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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 is Special Agent Jim Steele with the

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Speaker 1: Federal Bureau of Investigation work in case number double oh

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Speaker 1: nine's zero eight zero four nine one. Case subject is Lennon,

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Speaker 1: John Winston oh No. This information pertains to a period

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Speaker 1: ending December. Interview subject as the Jones David Robert a

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Speaker 1: k A. David Bowie Interview number nine Dash nine three

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Speaker 1: day zero eight four day zero one Recall number two

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Speaker 1: December twenty two. John was the omnique pistle I got

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Speaker 1: to know. Unfortunately it was near the end of his life.

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Speaker 1: I must have made young Americans. It was one of

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Speaker 1: those associations that lost at about the length of the

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Speaker 1: recording sessions, and then we didn't see each other for

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Speaker 1: about a year. But when we didn't reconnect, we started

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Speaker 1: to pick up a woman was quickly becoming a very

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Speaker 1: instructive and deep relationship. He was from an art school,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of our conversations were about the world

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Speaker 1: of the arts and my an artist wants to do

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Speaker 1: things in the first place, very dramatic and philosophical two

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Speaker 1: o'clock a morning conversations, that sort of thing. He would

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Speaker 1: rifle through the avant garde, look for ideas that were

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Speaker 1: on the outside, on on the preferey of the mainstream,

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Speaker 1: and then he'd applied those ideas in a functional manner

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Speaker 1: to something that was considered populist and make it work.

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Speaker 1: Can take the honest idea and make it work for

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Speaker 1: the masses. That was like making old work for the

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Speaker 1: people and for the elite. And the people responded some

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Speaker 1: with adoration humanity, and then they were those who thought

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Speaker 1: the John was the elitist, that he was bamboozling with them.

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Speaker 1: In the response to those people of one person in particular,

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Speaker 1: Al that's the reason why there's so much blood in

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Speaker 1: the tract m Yeah, chapter seven, John Lennon and Deep

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Speaker 1: at Bowie was a monumental year for me because perhaps

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Speaker 1: the most important year in my professional life. Many people

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Speaker 1: don't know this. You see, most people think I had

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Speaker 1: my act together from day one and it was all

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Speaker 1: calculated that I'm morphed and evolved with ease Major Tom

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Speaker 1: to Ziggy Stardust, Ziggy Stardust to a lad Insane. But

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Speaker 1: I was winging it. I was making chance look calculated.

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Speaker 1: What does it do say in America? Fake it till

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Speaker 1: you make it right by n I couldn't keep faking.

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Speaker 1: I had to make it. So that year everything changed,

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Speaker 1: and it changed because I met John Lennon. Unfortunately it

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Speaker 1: was near the end of his life. John Lennon took

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Speaker 1: one look at me and new I had something to give.

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Speaker 1: I had to tear it all down start over. So

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Speaker 1: I killed Ziggy Stardust and I drew the curtain on

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Speaker 1: a lad Insane. But the best lesson John gave me

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Speaker 1: it wasn't it just about the music or the character

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Speaker 1: I was playing. It was about the business of arts

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Speaker 1: and the people I was working with. Instructive John looked

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Speaker 1: me dead in the eyes and said, you're being shafted

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Speaker 1: by your present manager. He was talking about my manager,

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Speaker 1: Tony de three, of course main main management. My relationship

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Speaker 1: with Tony had deteriorated over the years. I had become

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Speaker 1: increasingly concerned that I was being taken advantage of. John

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Speaker 1: knew of all about these sorts of concerns and paranoias,

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Speaker 1: after all that business with the Beatles and Alan Klein

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Speaker 1: philosophical And it was just a month earlier, in December

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Speaker 1: of the Beatles officially dissolved, each of them, untangling himself

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Speaker 1: from the acrimonious web that Alan Klein had spun. Derek

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Speaker 1: is a true Are the Beatles really finished? No, not

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Speaker 1: until they die. As long as they live and as

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Speaker 1: long as they like each other, anything could happened. And

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Speaker 1: so John saw tony stranglehold on my career is unhealthy.

