(clapperboard claps) MAN: Seven-eight on end.

JOHN: Oh, and last night, we had trouble with this one.

♪ How can I go forward ♪ ♪ When I don't know which way I'm facing?

♪ ♪ And then the next one goes... ♪ I don't know which way to turn ♪ And it's a bit longer.

And then it goes: ♪ Oh, no... ♪ GEORGE: Do that again.

JOHN: What?

The "how"?

GEORGE: The "How can I..." first.

♪ How... How can I go forward ♪ ♪ When I don't know which way I'm facing?

♪ ♪ ♪ How can I go forward ♪ ♪ When I don't know which way to turn?

♪ ♪ ♪ How can I go forward ♪ ♪ Into something ♪ ♪ I'm not sure of?

♪ ♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh, no ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, no ♪ ♪ ♪ How can I have feeling ♪ ♪ When I don't know if it's a feeling?

♪ ALLAN: I was aware that John was making some records.

I had no idea what he was doing, whether it was a single, whether it was an album.

We knew he was in his own studio doing some recordings.

RAY: He'd finished his new album and he wanted to play it to me in his bedroom and he couldn't work out...

He had this big hi-fi thing and he couldn't make it work.

It was sort of like... You know?

So he gets out this little record player that everyone had, a little Dansette record player, put it on and put one side on.

KIERON: I was there ostensibly to listen to the album, and I noticed that he kept putting it off.

JOHN: Did you hear what it says about Selfridges in an American paper?

"John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, were chased through Selfridges, London's largest department store, by a gang of screaming fans."

KIERON: He said, "Let's go for a walk around the grounds."

We'd go for a walk around the grounds.

He said, "Let's have some iced tea."

By this stage, it's about seven o'clock and I'm thinking, "I want to hear the album."

And he put on the vinyl.

It was a white-label vinyl, but no track listings or anything on it.

And he said, "Look, I can't bear to listen to it any more.

"I've recorded it.

"I've mixed it.

I've heard it up and down.

"I don't know whether it's any good or not, "so I'd like you to have a listen and come back outside and tell me what you think."

So no pressure, you know?

♪ No short-haired ♪ ♪ Yellow-bellied son of Tricky Dicky's ♪ ♪ Gonna Mother Hubbard soft-soap me ♪ ♪ With just a pocketful of hope!

♪ RAY: I'm thinking... ♪ Money for dope!

♪ ...this is just a rant, you know.

He said, "What do you think?"

I said, "Yeah, very nice, yeah.

Yeah.

What's on the other side?"

And he said, "Turn it over," and he played 'Imagine.'

JOHN: (clears his throat) OK?

Shall I go?

♪ ALLAN: The first time I heard the album in the studio, the first song I heard was 'Imagine.'

And I just listened to it, and this was before the strings were put on it.

♪ ♪ Imagine there's no heaven ♪ ♪ ♪ It's easy if you try ♪ KIERON: And I put the needle on and out comes 'Imagine.'

But, of course, it didn't have...

There was no song title.

I didn't know what this was about.

And I thought, "Hm, not bad, not bad."

RAY: Within about 30 seconds, I thought, "This is it."

I said, "Surely that should be the A-side."

And he very coolly said, "Yoko, Ray thinks 'Imagine' should be the A-side."

She said, "Oh, I like that one, too."

KIERON: And he's like, "Well, what do you think?

Is it any good?"

I'll never forget, he said, "Is it any good?"

♪ ALLAN: I said to John, "It's a number-one record, John."

He said, "Are you sure?

Are you really sure?"

KIERON: I said, "I really like that song, 'Imagine All The People,' whatever it's called."

cuz it didn't have a title.

He said, "Yeah, I think that's gonna be...

It's called 'Imagine.'

I think it's gonna be the title of the album."

I said, "I think it's real... "I think people are gonna be still listening to it in ten years' time."

He said, "Oh, **** off, it's just a rock album."

♪ JOHN: So, which way should we go?

You're just gonna follow us now, then?

MAN: Yeah, we'll follow you.

JOHN: I'm going over to look at the, er... JULIAN: The swans.

JOHN: The swans and whatever they are, geese.

Oh, they've come back, have they?

MAN: They're coming now.

JOHN: I'm going round once!

♪ JULIAN: Dad?

JOHN: I'm trying to get round here.

JULIAN: Dad?

JOHN: Yes?

JULIAN: Can I get off?

JOHN: Yeah, do you want to...?

Do you want to get off on the island?

♪ DAN: They wanted to be away from London, away from the office and all the people there.

If you wanted to talk to him, you had to come out.

