Highlights of May Pang interview reveal new insights into John and Yoko
 

I learned a few new things about John Lennon from her recent radio interview that I didn't pick up from her book. The article below provides highlights from this interview that Beatles fans will find of extreme interest, especially about how John had been interested and had been planning to get back with Paul and start writing some songs together while John was still with May.

"May Pang says Yoko didn't get along with Julian"

Published March 3, 2005 :wave1:

http://www.whatgoeson.com/story.200503031.html

May Pang says Yoko didn't get along with Julian
By Katie Hickox, What Goes On Special Correspondent

May Pang, the young woman that Yoko Ono "approved" to
be John Lennon's lover for the "Lost Weekend" back in
the early seventies, was interviewed on Tuesday on the
Greg Kihn morning show on KFOX 98.5 in San Francisco.
Here are some highlights from the show.

May talked about how Yoko didn't want Julian around
because "Yoko just didn't get along with Julian". May
made it possible for Julian to see his Dad, John
Lennon for the first time in the US when she was
living with John in Los Angeles. May also made staying
in touch with Julian a priority for John by having him
call Julian at least once a week.

May said she listened coicidentally to many of the
same rock n roll "B sides" growing up that John also
listened to and was influenced by so they shared a
common interest in music despite a 10 year age
difference.

May spoke about John's songwriting style which was
such that he would dream of the words or song in his
sleep and wake up in the middle of the night and write
down the words on pad of paper and black felt marker
pen he would keep at the side of his bed before
falling back to sleep. If he didn't wake up and write
it down, he wouldn't remember anything in the morning.
The words "Ah! böwakawa pousse, pousse" from the song
#9 Dream on John Lennons' "Walls and Bridges" are not
real words but just words from a dream. May is the
female vocalist who says "John" over and over again in
this song.

The same Friday night that Yoko setup the stop smoking
hypnosis session with John at the Dakota without May,
May said that John had planned on traveling down to
New Orleans that weekend to join up with Paul
McCartney and possibly start writing some songs with
him for his upcoming album, 'Venus and Mars' that Paul
was making in New Orleans. But alas, John's so-called
one hour "stop smoking hypnosis session" turned into a
long drawn out all weekend marathon session from which
he never returned back to May or to his old life. May
guesses that Yoko may have had John drugged,
hypnotized and/or put into a trance. During the
so-called hypnosis session, May believes that John was
told to break off with May and everything in his past
so he could be with Yoko and was told that Yoko was
his "mother" who knows what is best for John. Several
days later May finally ran into John at the dentist's
office and John looked like he hadn't slept in days
and appeared "zombie like" and had difficulty talking.
Then a few months later, May found out that John has
made a complete break with his past by no longer
seeing anyone from his past except for Yoko. This
break with the past also includes breaking off from
his music which is symbolized by hanging a Civil War
Dagger along with his guitar on a wall.

May remembered that Before John got back together with
Yoko, he was planning on buying a house that he and
May were to live in and that John had picked out. May
said she lived with John for 14 months out of the 18
months that she was with John.

If you missed Tuesday morning's Greg Kihn's radio
interview with May Pang on KFOX FM98.5, you can still
hear some of this interview with May as Greg will
continue to play highlights over the next few weeks
during his morning show, mondays thru friday, from 6am
to 10am.

Most of what was said above is in May's book. The only new part I read was last paragraph about the house.
-Kristi

I think May's still a little bitter about John leaving her (thirty years ago...). Her story about John being drugged and hypnotized before he went back to Yoko has always sounded like sour grapes, to me. Her book sounded bitter, and she does in interviews. She never tells any new anecdotes, either, just the ones straight out of her book.