1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:17,919 Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The story of 2 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:22,079 Speaker 1: the Beatles their meteoric rise from working class backgrounds to 3 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:25,639 Speaker 1: global icons in such a short time span is so 4 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:30,040 Speaker 1: complex that two episodes were needed to properly tell this story. 5 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: If you're just getting hip to this now, I suggest 6 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:35,599 Speaker 1: you hit pause and go back to the last episode 7 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:39,239 Speaker 1: of Disgraceland, part one of the Beatles' story, or if 8 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:42,600 Speaker 1: you're looking exclusively for a deep dive into John Lennon 9 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: in his final days, you should check out the two 10 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: part episode dedicated to the assassination of John from season 11 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 1: two of Disgraceland. In this episode, however, we get into 12 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: earlier assassins right wing Japanese Kamikazi's trained on murdering the 13 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: not so innocent mob tops. We also get into the Beatles' 14 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:05,160 Speaker 1: continued exploration into drugs and the smuggling of cash and 15 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:09,839 Speaker 1: LSD from America, a deranged woman's brief kidnapping by a Beatle, 16 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: and the suicide of the band's manager. Of course, we 17 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: discussed the influence of Yoko Ono and track the demise 18 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 1: of the greatest band of all time, a band that 19 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:24,040 Speaker 1: made great music like the greatest music in the history 20 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: of the world. Unlike that music I played for you 21 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: at the top of the show. That wasn't great music. 22 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 1: That was a preset loop for my melotron called Skies 23 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: of Blazon MK two. I played you that loop because 24 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: I can't afford the rights to ode to Billy Joe 25 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,160 Speaker 1: by Bobby Gentry. And why would I play you that 26 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: specific slice of Tallahatchee Bridge Cheese. Could I afford it? 27 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:52,560 Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on 28 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: August twenty seventh, nineteen sixty seven, And that was the 29 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: day the Beatles manager Brian Epstein killed himself and effectively 30 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: pushed the Beatles into their third and final act as 31 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:11,359 Speaker 1: a group. On this episode, Kamikazi Assassin's acid smuggling, suicide, kidnapping, 32 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 1: and the breakup of the greatest band of all time, 33 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: The Beatles. I'm Jake Brennan in this this disgraceland Brian Epstein, 34 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 1: manager of the biggest pop group on the planet, was afraid. 35 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,920 Speaker 1: He was sweating profusely from the fluorescent lights bearing down 36 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 1: on him in London's he Throw Airport. Maybe it was 37 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:59,640 Speaker 1: the pills, not the fear. Maybe he was being paranoid. 38 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,919 Speaker 1: What did they know anyway, and how would they find 39 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 1: the money without the indignity of a search. They would 40 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: never search him, not him, not now the Beatles were 41 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 1: the UK's greatest cultural export. Whatever confidence this lended the 42 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: young pop manager, it didn't erase the fear. If customs 43 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: agents did search his luggage, all that cash would have 44 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: to be explained, and there was of course no explaining it. 45 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: He'd be through, and so too would his beloved Beatles. 46 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,640 Speaker 1: Paul would never forgive him. Paul's judgment would be swift, 47 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 1: and Brian feared Paul had it out for him from 48 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 1: the beginning, and John forget it. His dreams of one 49 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: day settling John down, Well, that would never happen, as 50 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: if it ever would, and the Beatles of Brian Epstein 51 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: would be no more. Brian was a long way but 52 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: a short while removed from Liverpool's Cavern Club on that 53 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 1: day back in nineteen sixty one when he first saw 54 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: what would become this life's work, the Beatles. From that 55 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: moment on, the Beatles became his obsession and he became 56 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: their manager. Bryan threw himself into the work of shepherding 57 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: of the group's career with an intensity to drive that 58 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 1: made him the group fantastically rich. Just two years from 59 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 1: the day he first met them, in early nineteen sixty three, 60 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:19,799 Speaker 1: the Beatles completed their conquest of America. It was official. 61 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 1: They were now the world's most popular group and top 62 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:25,919 Speaker 1: selling pop group, and there was little to actually worry 63 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:30,160 Speaker 1: about aside from all the money. More specifically, what to 64 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: do with it. Bringing it home from America was particularly distressing. 65 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: The British Inland Revenue Service, the equivalent of the American IRS, 66 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,279 Speaker 1: was there in London waiting to collect its ninety four 67 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: percent ninety four percent of every dollar every pound made 68 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:49,560 Speaker 1: by these four working class kids from Liverpool was to 69 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 1: go to the government, not into their own bank accounts 70 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:56,600 Speaker 1: or to their families, but to the government ninety four percent. 71 00:04:57,320 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: The fact that a large portion of this money was 72 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 1: generated outside of the UK and the United States made 73 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: the collection of it even more onerous. The Beatles were 74 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: estimated to sell six million pounds worth of albums that year, 75 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,679 Speaker 1: their royalty rate was minuscule. Most of the gross money 76 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,360 Speaker 1: went to their record label EMI. Whatever was left ninety 77 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,480 Speaker 1: four percent of it went to the government. Then Brian 78 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,279 Speaker 1: took his twenty five percent management fee. The balance was 79 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 1: then divided amongst John, Paul, George and Ringo, whereupon John 80 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: and Paul received the lion's share for writing the songs. 