DIANA: When they came down from the Apple offices, they shut themselves off from that.

And I remember them sending a memo, saying, "We are now operating from Tittenhurst Park as Bag Productions."

They didn't want any direct contact with the Apple offices any more.

♪ RAY: When you went to Tittenhurst, it was this white place.

This huge, huge garden.

I mean, acres of wonderful trees and things.

And they had donkeys.

They had a lake put in, with... All the fish died, unfortunately, but it was a good idea.

It was this huge place.

JULIAN: I remember it fondly, because... Dad and Yoko would do their own thing and I would sort of run around.

I think it was 99 acres, Tittenhurst.

I mean, that's an insane amount of land for... You know, a child can get lost in those woods!

♪ DAN: The first time we met with the gardener, Frank, he was a proper old English gentleman with, you know, a tweed coat and little hat, you know, and he's standing there in his wellingtons to meet them for the first time, and Yoko said, "We want only black or white flowers."

And he said, "Pardon?"

"Only black or white flowers."

He said, "Well, I can certainly do white, but I'm not sure..." "I'm sure there's some tulips that are black," Yoko said.

Black and white flowers!

We ended up with different colors.

♪ DIANA: John and Yoko spent a lot of time in their suite upstairs, which was huge.

It was an enormous bedroom with dressing rooms off it, and they had this balcony outside and they spent most of their time up there.

They would be reading letters and things like that.

They always had plenty of books and things around.

They'd be listening to music.

I think they had all the music papers, so they would go through those.

They liked to kind of know what was going on.

DAN: He liked to sit in bed, playing his guitar, smoking dope and watching television.

First of all, he didn't like getting up and going anywhere unless he really had a reason to do it, you know.

Because, remember, the world is coming in all the time at you, you know, if you're John.

You have to imagine, this is a man who...

He never sees another human face that's not going, like, "What can I do for you?"

That means that nobody's ever going to tell you the truth.

You'll never get any, or very rarely, get useful feedback that's, you know, the real thing.

And he needed a refuge from that.

♪ ♪ (water splashes) JULIAN: Those are the moments that we, you know, enjoyed each other's company without thinking about it too much.

I think if either of us thought about things too much, it was, you know, the anxiety or other elements would come into play.

JOHN: OK!

MAN: Next tune.

JOHN: Next.

What shall we do?

JULIAN: They were heavily into recording 'Imagine' at that time.

That's why I had a lot of time on my own.

You know, because as a kid, also, I think the studio scenario was exciting for a minute, but then, you know, "You're playing that song how many times?"

MAN: Let him sit there.

Where's my... (John vocalizing) EDDIE: John wanted his own studio.

If I'd looked back at the period, it was probably that John wanted to get out of town, he wanted the release, somewhere that he could work peacefully and relax.

After some discussion, John decided that the annex would be the best place for the studio because it was close to the kitchen, for all the usual teas and snacks and stuff, and sufficiently away from the house that it didn't impact on the domestic scene.

DAN: He was very impatient, cuz it takes time to build these things.

All those connections have to be soldered.

You have to test things, "Maybe we should change the carpet?"

You know, you go through this process of...

It's like tuning an instrument, making a good studio.

EDDIE: John was then anxious to start recording, so I did use John's enthusiasm to get into the studio, and say, "Well, if you'd like to go in the studio "and play the piano or practice, "I'd love to have some sound coming in to see if it all works."

So we actually used John as part of the work to set the studio up.

John was the guinea pig, that's right.

(buttons click) JOHN: Bon soir, madam and monsieur.

Ce soir.

Nous avon le Plastic Ono Band, who's going to play a vous a little rock n roll.

MAN: Where's Phillip?

MAN 2: We don't know.

MAN: Let's see how George does.

PHIL: We should try to get a hold of Eric.

WOMAN: I tried Eric.

PHIL: I tried Eric.

He was sleeping, and then there was no reply.

JIM: So I'm staying with Eric and, um...

I get up before Eric because he slept a lot later than I did.

One morning, the phone rang for a long time and, finally, I just picked it up and it was Spector.

He said he wanted me to wake up Eric and I said, "Listen, I can't wake up Eric."

"I don't want to go into his bedroom and wake him up."

He said, "OK, well, we wanted him to come out and play," and he said, "How about you?

You want to come and play with John?"

And I said, "Yeah, absolutely!"

♪ ♪ KIERON: I got a job as a freelancer at Sounds, which was one of the music papers.

And they said, "You've got to go to John Lennon's house tomorrow to photograph him recording a new album."

And I thought it was a joke at first.

I go in, and he hadn't got up yet.