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Speaker 1: Naturally he over my eyes to the fact that it

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Speaker 1: wasn't just Tony, you see, was the concept of managers

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Speaker 1: in general. There's too much powerful one person. In John's eyes,

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Speaker 1: there was no such thing as good management. All management

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Speaker 1: was shit. Well, I have one person control every aspect

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Speaker 1: of my career when I could simply in ploy individuals

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Speaker 1: is needed to help me with specific wants. Well, that

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Speaker 1: was the question to talk of the morning conversations. John

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Speaker 1: had been through all that. He was wise, He was

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Speaker 1: like an older brother. Really. He completely changed my perspective

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Speaker 1: on the business of art. And then we made a

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Speaker 1: song out of the whole atle deal like a middle

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Speaker 1: finger of a song that was directed not just at

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Speaker 1: people like Tony d'free and Alan Klein, but at the

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Speaker 1: intequated notion that an artist must be controlled by someone

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Speaker 1: with business since and we arrived at that song entirely

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Speaker 1: by chance. It was January. I was in New York

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Speaker 1: City Electric Lady Studios. Sessions had resumed for my new album,

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Speaker 1: Young Americans. I've been introduced to John not long before,

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Speaker 1: I Believe in Los Angeles by Elizabeth Taylor Rule People.

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Speaker 1: She was trying to get me to start in a

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Speaker 1: movie Villa God bless John's on me. Be sure, I

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Speaker 1: want to know. That's another story entirely. I knew that

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Speaker 1: John lived in New York, so I reached out to him.

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Speaker 1: I told him I was planning to record a cover

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Speaker 1: of Across the Universe, that beautiful song of his from

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Speaker 1: Let It Be. I asked if he wanted to come

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Speaker 1: by the studio and play on the track. It was

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Speaker 1: during the session for Across the Universe that we hit

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Speaker 1: upon this other song. By chance, my guitarist Carlos Alamar

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Speaker 1: was fooling around with this old R and B riff.

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Speaker 1: I think it was called foot stomping, one of the

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Speaker 1: riffs he perfected when he played with James Brown, but

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Speaker 1: he slowed it down, made it something new. I heard

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Speaker 1: him keep playing it, repeating it, and before I knew it,

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Speaker 1: John was shouting aim in this falseesso hook over the guitar,

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Speaker 1: and that's how fame began, completely organic, out of thin

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Speaker 1: air and rifle through the avant guls. Of course, it

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Speaker 1: wasn't out of thin air. I know that now we're

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Speaker 1: on the outside. We've been talking about bad managers and

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Speaker 1: bad business deals and the whole bloody concept of being famous.

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Speaker 1: John and I those conversations, along with my change perspective

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Speaker 1: on what became my new reality as an artist and

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Speaker 1: a businessman, there was all fuel that went into the

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Speaker 1: creative engine. Who part those ideas in a functional manner.

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Speaker 1: Carlos was the perfect collaborator. Like I said, he played

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Speaker 1: with James Brown back in the late sixties, and so

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Speaker 1: he had his own personal history with this sort of

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Speaker 1: controlling figure that John and I wanted to rail against.

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Speaker 1: He left James Brown after James doctors paycheck for missing

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Speaker 1: one of his musical cues. Carlos said, fuck this, I'm gone.

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Speaker 1: Last fame. Funk this, We're gone. That was like making

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Speaker 1: old work for the people and for the elite, because

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Speaker 1: what is fame? After all? Was it good for a

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Speaker 1: good seat in a restaurant? That's about it. People who

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Speaker 1: don't have fame are the ones who wanted. People who

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Speaker 1: have fame are always looking for our way to get

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Speaker 1: rid of it. It's worth noting that a half year

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Speaker 1: after we released Fame, James Brown himself borrowed Carlos as

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Speaker 1: lick for his song hot I Need to be Loved, Love, Love, Love,

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Speaker 1: and the Carlos ever saw a dime off that as

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Speaker 1: far as the song Fame goes, this would prove to

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Speaker 1: be my first number one hit in America and the

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Speaker 1: people whisper It also redefined who John was as an artist.

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Speaker 1: Fame saved him from becoming some old time rock and

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Speaker 1: roll nostalgia peddler and lifted him into the upper echelon

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Speaker 1: of the New York City avant garde. The honest idea

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Speaker 1: and make it work for the masters a moment in time,

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Speaker 1: the song, the session, the wisdom might gleaned from John.

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Speaker 1: And that was my turning point. I took the young

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Speaker 1: Americans masters and I locked them in a bankful I

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Speaker 1: didn't want Tony too free touching them. And then I

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Speaker 1: told our CIA that I wanted to go separate ways

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Speaker 1: with Tony, and then I needed the complete support, which

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Speaker 1: I got. People responded, you know what our CIA said

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Speaker 1: to Tony when they asked him why they were siding

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Speaker 1: with me over him in the split because Tony, they said,

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Speaker 1: you can't see the details of mar Setselman with Tony

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Speaker 1: have been and will always be confidential. You see. But

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Speaker 1: everything that lay ahead for me, station to station, low heroes, Lodger,

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Speaker 1: scary monsters, that was all made with an autonomy and

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Speaker 1: a confidence that I never would have had if it

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Speaker 1: were not for John Lennon, very instructive and deep relationship. Now,

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Speaker 1: unbeknownst to me, John was continuing to struggle with his

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Speaker 1: own concept of fame. Have fame affected every single as

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Speaker 1: fact of his life, Even in New York City where

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Speaker 1: he could walk down the street and remain relatively unbothered.