81 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 1: Let's game this out. You're a working class kid named 82 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 1: I don't know George from the middle of bumpfuck nowhere 83 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:42,840 Speaker 1: in northern England. You don't have a cent to your name. 84 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:46,159 Speaker 1: Your lot in life is determined at birth. You're to 85 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:48,479 Speaker 1: be a butcher's assistant, or drive a lorry, or work 86 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:50,919 Speaker 1: on the docks, make a meager living, just enough to 87 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: support your family so you don't starve. You'll break your 88 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: back working and die with little if any savings. But 89 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,840 Speaker 1: you decide that type of future is unacceptable because deep 90 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 1: down you're a dreamer. So you get your hands on 91 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: a guitar as a kid, and then probably teach yourself 92 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,480 Speaker 1: to play. Then you join a band with three older 93 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: kids from town and forsake your future and any security 94 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: you might have, and plunge yourself into a true hand 95 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:18,359 Speaker 1: to mouth existence. You risk it all to make a 96 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,479 Speaker 1: living doing something you love, and you work your ass off. 97 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:25,720 Speaker 1: It's fun but dangerous and low and behold hard work, intelligence, 98 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:28,720 Speaker 1: and grit amount to something, and your risk pays off. 99 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: You create a job for yourself out of thin air. 100 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: Not only that you're the best at it in the world, 101 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: and as should be the case, you're paid handsomely for 102 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:41,359 Speaker 1: your risk and your hard work and your ingenuity. You 103 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: and your band. Oh I don't know, for the sake 104 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: of easy math, earn, let's say six million pounds one year. 105 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: Your name and face are everywhere, as are the songs 106 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:53,039 Speaker 1: you play. You create a product that people can't go without. 107 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:57,240 Speaker 1: You create demand. You must be fabulously wealthy. Your family 108 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:00,520 Speaker 1: can't believe it. Georgie boys struck it rich dreams will 109 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:03,120 Speaker 1: all soon come true for a Georgie boy will surely 110 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:07,640 Speaker 1: take care of them. Six million pounds. But wait a minute. 111 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 1: Of that six million, the record label takes their cut, which, unbelievably, 112 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: due to the ridiculous contract signed by our assat manager, 113 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 1: was for the sake of argument, generously understood to be 114 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: about ninety percent. Ninety percent of six million is five 115 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: point four million to the record label. So now you've 116 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:28,560 Speaker 1: got six hundred thousand. Okay, even with the stupid contract. 117 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: Six hundred thousand and nineteen sixty three is the equivalent 118 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 1: of about five million today, not bad. Not bad. At 119 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: least the record company did something to earn their cut. 120 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 1: They put up the money for production, manufacturing, distribution and promotion. 121 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 1: The government, on the other hand, they did nothing. But 122 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. They're taking ninety four percent, ninety four 123 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:52,480 Speaker 1: percent of your six hundred grand, So now you've only 124 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: got thirty six thousand, and your manager has to take 125 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:58,240 Speaker 1: his twenty five percent. So now you're down to twenty 126 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: seven thousand. But you've got to split that with your bandmates, 127 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:03,320 Speaker 1: and you don't write the song, so most of that money, 128 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: say seventy five percent goes to the two songwriters. Now 129 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 1: you're down to six seven hundred and fifty that you 130 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 1: have to split with your non songwriting drummer, which means 131 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: at the end of the day that you get three 132 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: three hundred and seventy five pounds. Not bad, almost three 133 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: times what most Londoners took home in a year in 134 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty three. But let's not forget you started by 135 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:33,960 Speaker 1: generating six million, six million, and you get a little 136 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:38,520 Speaker 1: more than three grand. Bad record company contracts, management fees, 137 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:42,200 Speaker 1: and songwriters royalties. Aside, due to Britain's ninety four percent 138 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:45,240 Speaker 1: tax rate, the paltry cut the Beatles took home after 139 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:47,960 Speaker 1: all of their hard work was nothing short of criminal. 140 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: Brian Epstein, despite his twenty five percent, agreed a plan 141 00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:00,680 Speaker 1: was hatched, fight fire with fire to feel their money 142 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: before the taxman got the opportunity to steal it first. 143 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: In England, where they lived, there was little they could 144 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 1: do about the taxman, but in America it was a 145 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 1: different story. Whenever possible, Brian Epstein demanded payment for Beetles 146 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 1: live performances in cash. Oftentimes he demanded cash up front, 147 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:22,680 Speaker 1: sometimes as much as fifty percent. In the United States, 148 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:25,840 Speaker 1: whatever cash he collected was stuffed into brown paper bags, 149 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: and that cash, along with performance fees paid in checks, 150 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:32,640 Speaker 1: were deposited into small, local American banks. While the Beatles 151 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: scurried around the country playing concerts. Brian kept the books 152 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: while on the road, and upon re entering the UK, 153 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: the books would reflect an amount of gross income that 154 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:44,560 Speaker 1: did not include the vast sums of money Brian had 155 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:48,080 Speaker 1: left behind in the small American banks, thus keeping that 156 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:52,280 Speaker 1: money safe from the taxman's clutches. Brian would return to 157 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:54,920 Speaker 1: the US a few weeks later by himself on quote 158 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 1: unquote business and make his withdrawals in cash and then 159 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:04,960 Speaker 1: smuggle that cas back into the UK, or try to anyway. 