This was about five o'clock in the afternoon.

So I hung around for a half an hour, and then they suddenly seemed to appear out of nowhere.

The two of them just were 'phttt' in the room, looking like they'd just got out of bed.

"Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head."

No, he hadn't even dragged a comb across his head.

He looked really scruffy, actually.

JOHN: They actually have eggs on toast, you see.

He likes tinned tomatoes, 'cause they don't like real ones.

KIERON: I didn't know how long I had them for, ten minutes or, as it turned out, six or seven hours.

So I said, "Can I start taking pictures?"

And he said, "Of course, go for it," you know?

♪ You can shine your shoes and wear a suit ♪ ♪ You can comb your hair and look quite cute ♪ So, there was a bunch of people there.

There were people arriving.

There was Klaus Voormann, the bass player.

There was Nicky Hopkins.

There were some other people who I didn't recognize at the time.

And then George Harrison showed up, and I was, "Oh, my God."

ALAN: We all went every day for, you know, for the whole period of making 'Imagine.'

It was a daily trip in the car in the morning.

We'd get there, have a bit of breakfast and coffee and then get into it.

KLAUS: I was living at Friar Park.

I'd got my little cottage there and it was great.

George had those great cars and it was nice to drive together.

And I had this little Mini, which was all painted in Tantra art, George gave it to me.

But when we drove together, he had, well, I don't know, some Mercedes or something.

So I said, "It's great," and it was fun, and he loved driving.

♪ KIERON: Phil Spector arrived.

He was dressed in a three-piece suit and a collar and tie in the middle of Summer in England in a rock session, and shades.

And he was a very heavy presence.

And he just looked menacing.

(laughs) At a certain point, Phil stood up and sort of whispered something like, "I think we should get started now," and John shot up, and said, "Right, everybody, Phil wants us in the studio."

And he was taking mugs out of people's hands, you know.

JOHN: Shall we listen to the tape or shall we just get on?

MAN: Let's go and do them.

JOHN: Let's go and do them, OK. Let's go.

George, are you coming?

Come on, gang.

Come on now, let's go.

♪ How?

It's A minor.

GEORGE: It's the same chord, A minor seventh, is it?

JOHN: F. It stays on F a bit long, I think.

♪ E7.

♪ That's all it is.

(John vocalizing) MAN: Is that a major chord?

JOHN: Yeah, D7, that is.

♪ Yeah.

Let's try and open the window up a bit.

KLAUS: John comes in the studio, plays a song and he thinks everybody knows it already.

That's typical for John, that he's very impatient.

JOHN: No, D7, maybe.

KLAUS: He thinks for himself.

But you see, we played in the studio a few times, then suddenly everybody finds his way, you know?

♪ How do you sleep at night?

♪ ♪ KIERON: First, I couldn't quite hear the lyrics, because they were going through the mic into the control room, and the first line was, "So Sgt.

Pepper took you by surprise."

♪ So Sergeant Pepper took you ♪ ♪ KIERON: And I thought, "Oh, it's a song about the fans," because 'Sgt.

Pepper' took me by surprise.

♪ And then there was the line, "The only good thing you did was yesterday."

♪ The only thing you've done was ♪ ♪ Yesterday ♪ KIERON: "And since you've been gone, it's been just another day."

♪ And since you've gone it's just another day ♪ KIERON: And I thought, "Hang on a minute.

They're two Paul McCartney song titles."

♪ Those freaks was right ♪ ♪ When they said you was dead ♪ ♪ KIERON: It became clear that there was a spat between John and Paul which I, as a member of the public, was not aware of.

JOHN: I used my resentment against Paul, that I have as a kind of sibling rivalry resentment, to create a song.

And I was answering a few little messages that Paul sent to me on 'Ram,' you see?

Only I publish my lyrics, you see?

He doesn't, so you have to listen dead hard.

YOKO: Artistically and musically... JOHN: It's a good song.

YOKO: ...if you listen to it, it's a beautiful song.

♪ You live with straights who told you ♪ JOHN: Paul personally doesn't feel as though I insulted him or anything, cuz I had dinner with him last week.

So it's not about Paul, it's about me.

♪ Jump when your momma tell you anything ♪ PHIL: I kind of like two drummers JOHN: Two drummers?

Well we've got Steve.

PHIL: We don't have another set, do we?

JOHN: Oh.

What?

What?

PHIL: We don't have another set.

JOHN: Oh, I see.

Well where would we put them?

KLAUS: The nice thing about the recording sessions in those days was that you play all at the same time.

JOHN: Hit it!

♪ KLAUS: And that's so important.

It's so much fun.

