So there was this four or five year period where John was basically off the radar. How did he approach you about wanting to record again?
"Listen, the way he approached the whole thing was so strange. I got a phone call one day and it was so mysterious. [He said] if I’m interested in doing something extra special, show up at 30th Street. There was a pier where sea planes used to land and I showed up and met a sea plane at noon. Now, how could you resist that? [I had] no idea what it was for.
So I went there, and a sea plane landed, and I got in it, and we flew over to Cold Spring Harbor and pulled up to this mansion, the boat pulled right up to the beach. [Yoko's ex-husband Ichiyanagi] Toshi came out and said, “Come this way, Yoko is waiting for you.” And I said, “Yoko?” I walked up there, Yoko was there, “Oh Jack, it’s so great to see you. What I tell you right now, you can’t ever tell anyone.” “Okay. Fine. My lips are sealed. What is it?” “John wants to do a record, he wants you to produce it. But you can’t tell anyone about it, he’s in Bermuda right now. He’s going to call and talk to you in a few minutes.”"
This sounds very secretive.
"“Okay.” So the phone rang and John said, “You know, I want to do a record but I don’t know if I want to do a record. I have some material, I’ve been writing for a while, writing down here in Bermuda” and of course he had a near-death experience sailing in a storm down there, which I think changed his perspective completely. Because almost all of those songs were written in Bermuda."
So it was like one creative burst. Was this 1979?
"Yeah, ’79. And so I agreed that I would listen to the stuff. And he said, “Yoko has it” and she handed me an envelope that said, “For Jack’s ears only.” And I took it home and he called me at home the next day and asked, “What do you think?” And my honest opinion was that they were very primitive, a whole bunch of cassettes, there was narration in it, he talked me through it. The songs all began with an explanation, a lot of it funny, and all of them ended with, “What a piece of crap. I’m going to give it to Ringo for his solo album.”"
Were these all songs that ended up being on the album?
"No, there were still a few more. And there was so much on that tape that I didn’t put on the album. But the Beatles had completed "Real Love" many years later, from that cassette. They built off of that cassette. Actually, I had the original so they built that off of a copy that maybe Yoko had."
Were there any songs from that tape that immediately hit you?
"Oh yes, there were so many. So many. There was so much material on that tape. Two cassettes."
Do you still have that tape?
"Yes."
Did you ever digitize it?
"Yes. But they’ll never be—it’s property of Yoko. Period. It’s her property. So anyway, most of it’s been released."
Everyone was getting along great during those later records.
"Yeah, and John knew that Yoko was onto something with that one. Especially with that spoken word. And the whole feel of it was so different that she was going to have a hit. It was nominated for a Grammy. But we actually finished that song and that last night he…I would go to my session afterward, a session at nine or ten at night, and he…we were planning on mastering in the morning. And some asshole went and shot him when he got home."
That was that night?
"Yeah, I said, “Goodnight, see you in the morning” at Sterling, the mastering studio. And a few minutes later I get a phone call, he’s been shot. I couldn’t believe it. I went up to Roosevelt Hospital, spent the night there. But he was already gone. They didn’t announce it until 6 in the morning."
So you were one of the last people to spend time with him.
"Yeah. It was me, Yoko and the driver. That’s it."
Read the full interview at Gothamist.
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