160 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:10,640 Speaker 1: The customs agent was young, curious, a bit rough around 161 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 1: the edges. Brian Epstein cut an impressive figure. He fought 162 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:17,760 Speaker 1: back the fear and paranoia and charmed the boy, and 163 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:20,440 Speaker 1: he was allowed to pass through customs unsearched with his 164 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:24,160 Speaker 1: luggage filled with cash, deduct his twenty five percent, and 165 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: distribute the rest of the band, ensuring that they'd properly 166 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:34,280 Speaker 1: be compensated. Outside of the Queen's good graces, The Beatles 167 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: themselves were clueless of the major tax fraud perpetrated on 168 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:41,240 Speaker 1: their behalf. Brian never told them where the money came from, 169 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 1: and they didn't ask. Brian was taking care of them, 170 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:48,600 Speaker 1: as was his charge, a charge that was becoming increasingly difficult. 171 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:52,000 Speaker 1: As their popularity continued to skyrocket Throughout the early to 172 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 1: mid sixties, Touring for the band had become a joke. 173 00:10:56,920 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: Aside from the brown paper bag money, touring offered little 174 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 1: to the band Beyond hassel. Playing music was next to impossible. 175 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,400 Speaker 1: The Beatles couldn't hear themselves on stage over the screaming audience, 176 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:10,960 Speaker 1: no matter what venues they played. And making matters worse 177 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:13,680 Speaker 1: on the road, The Beatles were prisoners of their own fame, 178 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:17,360 Speaker 1: unable under the best circumstances to leave their hotel rooms 179 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:22,240 Speaker 1: for fear of being torn to shreds by their adoring fans. 180 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: Now in a post Bob Dylan reality, the band were 181 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:32,040 Speaker 1: stoned literally all the time and increasingly paranoid, and in 182 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:35,920 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six in Japan for good reason. For it 183 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:39,040 Speaker 1: wasn't adoring fans looking to smother them with aggressive affection 184 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,600 Speaker 1: that was the problem. It was assassin's hell bent on 185 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: shooting down the Anglo pop stars who'd come to their 186 00:11:45,280 --> 00:11:50,400 Speaker 1: country seemingly to disrespect their heritage. The Beatles were booked 187 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 1: to perform at Budhakan, a sacred venue to the Japanese, 188 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:56,800 Speaker 1: a shrine to deceased war heroes, some of whom had 189 00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:59,120 Speaker 1: given their lives in the fight against the British and 190 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 1: their allies the Second World War just two decades prior. 191 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: The band was met upon arrival at the airport by 192 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:11,960 Speaker 1: Tokyo's Police Commissioner in several thousand armed Japanese troops. John Paul, 193 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 1: George Ringobrian and their entourage were informed that a right 194 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:19,000 Speaker 1: wing kill squad was determined to assassinate them for their 195 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:22,640 Speaker 1: plans to desecrate Budakan with their music. If they were 196 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:24,839 Speaker 1: to survive, they were to remain under the protection of 197 00:12:24,880 --> 00:12:27,360 Speaker 1: the Commissioner and do as he said, which meant they 198 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:30,360 Speaker 1: were to go nowhere and see no one. And the 199 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:33,600 Speaker 1: Commissioner was serious, as was the tone of the ten 200 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:36,840 Speaker 1: thousand fans assembled upon the route to the Tokyo Hilton, 201 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:39,839 Speaker 1: where they'd be staying. And they were there ostensibly to 202 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:42,960 Speaker 1: cheer the English pop stars on, but the crowd, compared 203 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:45,960 Speaker 1: to other crowds they it encountered, was less fanatic, more 204 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:50,839 Speaker 1: stern Ominous signs with Beetles go home peppered the crowd, 205 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:53,439 Speaker 1: and the air was marked by the nervous faces of 206 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 1: their outnumbered protectors. So alone, the Beatles sat in their 207 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:04,800 Speaker 1: presidential of their hotel, racked with fear. Paul paced, John 208 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:08,319 Speaker 1: made nervous jokes, and George was more quiet than usual. 209 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:12,120 Speaker 1: The ringo tried escaping more than once, and their rooms 210 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:15,800 Speaker 1: were patrolled by armed guards, and the Beatles weren't going anywhere, 211 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 1: so they waited in a collective state of deep paranoia, 212 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:24,439 Speaker 1: impatient to perform on stage. Where not one, but numerous 213 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:27,679 Speaker 1: right wing assassins would be well positioned to take them 214 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:30,600 Speaker 1: out while they toiled with instruments. The audience would never 215 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:35,640 Speaker 1: hear for what for less than six percent, This fear, 216 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:39,680 Speaker 1: this paranoia, their lives. Was it worth it? The answer was, 217 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:47,480 Speaker 1: of course no. It was an easier way, assuming they 218 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,920 Speaker 1: survived the concert at Budakhan. After this tour there would 219 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:54,880 Speaker 1: be changes, no more live shows. John was all for it, 220 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:57,600 Speaker 1: He'd convince the others, and Brian would be forced to 221 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:01,199 Speaker 1: go along. The Beatles would make their way recording artists 222 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:05,320 Speaker 1: inside the sanctum of EMI's Abbey Road studios, safe and 223 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:08,200 Speaker 1: free to pour all their efforts into creating music. As 224 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:12,200 Speaker 1: opposed to running themselves ragged performing music. They double down 225 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:15,360 Speaker 1: on expression, blow their own minds as well as the world, 226 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:18,320 Speaker 1: sell more records because of it, and increase their bottom 227 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 1: line in the process, despite the ninety four percent tax rate, 228 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: despite the lack of brown paper bag money from ticket sales. 