And for John, it was fun, too.

Even though he was focused on a song and we tuned into it, still, it was a fun, fun situation.

♪ ♪ DAN: He had the whole of 'Imagine' in his head.

He had the whole thing.

JOHN: George, on your break, will you, just for the first bit, play the tune?

GEORGE: Yeah.

How does that go?

JOHN: Well, just like... ♪ Even the one note will do.

Dah-dah-dah-dah.

DAN: That whole album, he had all the songs.

They weren't written down.

Or there may have been parts written down.

But he just started.

♪ Oh, my love, for the first time in my life ♪ ♪ My eyes are wide open ♪ KLAUS: He would sing the song, and you would hear him.

Maybe if you look in his eyes, or whatever, and we see what he sings.

♪ My eyes can see ♪ So you got a feeling of the song just by him playing it, and you heard the words.

Of course you heard the words, you know.

I mean, he's not just saying anything.

♪ Everything is clear in my heart ♪ Then we got the lyrics, so we could be even more aware of what he's saying.

JOHN: Why it's 4,000 copies of 'Oh my Love.'

ALAN: He would give me, and everybody involved, the lyrics and make you study the lyrics before each and every song.

And then we'd take it from there.

JOHN: Well, try that one then.

GEORGE: Yeah, OK.

The metal, it's more, um...

It's more a jangly sound.

♪ JOHN: See, these are very... YOKO: That's delicate and nice, isn't it actually.

♪ Yes, it's sort of Elizabethan.

JOHN: Yeah, right, right.

So try them both, then.

YOKO: It's Elizabethan.

JOHN: OK, two, three, four.

♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, my love, for the first time in my life ♪ ♪ My eyes are wide open ♪ KLAUS: If somebody comes up with a great lick or a great idea of a riff or a rhythm, then he would go for it.

YOKO: That has a... Elizabethan feeling, you know?

GEORGE: Has what?

YOKO: Has a Elizabethan feeling.

You know, that one?

GEORGE: So which one is better?

YOKO: That's better.

ALAN: You know, he'd adapt to all situations.

He was very good at impromptu decisions in his head that just worked.

♪ Oh my lover, for the first time in my life ♪ ♪ My eyes can see ♪ ♪ I see the wind ♪ ♪ Oh, I see the trees ♪ ♪ Everything is clear in our world ♪ ♪ ♪ JOHN: I think we shouldn't ring off, ring off when George does his... ♪ PHIL: And stop the bass?

JOHN: Yeah.

So we'll ring off then.

We'll go... KLAUS: Ring off?

Stop... GEORGE: Ring off!

JOHN: Ring off.

(indistinct) KIERON: My first impression of Yoko was, um... Well, the first impression was she was very quiet.

I got her in one of my photographs actually, where John is singing into the mic with his white Epiphone and she's actually sitting on the floor writing out the lyrics.

I really got, "This is a real team effort."

KLAUS: I saw Yoko, and I saw how the two worked together and how it happened.

How excited Yoko can be and how they got on so well.

YOKO: You see, in Japanese there's... JOHN: " I want you to..." (singing in Japanese) YOKO: That's it.

JOHN: That's too long, you see.

I only want one line.

YOKO: I know, but, you see, in Japanese... "I know that you've heard it before" is wrong in Japanese, because in Japan they haven't... JOHN: Yes, they have.

Everybody in the world says that.

YOKO: The thing is, you can't say it in one line.

So why can't you say... (speaks Japanese) It's a very, very strong message.

JOHN: Well, I'll try it.

♪ KIERON: There was something absolutely lovely about her, which I'm not sure I can put my finger on, but she was completely different to the propaganda we'd all been led to believe that she was this devil woman, a foreigner to boot, who broke up The Beatles.

MALE PRESENTER: Miss Yoko Ono.

YOKO: What I'm trying to do is to present an unfinished situation, where people can finish it themselves in their own minds.

♪ KIERON: She'd come along from nowhere.

Just from nowhere.

We had no idea about the background of anything in New York, so she was really an interesting person.

DAVID: What was the first time, Yoko, that you made something like one of these?

What was the very first time you really invented something?

YOKO: When I was about four years old, when I was in Japan, and one day, I had a great idea, you know, that probably the, uh... if we cut all the seeds in the world in half... DAVID: All the seas?

YOKO: Seeds, you know, different kinds of seeds, and glue it together, different seeds, and plant them, then the whole world would... DAVID: Oh, "seeds"?

YOKO: Seeds, you know.

And then it would be, sort of like, a whole world, a completely different world, all mixed of... you know, pine trees with apples, hanging around, things like that and I thought it would be beautiful.