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Speaker 1: Fame got to him, It got to others close to him.

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Speaker 1: Another song says fame can take you over, drive you

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Speaker 1: to crime, and even make you the target of others.

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Speaker 1: One very tangible thing that fame almost always leads to

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Speaker 1: is cocaine. My own daily diet around was coffee, four

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Speaker 1: packs of kit Hans, Bell peppers, milk straight from the carton,

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Speaker 1: and cocaine. John and I shared an affinity for this stuff.

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Speaker 1: It's funny you get access to all these drugs when

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Speaker 1: you become famous, but then it begins to feel as

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Speaker 1: if the reason you're taking the drugs is to forget

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Speaker 1: the fact that you are famous. Cocaine help me cope.

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Speaker 1: It helped me disappear into whatever role I was playing

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Speaker 1: at the time. It helped me to adjust to the

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Speaker 1: increased pressures, the NonStop schedules, the attention from mainstream. And

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Speaker 1: then when you get used to the pressures and schedules

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Speaker 1: and attention, you don't want it anymore, any of them.

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Speaker 1: That's when cocaine comes in head you once again, when

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Speaker 1: it's lonely at the top. Drugs make you forget that

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Speaker 1: you're famous, the fact that you have the very thing

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Speaker 1: you thought you wanted only to find it's not at

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Speaker 1: all how you are may and it would be personally.

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Speaker 1: I was entering into what the medical community would probably

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Speaker 1: refer to as cocaine psychosis around this time, not that

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Speaker 1: I knew what there was or that I was experiencing it.

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Speaker 1: I think I called Hitler, the world's first rock star,

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Speaker 1: said that I love fascism, so my analytist wants to

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Speaker 1: do things. I seriously thought that one of my business

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Speaker 1: advisors was secretly a CIA agent, and that one of

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Speaker 1: my backing singers was actually a vampire. John's grash course

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Speaker 1: in how to take control of my career was invaluable,

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Speaker 1: but I still didn't have control over myself, and John

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Speaker 1: had no control over himself either. Now in John had

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Speaker 1: a lot to be happy about. He had a brand

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Speaker 1: new son, Sean, who stole his heart. His fight against

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Speaker 1: the United States had come to a positive conclusion, which

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Speaker 1: would directly lead to his green card and citizenship. But

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Speaker 1: good news doesn't tame the beast. You don't walk into

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Speaker 1: a hotel room stuck to the guilt with cocaine and

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Speaker 1: champagne and think, now you know what, I've got a

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Speaker 1: new son and new lease on life. I'll pass now

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Speaker 1: you say I'm up, I've gone next to and pock

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Speaker 1: of the morning, and then you roll up a dollar

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Speaker 1: bill and you make a count. When faced with a party,

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Speaker 1: John party just as hard as the rest of us.

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Speaker 1: He went as hard as some of them notorious figures

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Speaker 1: who didn't survive the party from law school. But it

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Speaker 1: could have been any of us who didn't survive the party.

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Speaker 1: That could have been John Lennon in Bonzos shoes. Right,

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Speaker 1: Fate rolled the dice, and Fate decided that Bonham will

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Speaker 1: be the one who left the proverbial building. Before that happened, however,

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Speaker 1: the two John's found themselves in the same room in

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Speaker 1: the same way, both equally tempting fate. In six John

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Speaker 1: and his friend Jesse A. Davis, the guitarist who was

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Speaker 1: so great in taj Mahals Band, walked into led Zeppelin's

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Speaker 1: hotel suite at the Plaza in New York, only to

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Speaker 1: find the greatest rock drummer in the world up to

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Speaker 1: his sinus cavity in Heroin Well. Technically, when John arrived,

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Speaker 1: Bornom was on his knees, hands desperately clutching the cold,

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Speaker 1: damp toilet, absolutely puking his guts. Out. Johna found himself

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Speaker 1: in similar positions throughout his life, though he didn't have

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Speaker 1: the same herculean stamina as Bonhom. Barnham was a heavyweight

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Speaker 1: in that regard, a man who could take three, four,

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Speaker 1: even five times more than what the average rock star

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Speaker 1: could take before he found himself praying to a porcelain

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Speaker 1: guard on the outside. Bonhom, they've been doing China White

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Speaker 1: that night. China White was no joke. It was Bonhom

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Speaker 1: great junk, forty to pure rather than the usual ten

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Speaker 1: percent pure smack you'd find on the streets. But even

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Speaker 1: for Bottom it proved to be too much. Every time

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Speaker 1: he'd snort the stuff, he'd be back puking into the toilet.

