John Lennon argues with Al Capp in Montreal

Hours before the recording of ‘Give Peace A Chance’ at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada, John Lennon and Yoko Ono clashed with satirical cartoonist Al Capp.

If you watch some of the great footage in Imagine you see the cartoonist Al Capp. He comes into the bed-in and he’s really bitter. He’s a wicked old git, but John’s brilliant with him. John really wants to deck him but you can see he controls himself. I think John behaved very well there, because the guy is actually slagging off Yoko – and that’s one thing you don’t do. You don’t slag off someone’s missus – that’s tribal time, isn’t it? I think John was very good. It was: ‘Let’s not sink to his level.’

The exchange later appeared in the documentary film Imagine. Capp introduced himself with the words “I’m a dreadful Neanderthal fascist. How do you do?”, and later sarcastically congratulated Lennon and Ono on their Two Virgins album cover.

I think that everybody owes it to the world to prove they have pubic hair. You’ve done it, and I tell you that I applaud you for it.
Al Capp

Lennon referred to the incident in The Ballad Of John And Yoko, his account of his early years with Ono, written in 1978 and published posthumously in the Skywriting By Word Of Mouth collection.

Many big egos came to see us there: Al Crapp, Dick Gregory, Tim Leary and Rosemary, Tommy Smothers (all except Crapp sang on Give Peace A Chance).
Last updated: 19 May 2017
George and Pattie Harrison holiday in Sardinia
John Lennon and Yoko Ono record Give Peace A Chance
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