♪ JOHN D.: The art world was extremely straight, really, in those days.

It was more of a sort of slick operation.

You know, proper art galleries.

Whereas, ours was completely handmade.

Ours was the only place that Yoko could possibly show, really.

Because I liked Yoko.

I liked the sort of daffy ideas.

The whole thing, it just appealed to me.

YOKO: There was a piece called, uh, 'Ceiling Painting.'

INTERVIEWER: Yeah.

YOKO: And there's a painting on the ceiling, you see.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah.

YOKO: And my idea was for people to climb up a long, long ladder, just go on climbing up like this, you know... INTERVIEWER: Yeah.

YOKO: ...and then, finally, reaching the ceiling and you look at the painting and it says "Yes," you know.

JOHN: It said "Yes."

It made my decision to go and see the rest of the show.

If it had said "No" or, you know, "Uh-huh," I would have left the gallery then!

But because it was positive, it said "Yes," I thought, "OK." It's the first show I've been to that said something, you know, warm to me.

So then I decided to see the rest of the show and that's when we met.

DAVID R.: What John saw in Yoko's work, whether it was the, you know, the ladder piece with the word "Yes" on it and that... ...the notion of that kind of openness to the world.

♪ You know, just "Yes," that was... that was the essential quality of living, was "Yes."

JACK: What he saw was a reflection of himself.

He was an artist, but what he'd say about Yoko is, everything about Yoko is upside-down from what we understand.

Whatever you hear, whatever she says, you've got to look at the other side, always.

DAN: He got it.

I mean, he... Yoko touched him.

You know, it's as though he was...

He had something missing that he was looking for.

He had an emptiness.

(girls screaming hysterically) KLAUS: I met him when they did the "Strawberry Fields Forever" video and stuff.

He was really, really in bad shape.

I was walking with him in the garden and, er... he sat there, kind of gazing at this bunch of... at this bush.

And he ripped off all the leaves, like that.

I said, "Look, John, that bush can't help it.

You don't have to hurt the bush, you know."

And, "Klaus, I'm so unhappy."

He was really... you know, kind of letting go and he started crying, you know.

(girls screaming hysterically) JULIAN: When it really did hit, when The Beatles really did take off, I mean... there was no breathing room.

There was no choice in... in life choices of what you could and couldn't do.

I think the whole experience was fun to start with, but then, once you realized that, "Well, this is my life," um, and, in fact, "It's not actually my life, it's their life and who am I any more within this?"

(girls screaming hysterically) KLAUS: And that's when Yoko came, that it changed 100%.

She gave him everything he needed and he changed completely.

JOHN: A-one, two, a-one, two, three, four!

♪ ♪ Everybody's talking about Bagism, Shagism, Dragism ♪ ♪ Madism, Ragism, Tagism ♪ JOHN: Stop asking us, "Do you think it's going to work?"

You know, do something yourself.

♪ All we are saying ♪ ♪ Is give peace a chance ♪ The only way we can change it is by changing it non-violently.

Because they've done the violent kick for millions of years.

They're on all the time selling their war and selling their products.

We must do the same.

YOKO: No matter how beautiful a poem is, if you can't share it with people, if you can't reach people, then it's crap.

The only way to change the world is change their minds.

We can do that, we can still do that.

JOHN: This bed is a platform.

(laughing) Go away!

(laughing) ♪ Remember love ♪ ♪ Remember love ♪ ♪ Love is what it takes to sing ♪ ♪ Remember love ♪ ♪ Remember love ♪ ♪ Love is what it takes to meet ♪ MICHAEL: Did Yoko's presence, John, did it lead to tension in the group?

Was it part of the break-up?

JOHN: The tension was already there, you see.

I said if we talk about The Beatles, I want you in the bag.

Are you going to do that?

MICHAEL: What do you want me in the bag for, John?

Alright, fine.

JOHN: He's a sport!

MICHAEL: In the interest of communication, John.

(audience laughs) (audience applauds) JOHN: All we're saying is, give peace a chance.

But if the least we can do is give somebody a laugh, we're willing to be the world's clowns.

KENELM: Well, they thought she was a fruit-and-nut case, and they thought that John had lost his mind by being with her.

GLORIA: I was dismayed and appalled by what you did, sending back the MBE.

You used two huge, catastrophic events of unspeakable horror as a convenient reason, when you might just as well have said, "I got up and had a sinus headache this morning."

JOHN: A convenient reason for what?

GLORIA: For sending back the MBE.

♪ Cold turkey has got me ♪ DIANA: This is my first day at work and the first thing I had to do in the Apple offices was type this letter on a really ropey old typewriter.