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Speaker 1: The fact that one of rock and roll's most undefeated

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Speaker 1: imbibers was having a rough go of it didn't face John,

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Speaker 1: though one bit reply those ideas. In a functional matter,

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Speaker 1: John thought himself invincible, which is another side effect of fame,

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Speaker 1: and no sooner did he snorts of bottom sized snorts

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Speaker 1: of China White that he too was on his knees

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Speaker 1: pushing Bottom out of the way. The two Johns sick

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Speaker 1: as dogs in Zeppelin's suite of the Plaza. We're fighting

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Speaker 1: for air and jockeying for position of the toilet. Instructive

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Speaker 1: and deep relationship. They made it through that moment and

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Speaker 1: through the night. Bonzo probably walked out of that room

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Speaker 1: and played a show at masin Square Garden in front

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Speaker 1: of thousands. He wouldn't always be that lucky. Lifestyle caught

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Speaker 1: up with him in the end. There he caught up

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Speaker 1: with me too. Across I was seeing things, imagining things,

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Speaker 1: believing things that weren't to be believed. One thing I

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Speaker 1: still believe is that there is an evil in this world.

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Speaker 1: And I'm not talking about shady managers. You don't need

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Speaker 1: to be in cocaine psychosis to know that evil walks

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Speaker 1: among us. An evil is what would eventually catch up

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Speaker 1: to John, long before his rock and roll lifestyle ever.

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Speaker 1: Could We'll be right back after this world word word.

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Speaker 1: It was the summer of n when I ran into

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Speaker 1: John again Hong Kong. Why I was in Hong Kong,

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Speaker 1: I can't quite remember. Was I on holiday touring? Maybe

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Speaker 1: I was touring with Iggy. Actually, that's all we did

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Speaker 1: for the idiots. His first solo record are produced after

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Speaker 1: the Stooges broke up. Comical, that's not important. But John

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Speaker 1: was there too, It turns out, in Hong Kong, vacationing

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Speaker 1: with his son Sean, who was only a few years

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Speaker 1: old at the time. They'd stop to explore the city

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Speaker 1: for a few days before they meet up with Yoko

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Speaker 1: in Japan, and so we quickly picked up where we'd

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Speaker 1: left off and bonded over being two Englishmen in Hong Kong.

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Speaker 1: We started to pick up. John continued to teach me

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Speaker 1: so much without even trying to teach me. I don't

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Speaker 1: even know that he realized what he was doing, but

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Speaker 1: he was continuing to get me free lessons in fame.

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Speaker 1: We'll be walking down the street and someone would stop

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Speaker 1: us and say to John, excuse me, but aren't you

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Speaker 1: John Lennon, And John will give them this confused look,

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Speaker 1: absolutely straight faced, like he'd never received that question before

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Speaker 1: in his life and never in a million years expected to.

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Speaker 1: And then he'd say, no, I'm not John Lennon, but

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Speaker 1: I wish I had his money. And then the person

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Speaker 1: asking if John was John would realize, well, ship, of

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Speaker 1: course it wasn't John. It was like John had this

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Speaker 1: mind control to make a person doubt their own belief

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Speaker 1: with mere words. So of course I stole that line.

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Speaker 1: It was. It was just too good. It deflected any

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Speaker 1: and all unwanted attention you received out in public. And

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Speaker 1: I swear to God that this happened. Just months later

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Speaker 1: in New York City. I was walking down the street,

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Speaker 1: so I believe, when someone passed me by and shouted,

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Speaker 1: are you David Bowie, to which I gave the reply, well, no,

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Speaker 1: but I wish I had his money, You lying bastard.

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00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:15,760
Speaker 1: The voice shot back of me, you wish you had

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Speaker 1: my money. I thought, wait a minute, I know that voice,

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Speaker 1: so I looked up. Bloody Yeah it was John, honest

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Speaker 1: to God. But back in Hong Kong things got weird

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Speaker 1: more often than not. We had fame to thank for that,

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Speaker 1: not the not the song, but the fact that we

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Speaker 1: were famous. Because as much as we like to actively

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Speaker 1: try to disassociate ourselves from the spotlight, fame gave us opportunity,

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Speaker 1: like the opportunity to be in Hong Kong at that moment.

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Speaker 1: John would dote on Shaun during the day, showing the sights.