229 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 1: But before that, they need to get back home again 230 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:51,200 Speaker 1: to London and get their hands on some American LSD. 231 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:55,320 Speaker 1: Getting back home again in the figurative sense, back to 232 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 1: being just a great little band, nothing more. Nothing less 233 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:04,160 Speaker 1: beyond the complications of top tier tax income in Japanese 234 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 1: assassins was proving harder for the Beatles by the minute. 235 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:10,800 Speaker 1: For at the moment, despite forsaking the road for the 236 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:14,960 Speaker 1: recording studio, John, Paul, George and Ringo were once again 237 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 1: on stage, but this time not in a stadium or 238 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 1: a concert hall, but in a makeshift television studio in 239 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:24,680 Speaker 1: front of a small a list crowd seated on the 240 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:28,640 Speaker 1: floor at their feet. Mick Jagger, Maryanne Faithful, Eric Clapton, 241 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:32,840 Speaker 1: Keith Moon, British television personalities and various members of Swinging 242 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:36,240 Speaker 1: London's smart set were all assembled in the newly fashionable 243 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 1: Flower Power stylings and excited to hear the Beatles' performance 244 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: of their new single for the popular Our World international 245 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 1: television broadcast. Once again. John Lennon was afraid this performance 246 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:52,760 Speaker 1: would be seen by two hundred million people worldwide, and 247 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:56,760 Speaker 1: they were broadcasting live. One mistake, one flubb note, one 248 00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: missed lyric and it would all be shot to shit. 249 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:02,040 Speaker 1: And it was himself, Paul George and Ringo he had 250 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:05,240 Speaker 1: to worry about. There were other performers as well, a 251 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:09,800 Speaker 1: thirteen piece orchestra. John had no control over that. In 252 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:12,600 Speaker 1: the pre recorded backing track they were all performing on 253 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:14,880 Speaker 1: top of to round out the mix. Didn't make the 254 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 1: event any less nerve wracking. They still had to nail 255 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:23,160 Speaker 1: the vocals. Couldn't fix everything in post two hundred million people. 256 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:26,720 Speaker 1: How the fuck did this happen? This pressure, this success, 257 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:31,240 Speaker 1: this influenced, this exposure. John tried calming his nerves pre 258 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:33,960 Speaker 1: show by thinking about the party they were attending after 259 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: the broadcast. Brian was hosting at his flat. Most here 260 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:40,120 Speaker 1: at the studio would be there, and so too would 261 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:44,000 Speaker 1: Alsley's acid. John had arranged for the American chemist to 262 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: create a batch especially for them, and great efforts were 263 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:49,640 Speaker 1: made in getting the illegal substance from the States to 264 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:56,760 Speaker 1: the Beatles in London. June eighteenth, nineteen sixty seven, one 265 00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: week prior to the Beatles Our World broadcast, John had 266 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:03,800 Speaker 1: arranged for a film crew to arrive in Monterey, California, 267 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: a couple miles away from Bear Osley's laboratory. Monterey was 268 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:10,760 Speaker 1: chosen on this day because it was the date of 269 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:14,199 Speaker 1: the Monterey Pop Festival, a first of its kind, an 270 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 1: outdoor music festival with major axe otis Redding Jennis Chaplin, 271 00:17:18,320 --> 00:17:22,200 Speaker 1: The Who, and Jimmy Hendrix performing, among others, an occasion 272 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:24,560 Speaker 1: if there ever was one, that was worthy of documenting 273 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:27,400 Speaker 1: on film, which is why the Beatles sent the film crew. 274 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,440 Speaker 1: But the Beatles knew full well that the film rights 275 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:33,560 Speaker 1: for the festival had been granted to someone else, their 276 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:37,280 Speaker 1: crew was denied access to shoot. So off to Olesley's 277 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,160 Speaker 1: lab went the Beatles' film equipment, where it was stuffed 278 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:43,960 Speaker 1: with files of liquid LSD and inconspicuously shipped back to 279 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:48,159 Speaker 1: London with its illicit contraband undetected by authorities, as was 280 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:52,760 Speaker 1: the plan all along. Sitting on his stool on stage 281 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,399 Speaker 1: waiting the countdown to the broadcast, John Lennon knew that 282 00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:59,960 Speaker 1: the LSD was now carefully arranged in pint sized files 283 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,600 Speaker 1: on Brian Epstein's bookshelf in his flat, waiting for him 284 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:05,879 Speaker 1: and his guests, and he couldn't wait to get his 285 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:09,359 Speaker 1: hands on it. But first there was the matter of 286 00:18:09,359 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: the two hundred million people on the other end of 287 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 1: the lenses currently pointed at him five four three two. 288 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:24,520 Speaker 1: To John's relief, the band settled in nicely to the 289 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:27,439 Speaker 1: beginning of the song All You Need Is Love. It 290 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:32,560 Speaker 1: was written especially for this moment, so simple, so childlike, innocent, 291 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:38,640 Speaker 1: direct it's simplicity tempered by the complex orchestral accompaniment. Nineteen 292 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:43,360 Speaker 1: sixty seven, five years a gazillion record sold, a global 293 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:47,800 Speaker 1: audience of a couple hundred million people and thirteen orchestral members. 