And it said, "Your Majesty, I'm returning this MBE "in protest against Britain's involvement "in this Nigeria-Biafra thing, "against our support of America in Vietnam "and against 'Cold Turkey' slipping down the charts.

With love, John Lennon of Bag."

RAY: Then he rang me immediately at the Evening Standard and said what he'd done.

And I said, "God Almighty, done what?"

I think I said at the time, "Well, are you sure "that mentioning 'Cold Turkey' and the war in Biafra...?

You know, they don't sort of mix well."

I thought, "You're crackers."

JOHN: If I'm going to get on the front page, I might as well get on the front page with the word "peace."

GLORIA: But you've made yourself ridiculous!

JOHN: The medal has nothing to do with it.

GLORIA: No, exactly!

JOHN: So?

GLORIA: This is why you've got all the publicity.

JOHN: But without the medal there would have been no publicity.

I would have had to think of something else to interest our brothers of the press.

And while they're bothering about how long my hair is and the irrelevancy of 'Cold Turkey' and "how dare you insult the Queen" and "your auntie was upset by handing it back," the main purpose... GLORIA: That's a load of garbage!

JOHN: OK, that's leaving the door open as far as we're concerned.

♪ The temperature's rising ♪ ♪ Fever is high ♪ ♪ Can't see no future ♪ (Yoko vocalizing) ♪ Can't see no sky ♪ (Yoko whooping) ♪ Feet are so heavy ♪ ♪ And so is my head ♪ ♪ Wish I was a baby ♪ ♪ I wish I was dead ♪ (Yoko vocalizing) ♪ Cold turkey ♪ ♪ Has got me ♪ ♪ On the run ♪ YOKO: I had this idea about making a band that... Nobody's really involved in it, except the people in the band are just plastic boxes like this.

♪ Can't see nobody ♪ ♪ Leave me alone ♪ ALAN: I just remember playing on that show and then, I was going, "Where did Yoko go?"

And started looking around, there was a bag on the floor with Yoko in it with a microphone lead in there.

And I was going, "Where's that sound coming from?"

But it was kind of cool.

It was their own way of expression at that time.

(Yoko vocalizing) KLAUS: When we were doing the Toronto thing, she was suddenly coming out of her bag and started screaming and doing things.

(vocalizing) And the public couldn't do anything with it, you know.

You could be happy they don't throw tomatoes or something.

♪ TARIQ: The fact, of course, that she was a foreigner was used nonstop.

I remember being shocked even before I knew John and Yoko, by the nastiness of some of the attacks on her.

False.

Vicious.

Racist.

(vocalizing) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ RAY: You have to understand The Beatles and the relationship with the English people, the British people.

They were ours.

The entire country was in love with them.

I can't tell you, it was like, there was the Beatles and the Queen and that was it, you know.

And then, suddenly, along comes this strange-looking woman, you know, with all the hair, and her hair fell down so you just sort of see a little bit of her face.

Mysterious, in black all the time.

And this woman is stealing our John, our John, our Beatle, away.

♪ I don't believe in Beatles ♪ ♪ I just believe in me ♪ JULIAN: That's got to be a tough call, having all that anger thrown at you.

Because, one minute you're loved by the world and then, you know, despised by many.

♪ Having to defend your life on pretty much every level is a pretty hard thing to have to deal with after what you've just been through.

I mean, that's a complete 180 on every level.

♪ ♪ The dream is over ♪ DAN: I knew he wanted to get away from it.

It was as though he was trapped by being a Beatle.

He really just wanted to end it.

He wanted to be an artist.

He wanted to be an artist, he wanted to be John, you know, and it says in the song, "I was," you know... "And now I'm just John," you know.

"So, my friends, you'll have to carry on," you know.

♪ I was the walrus ♪ ♪ But now I'm John ♪ ♪ ♪ And so, dear friends ♪ ♪ You'll just have to carry on ♪ ♪ ♪ The dream is over ♪ YOKO: I like being young, you see.

(woman giggles) WOMAN: I didn't know you were in drag all the time.

YOKO: He is in drag.

WOMAN: You're just pretending.

♪ Mmm-mm-mm!

♪ YOKO: He's a big pretender.

WOMAN: Oh, ****.

Come on.

YOKO: Just watch out now.

WOMAN: A pretender.

That's terrific.

Oh, wow.

I got it, I got the message.

Now, you got your real pretender thing going on.

Oh, I got it.

I got you.

YOKO: John... JOHN: Sorry.

This is for love I'm doing this.

You understand?

And for art.