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Speaker 1: At night, you'd often leave him with a nanny who

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Speaker 1: was traveling with them, and then John and I would

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00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:02,680
Speaker 1: go and get ripped roaring drunk, obnoxiously drunk, really and

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Speaker 1: a functional on it. The kind of drunk you get

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Speaker 1: in public only when you're famous, because the fame or

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00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:13,720
Speaker 1: the money, whatever it is, it provides a safety net,

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Speaker 1: or an illusion of a safety net. And what's the

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00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:20,200
Speaker 1: worst thing is going to happen? We get tossed out

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Speaker 1: of a strip club for being too rowdy? This this

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00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:28,800
Speaker 1: is It's not like we're going to lose our jobs

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00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:32,359
Speaker 1: because of some drunken shenanigans. We weren't going to cease

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Speaker 1: being famous. Now have we known we were being tossed

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Speaker 1: out of strip clubs by members of trying gangs. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: maybe we would have minded our men as a bit more.

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Speaker 1: But your most oblivious to the world around you when

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Speaker 1: you yourself are on your way to oblivion. One of

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Speaker 1: those nights, oblivion came calling on the property of the mainstream.

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Speaker 1: John got a hankering to try monkey brains. I think

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Speaker 1: the whole thing is a myth, perhaps an urban legend,

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00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,720
Speaker 1: not to mention downright ghastly, But I was both curious

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Speaker 1: and drunk, and I was hanging out with John Lennon

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Speaker 1: after all, so of course I was going We went

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Speaker 1: trotting drunkenly around these backstreets looking for a place that

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00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:24,400
Speaker 1: served monkey brains. And we found a place, but it's

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Speaker 1: been late in the evening. They overclosed, which was probably

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Speaker 1: for the best because we looked in through the windows

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Speaker 1: and saw all these small tables with holes cutting them,

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Speaker 1: and my stomach just knotted up. John was pointing at

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Speaker 1: the tables and explaining how they would put the monkey

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Speaker 1: under the table and stick its head up through the hole.

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Speaker 1: And while my imagination was just running away with me

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Speaker 1: and I was thinking about what supposedly happens next once

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Speaker 1: you get the monkey up through the table in the

330
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Speaker 1: hole you want, these two guys in the restaurant walked

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Speaker 1: towards us and unlocked the door. Well, they knew it

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Speaker 1: was John Lennon, and unlike those other times that he

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Speaker 1: denied it, John fessed up. Yes, of course he was

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Speaker 1: that John Lennon. People were sponded their motioned for him

335
00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,560
Speaker 1: to come inside. I tried to follow, but they shut

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Speaker 1: the door in my face and made me wait. They

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00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:28,040
Speaker 1: were talking to John, but they were speaking in Cantonese,

338
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Speaker 1: and I know for a fact that John didn't speak Cantonese.

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00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,879
Speaker 1: He was nodding along as if he understood, and then

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Speaker 1: he followed them back into the back of the restaurant,

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Speaker 1: the kitchen. I imagine a few minutes went by. I

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00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,679
Speaker 1: started to panics. I didn't know who these men were.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know what their plans were, their intentions. I

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00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:52,160
Speaker 1: didn't know why they wanted John, if he was being

345
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Speaker 1: that to safety or danger. They'd locked the door behind them.

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Speaker 1: Of course, I'm haste and chain smoked downside. What what

347
00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:06,720
Speaker 1: else could I do? And then we didn't see And

348
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,639
Speaker 1: then just a few minutes later, John emerged from the

349
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Speaker 1: back room. One of the men walked him straight to

350
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:16,680
Speaker 1: the front door, unlocked it, and led him outside. John

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00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:21,960
Speaker 1: was beyond drunk. He was terribly high. He was grinning.

352
00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:26,160
Speaker 1: He was grinning, but there was a look of consternation

353
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,600
Speaker 1: behind his smile, almost as if he wasn't happy that

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Speaker 1: he was happy. I asked him, what had happened? What

355
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:37,480
Speaker 1: did what they've done back there? He looked at me.

356
00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:42,879
Speaker 1: We loved eyes philosophical two o'clock in the morning. His

357
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,560
Speaker 1: eyes were spinning, His lids were bobbing up and down,

358
00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:50,200
Speaker 1: like they were on a bungee cord. The snake, he said,

359
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,560
Speaker 1: and his eyes went wild. They had me drink the

360
00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:56,639
Speaker 1: bloods of a snake on the periphery of the mainstream.

361
00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:01,959
Speaker 1: I admit I was a bit jealous about that monkey brains.