294 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:51,440 Speaker 1: Removed from the simplicity of the Cavern Club, the Beatles 295 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,240 Speaker 1: were never further from being just a great little band, 296 00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:57,840 Speaker 1: but they were somehow immune to the pressure of it all. 297 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 1: Whatever fear John had, you could hear hardly tell from 298 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:04,120 Speaker 1: his performance. He and the band were locked in together, 299 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:08,560 Speaker 1: four minds as one. In the studio audience, like all Beatles' audiences, 300 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 1: was enraptured, as was the audience at home. By the 301 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:15,000 Speaker 1: time the second chorus hits, it's clear that the show 302 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:18,200 Speaker 1: is a success, and when the song breaks down toward 303 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:20,359 Speaker 1: its end, you can hear the band breaking free of 304 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:23,159 Speaker 1: the pomp. The inner showmen in them start to bust, 305 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 1: loose from the banal pretentiousness of the statement all you 306 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:29,480 Speaker 1: need is love, and the song and dance men start 307 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:31,920 Speaker 1: to muscle their way past the orchestra to take their 308 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:36,720 Speaker 1: place center stage. As the tunes chorus plods on, Paul 309 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:40,040 Speaker 1: can't help himself and starts to ham it up. John's 310 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:42,959 Speaker 1: nervousness begins to slip away. It's as if they are 311 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,440 Speaker 1: no longer playing to two hundred million people, and they're 312 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:47,679 Speaker 1: back at the Star Club in Germany, back at the 313 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:52,000 Speaker 1: Cavern Club in Liverpool to two hundred teenagers. John is 314 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:57,080 Speaker 1: clearly jazzed by Paul's sled improvisations. He smiles noticeably and 315 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: begins to rock back on his stool. Now he's enjoying 316 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:03,560 Speaker 1: himself more than he is performing, and Paul is spurred 317 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:06,480 Speaker 1: on by John sleevestting up. All you Need is Love 318 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:09,960 Speaker 1: chorus continues. Paul, then, out of nowhere, fills in the 319 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:13,400 Speaker 1: ends of the vocal refrain with she loves you, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, 320 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:16,760 Speaker 1: and that same famous melody, and John quickly notices what 321 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 1: he's doing and hits the early Beatles chorus with Paul 322 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:24,320 Speaker 1: in unison. As confetti rains down upon the assembled television 323 00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:28,160 Speaker 1: studio audience, John and Paul ride the nostalgic melody over 324 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:31,919 Speaker 1: their utopian refrain and out to the commercial break. In 325 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,440 Speaker 1: their minds, they are partially back where they belong, if 326 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:37,840 Speaker 1: only for a moment, a moment that will be short 327 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:42,520 Speaker 1: lived and quickly obscured by more drugs, unexpected death, arrests, 328 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:46,479 Speaker 1: a kidnapping in the witchy influence of a tiny avant 329 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 1: garde artist from Japan named Yoko. We'll be right back 330 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:03,679 Speaker 1: after this word, word word. Yoko Ono was born on 331 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 1: February eighteenth, eighteen ninety four. When she first met John 332 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:11,240 Speaker 1: Lennon in nineteen sixty six, at the age of seventy two, 333 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 1: she was most certainly the oldest woman he would ever 334 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:18,040 Speaker 1: become romantically involved with, but far from the most entertaining. 335 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:23,359 Speaker 1: That distinction belongs to Joan biaz but I Digress. Remarkably, 336 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:26,439 Speaker 1: Yoko Ono is still alive today, living comfortably on New 337 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:29,640 Speaker 1: York's Upper West Side, where she spends her time managing 338 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:33,240 Speaker 1: the Ono Lenin estate and with a diminutive, uncut Italian 339 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:37,159 Speaker 1: servant named Paco, and watching apples decompose in real time 340 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:40,320 Speaker 1: for fun. At the spry age of one hundred and 341 00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:44,679 Speaker 1: twenty seven, Yoko Ono, whose name in Japanese means ocean child, 342 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:47,720 Speaker 1: is believed to subsist on a partial diet of raw 343 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,679 Speaker 1: sea turtle and vampire bat tears. Yoko is expected to 344 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:56,400 Speaker 1: survive the remaining beatles save for Ringo Star, the world's oldest, finest, 345 00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:01,080 Speaker 1: and last remaining true song and dance man I Kid. 346 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:04,400 Speaker 1: Of course, Yoko Ono is not some sort of ageless vampire. 347 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:07,040 Speaker 1: She did not break up the Beatles. A bad mix 348 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,760 Speaker 1: of greed, distrust, and Alan Klein's hubris broke up the Beatles. 349 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,440 Speaker 1: Yoko Ono saved John Lennon from the trappings of fame, 350 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:16,720 Speaker 1: the boredom of being a Beatle at a time when 351 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:19,720 Speaker 1: being John was more interesting to him, and saved him 352 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: from himself, propelled him personally and creatively. But nevertheless, according 353 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:28,600 Speaker 1: to Beatles lore, Yoko Ono did have a vampire grip 354 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:33,200 Speaker 1: on John Lennon. To the public, to the fans, Yoko's 355 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:37,440 Speaker 1: influence on John was true horror. But back in nineteen 356 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:40,919 Speaker 1: sixty six, when Yoko Ono first met John Lennon, the 357 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,359 Speaker 1: real screams of horror were thankfully going unnoticed from John's 358 00:22:44,359 --> 00:22:50,639 Speaker 1: suburban Kenwood estate. The giant's snake from the backyard was coming. 359 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:54,000 Speaker 1: John cared to the extent that her screams would attract 360 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:56,600 Speaker 1: the local cops, and if they were to search his home, 361 00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 1: the amount of illegal drugs had fined would surely have 362 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:01,679 Speaker 1: him locked up. For ye, but that didn't matter to 363 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:05,359 Speaker 1: the young female HouseGuests he dosed with acid. She was 364 00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:07,879 Speaker 1: in a state of panics, sprinting in circles, trying to 365 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:11,720 Speaker 1: outrun the giant snake. John and his friend Magic Alex 366 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:16,120 Speaker 1: gave chase. The girl's fear was real, her pace inspired. 367 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,399 Speaker 1: She screamed non stop, and the LSD John was on 368 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 1: took its cue from the screaming HouseGuest and started to 369 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,880 Speaker 1: send him reeling into paranoia. What if she doesn't stop screaming. 