YOKO: He just wanted to strip.

JOHN: The sake of art.

I didn't want to strip.

(indistinct chatter) ♪ Yeah, well, tell us if you need any spaces.

(indistinct chatter) ♪ DAN: Almost everything Yoko did was to try to get the audience or the observer to take part.

And to use their own minds and to awaken things in their minds and this is a perfect example of it.

JOHN: It is wonderful to have you here with us today at the 'Grapefruit' signing session.

We have Miss Selfridge and Mr. Selfridge and all the little Selfridges.

Yeah?

DIANA: 'Cloud Piece.'

"Imagine the clouds dripping."

DAVID R.: "Dig a hole in your garden to put them in."

KIERON: "1963, Spring."

It is very funny.

Cuz the clouds aren't going to go in the hole in the garden.

It's just a nice way of saying let your imagination run.

That's what it means to me.

DAN: You know, I mean this is classic Yoko.

It starts with the word "imagine."

KENELM: A bit of existential nonsense.

I'm not impressed.

JOHN D.: The 'clouds dripping' is that a good thing or a bad thing?

And do you get rid of them by putting them in a hole in the garden?

JACK: I imagine myself crying... and using my tears to make myself stronger.

JOHN: The customer's always right!

♪ Oh, Yoko ♪ (cash register dings) ♪ Oh, Yoko ♪ ♪ My love will turn you on ♪ ♪ ♪ My love ♪ ♪ Will turn ♪ ♪ You on ♪ DAVID B.: Want a drink?

CREWMAN: David Bailey's studio.

Two-six-five, take one.

(clapperboard claps) DAVID B.: Put your chin down a little bit.

JOHN: Who?

DAVID B.: Aren't you one?

JOHN: Yes... Ha ha... funny.

DAVID R.: They were a merged unit, they were more than a husband and wife.

They were more than a partnership.

They had completely merged their sensibilities.

DAVID B.: What's this film for, your grandchildren?

JOHN: No.

For the record.

We've just made a record.

DAVID B.: That's great.

Stay like that.

Good.

Don't move a thing, just point that toe down.

DAVID B.: It was just a shoot.

You know, it wasn't anything special.

I just let them lead me, in a way.

Good.

Now... YOKO: It's really like Blue Angel, isn't it?

DAVID B.: Yeah.

Say "lesbian."

YOKO: Lesbian.

DAVID B.: Good.

Chin down a bit.

Eyes at me, yeah.

He was an *******, so I thought he was great.

I really got on great with him.

(laughs) He could've been a cockney.

(laughs) JOHN: Cuz you were the great David Bailey, it was probably life or death whether you came out all right or not.

You were one of the Swinging Englanders.

DAVID B.: No, I wasn't.

JOHN: Come on!

As much as we were.

DAVID B.: No.

Much less.

JOHN: ********!

DAVID B.: I've never been down the King's Road in my life.

JOHN: Neither did I, till I read about it in the papers.

(laughs) DAVID B.: He was flirting with her in a way, but flirting with her in front of a camera.

It looked much nicer before.

That hand's a bit forced.

JOHN: Yeah, right.

That's what I say.

Shall we get back in?

It's always cozy.

DAVID B.: He was pushing it to be more sexy.

It seemed almost adolescent, a bit adolescent to do.

That's what I felt at the time.

That's great.

Good.

Kiss her this way a bit more, John.

JOHN: Yeah.

DAVID B.: That's lovely.

Good.

OK, good.

JOHN: I like this bit.

DAVID B.: He fancied her so much.

Relax.

Don't move.

Stay like that.

He was doing it for us, in a way.

He was showing his emotions for her.

He was letting us see it.

♪ ♪ ♪ I was dreamin' of the past ♪ ♪ And my heart was beating fast ♪ JIM: 'Jealous Guy' was such a beautiful piece of music.

So typically John Lennon, intuitive, like, 'nothing to worry about.'

And then Klaus, the way he hugged the beat.

KLAUS: I love it because it's very personal, too, because that was the moment where I actually got so much into what he was saying and the way he was playing, and I didn't know what I was playing.

It was like a trance sort of thing.

I didn't know what key I was in.

It just floated automatically.

♪ I'm just a jealous guy ♪ ♪ I was feeling insecure ♪ JIM: I heard him singing and watched him singing, and listening to these beautiful chords and feeling the groove, so it was like such a gentle little thing.

But it had a... it had a... you know... We weren't being precious with it.

It just was accommodating the lyric.

♪ I was shivering inside ♪ INTERVIEWER: Would it be fair to say we're getting away from the property concept of relationship?