362
00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:05,720
Speaker 1: Not interested blood of a snake. I mean, come on,

363
00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,560
Speaker 1: sign me up. And as stones as he was, John

364
00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:14,080
Speaker 1: could tell I wasn't hiding my disappointment. Well, be playing

365
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:19,000
Speaker 1: for it. He had returned with a gift. He told

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00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:23,880
Speaker 1: me to close my eyes, so I did, and then

367
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 1: he told me to open my mouth, which I did.

368
00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 1: Why don't, he said, And then I felt something insund

369
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:37,520
Speaker 1: my mouth. It was cold and moist. I immediately regretted

370
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:43,200
Speaker 1: playing along from school. John's hand shoved the gelatinous oval

371
00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,280
Speaker 1: down my throat, so I swallowed, and then I nearly

372
00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,920
Speaker 1: vomited it all back up. Well the funk was there,

373
00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:55,399
Speaker 1: I asked, opening my eyes. The taste of sulfur and

374
00:25:55,480 --> 00:26:00,440
Speaker 1: dirt and ammonia coated my tongue. He of me it

375
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 1: was a thousand day old egg. It was just the name.

376
00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:07,159
Speaker 1: It wasn't actually one thousand days old. But it was

377
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,600
Speaker 1: an egg that had been cooked in horse urane, coated

378
00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:13,639
Speaker 1: in manure, and buried in the fucking ground for a

379
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 1: few days. Why someone would do. That is beyond me.

380
00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:25,000
Speaker 1: And how John knew so many details about precisely how

381
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:28,040
Speaker 1: the egg was prepared for men speaking a language he

382
00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:32,480
Speaker 1: didn't speak is also beyond me. But then John was

383
00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:35,720
Speaker 1: beyond me. An artist wants to do things in the

384
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:40,359
Speaker 1: first place. I may have done well for myself in

385
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,760
Speaker 1: the years to follow, but I always felt the shadow

386
00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:49,280
Speaker 1: of John Lennon Loomy over my shoulder, near my feet.

387
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:54,520
Speaker 1: Now that was fame, the kind of fame that can

388
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:58,720
Speaker 1: be immortal in your mind, even if in real life

389
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:37,360
Speaker 1: it rooves to be deadly. Los Angeles, January six. Mel

390
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,040
Speaker 1: Evans giant hands dwarfed the little value pills he held

391
00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:45,000
Speaker 1: in his palm. They were so small, mau was so big.

392
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:47,719
Speaker 1: He wondered whether they would even make a difference if

393
00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,880
Speaker 1: he swallowed them. How could something so tiny have any

394
00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:53,439
Speaker 1: kind of noticeable effect on a man of his size.

395
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,400
Speaker 1: He'd find out soon enough. Mouth threw the pills into

396
00:27:57,480 --> 00:27:59,920
Speaker 1: his mouth and chased them with whatever clear liquor was

397
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:04,040
Speaker 1: in the glass. And his other hand he felt woozy, groggy,

398
00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:08,639
Speaker 1: and that was just the alcohol. Soon those little pills

399
00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:11,040
Speaker 1: would make their appearance after all, and that would be

400
00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:14,600
Speaker 1: when everything Mal thoughts said or did just felt gooey.

401
00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:20,760
Speaker 1: Mal's girlfriend, Fran was worried. Mause seemed more despondent than usual.

402
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:24,800
Speaker 1: He wasn't making any sense. She called a friend. Mel

403
00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:28,600
Speaker 1: picked up his thirty thirty rifle, walked upstairs and barricaded

404
00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:32,280
Speaker 1: himself inside the bedroom of his rented duplex. That's when

405
00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:36,440
Speaker 1: Fran called the police. Mal wasn't sure how he'd gotten here.

406
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:40,760
Speaker 1: He was a long way from London, years removed from Beatlemania,

407
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:44,640
Speaker 1: though he remembered those days like they were yesterday because

408
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:48,400
Speaker 1: he was there just about every day. People called George

409
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:52,520
Speaker 1: Martin the Fifth Beatle or Billy Preston, but wasn't Mal Evans,

410
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:55,280
Speaker 1: jack of all trades and master of none, the true

411
00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:59,280
Speaker 1: fifth Beatle. He'd been the Lad's bodyguard, then road manager,

412
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 1: then person and little assistant. He helped put together the

413
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 1: album cover collage of Sergeant Pepper's Only Hearts Club band.