370 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:28,040 Speaker 1: What if the cops come to the house. What if 371 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:30,240 Speaker 1: that thing really was a giant snake? What if it 372 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,639 Speaker 1: caught her and swallowed her hole? How would he explain 373 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:36,200 Speaker 1: that to Cynthia. Cynthia, his wife, could accept a lot 374 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:38,440 Speaker 1: of things, but a murdered young woman in her home 375 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,480 Speaker 1: was likely not one of them. Said woman was on 376 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 1: the side of John's home at the moment, attempting to 377 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 1: scale it to the roof. The giant snake, no doubt, 378 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,639 Speaker 1: nipping at her heels, she managed to hoist herself up 379 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: under the windowsill and from there on the low roof 380 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:55,040 Speaker 1: above John's sun room. Christ what if she went higher 381 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,879 Speaker 1: and jumped to her death? Suicide? At Beatle John's Waybridge 382 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 1: mansion is what the paper would say. John and Magic 383 00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:05,760 Speaker 1: Alex sprinted giant snake be damned and slithered wildly between 384 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:09,680 Speaker 1: their frantic footfalls more screams. The duo hit the windowsill, 385 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:13,000 Speaker 1: hoisted themselves up to the low roof, grabbed the screaming woman, 386 00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:15,639 Speaker 1: pulled her down. She screamed some more, and the giant 387 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:18,040 Speaker 1: snake taunted them all. The three of them quickly made 388 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:21,480 Speaker 1: it inside, and the woman's screams were relentless. John thought 389 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,639 Speaker 1: she was possessed. He and Magic Alex found the guest 390 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,320 Speaker 1: room and locked her inside to cool off, perhaps even 391 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:36,439 Speaker 1: sleep off her dost high. Then John went back to 392 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:39,879 Speaker 1: his drugs. At home, he kept a mortar and pestle 393 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:44,560 Speaker 1: containing a powdery mixture of speed, barbituates and LSD. John 394 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,600 Speaker 1: took to it casually, looking and swiping his finger into 395 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,159 Speaker 1: the mixture and sucking it down whenever he felt his 396 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,800 Speaker 1: primary high starting to fade. As a result, he was 397 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 1: perpetually stoned, and at the moment, given the buzzkill circumstances, 398 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:01,159 Speaker 1: his high was in need of a boot. He and 399 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:05,919 Speaker 1: Magic Alex settled themselves. The screams had stopped the giant snake. 400 00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:10,200 Speaker 1: In reality, John's vacuum cleaner hose from his pool had 401 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:17,280 Speaker 1: been slay it seemed. Then the doorbell rang. Magic Alex 402 00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,919 Speaker 1: leaped up and frantically set about to hide the drugs. John, 403 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:23,800 Speaker 1: never wanted to pass up an opportunity to entertain an audience, 404 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:27,240 Speaker 1: quickly found his top, hat and cape, donned them shirtless, 405 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:30,960 Speaker 1: and answered the door. The two Waybridge police officers took 406 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,679 Speaker 1: one look at John and cut up with laughter. But 407 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 1: when the last died down, they asked John about a 408 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:39,320 Speaker 1: call they'd received from John's residence from a young woman 409 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:42,400 Speaker 1: claiming to have been kidnapped by a John Lennon impersonator. 410 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:46,200 Speaker 1: Was this too some sort of joke? John assured them 411 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 1: that it was, and they were content to believe their 412 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:51,560 Speaker 1: local pop star and resident and split. Of all the 413 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:54,879 Speaker 1: things that took place at Cynthia Lennon's Waybridge home, the 414 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,600 Speaker 1: discovery of a young woman dosed on LSD and effectively 415 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 1: kidnapped by her husband would not be the most distressing. No, 416 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:06,359 Speaker 1: the most distressing would be discovering John in her kitchen 417 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:10,600 Speaker 1: casually drinking tea with a bizarre Japanese conceptual artist. After 418 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:14,720 Speaker 1: obviously just having had sex, and this was exactly what 419 00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:18,680 Speaker 1: Cynthia Lenna discovered one morning after returning home from vacation 420 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:24,080 Speaker 1: with friends. John's casual indifference to her discovery only made 421 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:27,800 Speaker 1: the betrayal sting more. Oh hi, he said to her, 422 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:32,040 Speaker 1: Yoko was wearing Cynthia's robe. John didn't care what Cynthia 423 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:34,679 Speaker 1: thought about his tryst with Yoko Ono. As far as 424 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,919 Speaker 1: he was concerned, the marriage was over. He split, filed 425 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:45,160 Speaker 1: for divorce, and he and Yoko rented a flat, where 426 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:47,720 Speaker 1: they quickly took up a heroine habit and an extreme 427 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:52,480 Speaker 1: interest in each other's art. John encouraged Yoko's wildest experimentation, 428 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:56,159 Speaker 1: and turn, Yoko encouraged John to embrace the inner artist 429 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:58,639 Speaker 1: in him, the one he left behind at art school 430 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:01,600 Speaker 1: before the Beatles took over his life life. The two 431 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:06,000 Speaker 1: stage confounding experimental art demonstrations and quickly garnered the whitehawk 432 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:09,480 Speaker 1: glare of a celebrity couple. This new kind of attention 433 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,600 Speaker 1: led to their flat being raided by the notorious detective 434 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:16,680 Speaker 1: Sergeant Norman Pilcher, the same Norman Pilcher who famously brought 435 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:19,200 Speaker 1: eighteen officers with him to conduct a ray to Keith 436 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 1: Richards Redlands Estate. John and Yoko were arrested for possession. 