mixed by Colin Fleming, Additional music and score

522
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:18,520
Speaker 1: elements by Ryan Spraaker. This episode featured Chris Anzeloni as

523
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,600
Speaker 1: Dick Cabint. Blood on the Tracks is produced by Double

524
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,920
Speaker 1: Elvis and partnership with I Heart Radio. Sources for this

525
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:28,080
Speaker 1: episode are available at Double Elvis dot com on the

526
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:30,440
Speaker 1: Blood on the Track series page. If you want to

527
00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:32,480
Speaker 1: chat about this show or hear more about the other

528
00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:35,680
Speaker 1: shows we're making a Double Elvis tap in on Instagram

529
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:39,040
Speaker 1: at double Elvis, on Twitter at Double Elvis FM, and

530
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:41,800
Speaker 1: now on Twitch where we're streaming three days a week

531
00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:46,360
Speaker 1: at Twitch dot tv slash Double Elvis Podcasts, And finally,

532
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:49,520
Speaker 1: be sure to check out disgrace Land, the award winning

533
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:53,080
Speaker 1: music and true crime podcast that I also host. Disgraceland

534
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,200
Speaker 1: is available only on the free Amazon Music To hear

535
00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:59,320
Speaker 1: tons of insane stories about your favorite musicians getting away

536
00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:01,480
Speaker 1: with murder and be have you very badly go to

537
00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:04,520
Speaker 1: Amazon dot com slash disgrace Land, or if you have

538
00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:08,640
Speaker 1: an Echo device, just say Alexa. Play the disgrace Land podcast,

539
00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:19,800
Speaker 1: Rock Amoll, That Crazy, Our Dad,