414
00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:08,760
Speaker 1: He sang in the chorus of Yellow Submarine. He rang

415
00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:11,080
Speaker 1: the alarm clock during the sessions for a Day in

416
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,920
Speaker 1: the Life. He hit the anvil during the sessions from

417
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:17,400
Speaker 1: Maxwell's Silver Hammer. He produced No Matter What, one of

418
00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:21,200
Speaker 1: Bad Fingers biggest hits for Apple Records. That was then,

419
00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:25,680
Speaker 1: This was now, and now wasn't so great? Where Mao

420
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:28,320
Speaker 1: had once again become a regular companion of his old

421
00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:31,480
Speaker 1: friend John Lennon during that period of time when John

422
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,640
Speaker 1: became a lone wolf resident of l A. Now Mao

423
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:39,520
Speaker 1: was alone again. Naturally, John was gone back to New

424
00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:45,480
Speaker 1: York and presumably back to his wife Yoko. Meanwhile, Mao's

425
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:48,640
Speaker 1: wife didn't want him anymore and they were separated. She

426
00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:52,120
Speaker 1: wanted a divorce. Mau thought that his friend Keith Moon

427
00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:55,160
Speaker 1: would give him purpose again. Mooney hired Big Mal to

428
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:57,880
Speaker 1: produce his solo album, Two Sides of the Moon, but

429
00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:00,200
Speaker 1: m c A Records fired Maw when it be came

430
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:03,680
Speaker 1: a parent that moons wild antics and Mao's excessive drinking

431
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:07,760
Speaker 1: we're going to yield less than desirable results. And so

432
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:11,200
Speaker 1: now mal Evans was holed up inside the bedroom at

433
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:13,720
Speaker 1: eight one to to West fourth Street in l A.

434
00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,320
Speaker 1: He didn't remember how many value he'd taken, or how

435
00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:20,880
Speaker 1: many drinks he'd had, or why exactly he was holding

436
00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:24,880
Speaker 1: the thirty thirty rifle in his hands. He heard voices

437
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 1: coming from downstairs. It was more than just Fran, more

438
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:30,480
Speaker 1: than just Frand and a friend that she had called.

439
00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:34,280
Speaker 1: Mal heard four or five, maybe six different voices, and

440
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:38,760
Speaker 1: then Mal heard footsteps. They were coming upstairs. He checked

441
00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:41,880
Speaker 1: the chamber of the rifle and realized that it wasn't loaded.

442
00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:45,320
Speaker 1: Probably for the best. Mal Evans may have been a

443
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:47,440
Speaker 1: lot of things, but he wasn't the type to shoot

444
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:51,160
Speaker 1: a man. The LAPD cops who burst into the bedroom

445
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:53,920
Speaker 1: didn't know this about Mao. They didn't know that Mal's

446
00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:57,200
Speaker 1: rifle wasn't loaded, and also didn't know that Mal wouldn't

447
00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,280
Speaker 1: fire the damn thing if it was. The cops were armed,

448
00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:02,120
Speaker 1: and there were two of them, and they pointed their

449
00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 1: police issued thirty eights at Male's big frame. Put it down,

450
00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:08,600
Speaker 1: Put the weapon down. They both yelled ultimatum and stereo.

451
00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:12,160
Speaker 1: Mal just stood there holding the unloaded rifle, his hands

452
00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 1: gone gooey on the long, cold barrel, his head numbed

453
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,400
Speaker 1: by pills and alcohol. Mal couldn't feel the rifle in

454
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:21,320
Speaker 1: his hands. He couldn't feel anything as he moved his

455
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:24,520
Speaker 1: body to one side and absentmindedly aimed the butt of

456
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,600
Speaker 1: the rifles squarely at the cops. He did hear the

457
00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:30,440
Speaker 1: six gunshots as they rang out from the cops. Police

458
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,560
Speaker 1: issued thirty eights, but he never felt the four bullets

459
00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:41,280
Speaker 1: center his body. Back in New York City, John Lennon

460
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:44,600
Speaker 1: heard about mal evans Is unexpected and untimely death at

461
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:47,960
Speaker 1: the age of forty. Like the rest of the Beatles

462
00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:50,880
Speaker 1: and just about everyone else who knew mal John was

463
00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:54,680
Speaker 1: gut it. The death of the Beatles manager Brian Epstein

464
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:59,680
Speaker 1: in seven have been tragic, especially for John, but Male's

465
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:04,400
Speaker 1: death was more than tragic. It was violent, twisted. John

466
00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:06,720
Speaker 1: thought back to the day in l a when he

467
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:08,960
Speaker 1: himself hid from the L A. P D On the

468
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:12,360
Speaker 1: second floor of an apartment. How they had chased him upstairs,

469
00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:15,840
Speaker 1: shotguns locked and loaded. How close John Lennon's life came

470
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:18,600
Speaker 1: to ending in the same way mel Evans's life had ended.

471
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:23,200
Speaker 1: It was shocking. But what shocked John even more was

472
00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,840
Speaker 1: the news that he received just days later. The phone

473
00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:30,240
Speaker 1: inside John and Yoko's apartment at the Dakota Building rang out.