437 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,960 Speaker 1: Two hundred grams of hashish were confiscated, along with a 438 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:30,560 Speaker 1: cigarette rolling machine with traces of marijuana and half a 439 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:34,720 Speaker 1: gram of morphine, the rest John had successfully flushed down 440 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:39,480 Speaker 1: the toilet. The bus was an international media sensation. The 441 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:41,400 Speaker 1: fact that the press and the public should have seen 442 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,440 Speaker 1: it coming due to a previous, very clumsy public statement 443 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:48,200 Speaker 1: from Paul McCartney about LSD, where he answered an interviewer's 444 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:51,240 Speaker 1: question honestly and stated that he had in fact tried 445 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,560 Speaker 1: the hallucinogetic drug didn't make the reality that their beloved 446 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:58,760 Speaker 1: Beatles were seemingly consumed by drugs any easier to digest 447 00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:03,240 Speaker 1: for the public. Then John lennmpoured gas in the flames 448 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:07,879 Speaker 1: of controversy. In November, a month after his in Yoko's arrest, 449 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:12,200 Speaker 1: he released his first music without the Beatles, an experimental 450 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: album with Yoko entitled Two Vergins. On the cover, John 451 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:20,400 Speaker 1: and Yoko posed fully nude, and the press freaked the 452 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:23,959 Speaker 1: fuck out, and so did the Beatles fans. In addition 453 00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:27,359 Speaker 1: to the cover of full frontal Nudity in nineteen sixty eight, 454 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:30,159 Speaker 1: the music was way too out there for the record 455 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:33,080 Speaker 1: buying public at the time or at any time. Really. 456 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 1: What happened to John the Beatle? What had this woman 457 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:40,320 Speaker 1: done to him? Surely he was mad, and Paul too, 458 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:42,720 Speaker 1: with the LSD and the rumors of the band weren't 459 00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:46,440 Speaker 1: getting along. The news from the Beatles was plentiful, and 460 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 1: not a lot of it good, and the bad press 461 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:52,360 Speaker 1: dwarfed most of the good will the Beatles recent run 462 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:56,640 Speaker 1: of successful albums had generated revolver in Sergeant Pepper's Lonely 463 00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 1: Hearts Club Band in particular. The Beatles may have been 464 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:03,480 Speaker 1: below and inventive recording artist, but increasingly they were being 465 00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:07,120 Speaker 1: seen as dangerous, drugged out hippies. The pressure of it 466 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:11,000 Speaker 1: all pulled at John, Paul, George and Ringo internally, and 467 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:14,320 Speaker 1: by the time nineteen sixty nine rolled around, the Beatles 468 00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,080 Speaker 1: were a long way from home and looking down the barrel. 469 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:42,600 Speaker 1: At the end of their career as a band, Brian 470 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:47,480 Speaker 1: Epstein was dead. Suicide, pills, pressure, whatever it was, it 471 00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:50,680 Speaker 1: hardly slowed down the Beatles. They remained set on their 472 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:54,880 Speaker 1: paths to either continued world domination or self destruction, even 473 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,280 Speaker 1: they didn't know either way. Each path was not the 474 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:01,880 Speaker 1: path back home again. Paul tried with Let It Be 475 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:06,080 Speaker 1: up until January nineteen sixty nine, when rehearsals for Let 476 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:09,080 Speaker 1: It Be started, and, beginning in nineteen sixty six, the 477 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:13,480 Speaker 1: year the Beatles stopped touring, the Beatles albums progressed as follows. 478 00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:17,360 Speaker 1: Revolver was a psychedelic dipping of the toes that showed 479 00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:20,360 Speaker 1: the world the promise of creative expression on both long 480 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:23,680 Speaker 1: playing albums as well as on short form single releases. 481 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:27,400 Speaker 1: Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was a fully realized 482 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:32,960 Speaker 1: psychedelic masterstroke that nailed nineteen sixty seven's collective cultural conscience, 483 00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:37,200 Speaker 1: an album so consequential its bonded its own successful spinoffs, 484 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:41,080 Speaker 1: Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine. And of course, there 485 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:44,080 Speaker 1: was the Beatles' nineteen sixty eight self titled album, known 486 00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:47,320 Speaker 1: simply as the White Album, which of all the Beatles' 487 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:51,920 Speaker 1: albums prior best encapsulated the band's genius artistry as individuals. 488 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:56,400 Speaker 1: Simplicity is hardly a factor on any of these albums. 489 00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:59,520 Speaker 1: The band's roots are always present, but the weight of 490 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:02,560 Speaker 1: the beatles creative ambition moved in lockstep with the weight 491 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:06,000 Speaker 1: of the band's personal and business problems. The bigger and 492 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:08,920 Speaker 1: better the Beatles became, the further they strayed from being 493 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:12,120 Speaker 1: just a great little band, nothing more, nothing less, and 494 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:17,160 Speaker 1: the further they drifted from each other. Paul McCartney was 495 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:19,520 Speaker 1: set to do something about it. Let it Be was 496 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:22,480 Speaker 1: to be the band's next album, and artistically, the whole 497 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:24,440 Speaker 1: point of Let It Be was to get back to 498 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:27,920 Speaker 1: the band's roots, back to where they once belonged. It 499 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:31,400 Speaker 1: was a disaster. The writing was clearly on the wall. 500 00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:35,120 Speaker 1: A film crew documenting the recording captured what was obvious. 501 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:37,760 Speaker 1: The Beatles could no longer stand being in the same 502 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:41,200 Speaker 1: room together, never mind be forced to make music together 503 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:44,320 Speaker 1: under the suffocating glare of the film crew's cleague lights. 