John Lennon and Yoko Ono are interviewed for Dutch television

John Lennon and Yoko Ono gave a lengthy interview on this day to the Dutch television show Rood Wit Blauw (Red White Blue).

It took place in the unlikely setting of the waiting room of Lennon’s dentist in Knightsbridge, London. For the first three reels Ono spoke to interviewer Abram de Swaan while Lennon was being treated.

She discussed her art and her beliefs about it as a functional means for communication. She then discussed first meeting Lennon at the Indica gallery, and how she didn’t realise who he was at the time.

Lennon arrived during the fourth reel, explaining that he was feeling odd from the anaesthetic. He then gave a lengthy account of the couple’s drugs bust, before discussing their film Smile.

After a brief diversion on The Beatles’ tax situation, talk turned to ‘Revolution’. Lennon was generally disparaging towards protesters, but wished the black power movement well. Ono then said she can sympathise with their struggle because “woman is like the nigger of the world”, a phrase she would use again, and which Lennon would later use in a song.

Last updated: 15 May 2015
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