474
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:34,200
Speaker 1: John was no longer paranoid that the US government will

475
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:36,000
Speaker 1: be waiting on the line to listen in to his

476
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:41,479
Speaker 1: every conversation. Nixon had resigned. John's phones were no longer bugged.

477
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:44,520
Speaker 1: In just a matter of months, he'd received his green

478
00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,800
Speaker 1: card and become an American once and for all. John

479
00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:50,800
Speaker 1: answered the phone. It was Neil aspen All, the Beatles

480
00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:54,160
Speaker 1: former road manager, personal assistant and later a manager of

481
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,840
Speaker 1: Apple Corps, calling from London. John could hear the fear

482
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,440
Speaker 1: and concern in Neil's voice all the way across the

483
00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:04,680
Speaker 1: Atlantic as he frantically told John that Mao's remains had

484
00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:09,520
Speaker 1: gone missing. Mal had been cremated in Los Angeles, after

485
00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:12,880
Speaker 1: which Harry Nilson had been tasked with mailing males ashes

486
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:16,120
Speaker 1: back to his wife and mother in London. Harry put

487
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:18,200
Speaker 1: the ashes in the box just like he put the

488
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:20,640
Speaker 1: lime in the coconut, and then he sent them on

489
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 1: their trip abroad. But they never arrived. There was no

490
00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:28,200
Speaker 1: record that they had ever existed. Big Mal had vanished

491
00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:32,480
Speaker 1: just like that, And Neil Aspinall and John Lennon and

492
00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:35,360
Speaker 1: all the others were left behind. Wonder what had happened?

493
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,880
Speaker 1: Why it was that one day someone was here and

494
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:41,840
Speaker 1: the next they were gone. And then how just days

495
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:45,000
Speaker 1: after that their memory was gone, to the thing they

496
00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 1: had left behind, no trace, No blood on the tracks.

497
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:07,360
Speaker 1: All right, everybody, thanks for listening to Blood on the Tracks.

498
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:09,200
Speaker 1: If you like what you hear, be sure to find

499
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,120
Speaker 1: and follow Blood on the Tracks on Apple podcast, I

500
00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:15,640
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

501
00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:18,560
Speaker 1: On this season two of Blood on the Tracks, we'll

502
00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:21,920
Speaker 1: be releasing ten episodes on the Incredible Life of John Lennon,

503
00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:25,120
Speaker 1: with a new episode every Thursday. You can also binge

504
00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:28,600
Speaker 1: all ten episodes of season one on the insane story

505
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:31,920
Speaker 1: of the notorious record producer Phil Spector right now. It's

506
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:35,200
Speaker 1: available wherever you get your podcast. This episode of Blood

507
00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:37,560
Speaker 1: on the Tracks was written by Zeth Lundie and hosted

508
00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:41,480
Speaker 1: an executive produced by me Jake Brennan, also executive produced

509
00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:44,840
Speaker 1: by Brady sad Story and copy editing by Pat Heally.

510
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:48,320
Speaker 1: This episode was mixed by Colin Fleming. Additional music and

511
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:52,000
Speaker 1: score elements by Ryan Spreaker. In this episode featured Rob

512
00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:55,520
Speaker 1: Kendrick as David Bowie. Blood on the Tracks is produced

513
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:58,920
Speaker 1: by Double Elvis and partnership with I Heart Radio. Sources

514
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:01,879
Speaker 1: for this episode are available at Double Elvis dot com

515
00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 1: on the Blood on the Track series page. If you

516
00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:06,520
Speaker 1: want to chat about this show or hear more about

517
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 1: the other shows, we're making a Double Elvis tap in

518
00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:13,040
Speaker 1: on Instagram at double Elvis, on Twitter at double Elvis Fm,

519
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:15,880
Speaker 1: and now on Twitch where we're streaming three days a

520
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:20,680
Speaker 1: week at Twitch dot tv slash double Elvis Podcasts. And finally,

521
00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:23,880
Speaker 1: be sure to check out disgrace Land, the award winning

522
00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:27,160
Speaker 1: music and true crime podcast that I also host. Disgrace

523
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:30,320
Speaker 1: Land is available only on the free Amazon Music. To

524
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:33,440
Speaker 1: hear tons of insane stories about your favorite musicians getting

525
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:36,360
Speaker 1: away with murder and behaving very badly, go to Amazon

526
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:39,040
Speaker 1: dot com slash disgrace Land, or if you have an

527
00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:42,760
Speaker 1: Echo device, just say Alexa play the disgrace Land podcast.

528
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:54,080
Speaker 1: Rock Am Dad