504 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:47,440 Speaker 1: The lighting seemed to be a real life metaphor for 505 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:51,640 Speaker 1: the slew of pressures driving the Beatles apart. Band disagreements 506 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:55,360 Speaker 1: over new management, the pressure of stewarding the band's diversified 507 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:59,160 Speaker 1: creative business Apple Core, a bare knuckle business brawl over 508 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:03,160 Speaker 1: ownership of the Lennon McCartney publishing company Northern Songs. And 509 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:06,800 Speaker 1: there was Paul's overbearing school marm attempts at controlling the band, 510 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:11,160 Speaker 1: the distraction and sometimes embarrassment over John's now very public 511 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 1: social activism, and of course, there was the moody, omnipotent 512 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 1: presence of Yoko Ono, who, since the beginning of the 513 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:22,400 Speaker 1: White Album sessions, was constantly at John's side, literally sitting 514 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:24,520 Speaker 1: next to him in the studio while he sat in 515 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:27,800 Speaker 1: with the band for rehearsals and tracking. It was all 516 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:31,800 Speaker 1: too much, too big, too heavy, and the band failed 517 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:35,480 Speaker 1: to finish recording Let It Be, and the album was shelved. 518 00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:38,840 Speaker 1: After some time off, the Beatles returned to Abbey Road 519 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:42,640 Speaker 1: Studios to take another swing at recording one last time, 520 00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:45,960 Speaker 1: but this time there would be no film crew, and 521 00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:49,320 Speaker 1: Yoko would of course be at John's side throughout the process, 522 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:53,120 Speaker 1: but she'd be distracted by a complicated pregnancy, one that 523 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:57,280 Speaker 1: would end in miscarriage. Yoko, in her mid thirties, had 524 00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:01,240 Speaker 1: had multiple miscarriages, one of which John recorded in the hospital, 525 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:05,800 Speaker 1: capturing his in Yoko's dying babies last heartbeats on tape. 526 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:08,800 Speaker 1: Some time later, when John was to provide a special 527 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:11,920 Speaker 1: personalized Christmas recording for a magazine as part of a 528 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:16,120 Speaker 1: promotional obligation, John sent the magazine the recording of the 529 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:25,880 Speaker 1: Last Heartbeats of His Dying Son Dark, But for the 530 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:29,240 Speaker 1: most part, that darkness is absent from John and the 531 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:32,720 Speaker 1: rest of the Beatles' contributions to what would become abbey Road, 532 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:35,720 Speaker 1: the band's final album, and so is most of the 533 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:39,360 Speaker 1: pomp and individualism of the Beatles' previous recorded efforts from 534 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:43,040 Speaker 1: the second half decade, Unlike the recording of the White Album, 535 00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:45,760 Speaker 1: when band members were so alienated from one another, they 536 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:49,600 Speaker 1: basically transformed themselves into solo artists working within a group 537 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,880 Speaker 1: of side musicians, wherein each would bring into the studio 538 00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:55,600 Speaker 1: a song they'd written, play as much of the instrumentation 539 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:58,240 Speaker 1: as they could by themselves, and rely on others to 540 00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:02,200 Speaker 1: fill and where necessary. Most of Abbey Road's seventeen tracks, 541 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:06,640 Speaker 1: the Beatles perform together as a band, a good little band, 542 00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:10,840 Speaker 1: and the results are undeniable. Abbey Road is the Beatles' 543 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:14,720 Speaker 1: greatest album. It showcases the group's collective strength, their power 544 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:18,440 Speaker 1: and inventiveness, and unrivaled creativity as a band in a 545 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:21,600 Speaker 1: way that is unmatched on any of their previous efforts. 546 00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:26,000 Speaker 1: The moody groove of Come Together, the staggering beauty of Something, 547 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:30,239 Speaker 1: the rawness and vulnerability of Oh Darling and the Weed Hayes, Jamminess, 548 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:32,840 Speaker 1: If I Want You, She's So Heavy, and the hope 549 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:36,520 Speaker 1: of Here Comes the Sun, respectively. Paul, John and George's 550 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:39,160 Speaker 1: lead singers on each track are supported by the power 551 00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:41,719 Speaker 1: of the group at their backs and encouraged to bear 552 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:44,920 Speaker 1: their souls in the name of creative risk and ultimately 553 00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:49,960 Speaker 1: artistic greatness. Even Ringo's vocals on Octopus's Garden are nothing 554 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:53,000 Speaker 1: short of classic, and toward the end of the medley 555 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:55,080 Speaker 1: of songs on side too of Abbey Road, you can 556 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:58,200 Speaker 1: practically hear the strains of excitement from the Cavern Club 557 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,439 Speaker 1: as the band transitions from Paul Pam till she came 558 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,880 Speaker 1: in through the bathroom window. Oh look out. The Beatles 559 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:10,000 Speaker 1: were back for a moment. Anyway. Despite the immediate and 560 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:14,040 Speaker 1: massive critical and commercial success of Abbey Road, the relationship 561 00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:18,080 Speaker 1: between Paul and John had suffered irreparably. Ringo had already 562 00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:21,960 Speaker 1: quit once and so had George, and both eventually returned, 563 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:26,319 Speaker 1: but nevertheless, rumors persisted that a breakup was imminent. But 564 00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:28,840 Speaker 1: then the phone rang at the office of Apple Corps 565 00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:32,359 Speaker 1: and there was bad news. The Apple Core representative who 566 00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:35,160 Speaker 1: answered the phone couldn't believe what he was hearing. His 567 00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:38,000 Speaker 1: hand trembled, the cup of tea was holding, fell to 568 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:41,320 Speaker 1: the floor and shattered. His eyes went wide. The fear 569 00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:45,000 Speaker 1: gripped him, and then shock set him. He was overcome 570 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:48,120 Speaker 1: by it. Not because the Beatles were breaking up. He 571 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:50,719 Speaker 1: knew that everyone who worked for the Beatles knew that, 572 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:54,319 Speaker 1: but he didn't think the end would come like this. Now. 573 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:57,000 Speaker 1: He was shocked because the voice on the other end 574 00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:03,239 Speaker 1: of the line told him that Paul is dead. I'm 575 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:08,239 Speaker 1: Jake Brennan. In This episode of Disgraceland is to be continued. 576 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,160 Speaker 1: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in 577 00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:32,600 Speaker 1: partnership with Double Elvis. 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