JOHN: That's all very well intellectually, but when you are in love with somebody, you tend to be jealous and want to own them, and possess them 100%, which I do.

But intellectually, before that, well, I thought, "Right."

I mean, "Owning a person is rubbish."

But I love Yoko, I want to possess her completely.

I don't want to stifle her.

YOKO: I think we're starting to relax.

JOHN: And because you have so little as a child, I think it is.

Once you find it, you want to hang on to it.

You grab it so much, you tend to kill it.

♪ I was feeling insecure ♪ ♪ You might not love me anymore ♪ ♪ I was shivering inside ♪ ♪ I was shivering inside ♪ ♪ I didn't mean to hurt you ♪ ♪ I'm sorry that I made you cry ♪ ♪ Oh, now ♪ ♪ I didn't want to hurt you ♪ ♪ ♪ I'm just a jealous guy ♪ ♪ (John whistles melodically) DIANA: I particularly remember when 'Jealous Guy' was recorded, and that was kind of, I don't know, five in the morning or something, everybody got kinda called in to listen to this and it was a very, very moving song.

Very powerful.

And I think people felt quite, you know, were welling up and feeling, you know, kind of a real feeling of, "Wow, this is amazing, powerful stuff."

♪ I didn't mean to hurt you ♪ ♪ ♪ I'm sorry that I made you cry ♪ ♪ Oh, now ♪ ♪ I didn't want to hurt you ♪ ♪ I'm just a jealous guy ♪ JOHN: Watch out there!

♪ I'm just a jealous guy ♪ Look out!

♪ I'm just a jealous guy ♪ OOV: That was great.

JOHN: Thank you.

DAN: Diana said to me one morning, we just got this telegram and it says, "Hi, I'm coming.

And I'll be there soon, signed Claudio."

And everybody thought, "Well, he can't get here," and I said, "I'm not so sure."

And lo and behold, he turned up at the gate.

This was a shell-shocked Vietnam veteran, a young man.

I think he'd been in a hospital in San Francisco, and he was about to be released.

JOHN: Don't confuse the songs with your own life.

I mean, they might have relevance to your own life, but a lot of things do.

DAN: And we went through a number of things.

The police wanted to arrest him, and John said, "Don't..." you know, "Don't hurt him."

JOHN: And then I had this guy called Claudio saying, "I'm coming, I'm coming.

And I only have to look in your eyes and then I'll know."

So last week, he turned up at the house, you know.

DIANA: He was obviously very, very infatuated by John, and he sent a lot of letters.

And some of the time, he thought he was John.

But he also wanted to meet him, desperately wanted to meet him.

JOHN: So we've met, you know.

I'm just a guy, man, who writes songs.

We can only say hello.

And what else is there?

CLAUDIO: Yeah.

Yeah, I figured that if we met, I'd know, you know, just by meeting you.

JOHN: But know what?

CLAUDIO: You know, if what I was thinking was true.

JOHN: Well what were you... Is it true?

CLAUDIO: Well, I guess not.

JOHN: Right.

I'm just a guy, man.

CLAUDIO: Yeah.

But... Yeah.

But it all fits.

JOHN: Anything fits.

If you're tripping off on some trip, anything fits, you know.

CLAUDIO: Remember that one, um... "You can radiate everything you are.

You can penetrate anywhere you go"?

JOHN: Yeah.

CLAUDIO: "Syndicate any..." Yeah.

JOHN: That was just having fun with words.

YOKO: I thought of the 'radiate, syndicate.'

JOHN: 'Radiate' was... she wrote that.

'Radiate and syndicate.'

I was just having fun with words.

It was literally a nonsense song.

YOKO: I wouldn't tell you, unless... JOHN: I mean, Dylan does that, anybody does it, you know.

They just take words, you stick them together and it's like throwing the 'I Ching' or something.

You just see what happens.

You take a bunch of words, you throw them out and see if they have any meaning.

Some of them do, some of them don't.

CLAUDIO: And your "Old Hare Krishna has nothing on you"?

JOHN: Yeah.

Well, he don't.

CLAUDIO: Yeah.

JOHN: You know, I mean, you're it.

See, that last album of mine was me coming out of my dream.

CLAUDIO: Seems like it could've been different.

JOHN: What could've?

CLAUDIO: Well, before that last album, the way it built up... JOHN: Well, that was... to me, it was just a hallucination, a dream.

CLAUDIO: It is now... 'cause it's over.

JOHN: Right.

I mean, you can last your whole life on that dream, you know, and then it's all over.

CLAUDIO: You weren't... you weren't thinking of anyone in particular when you were singing all that?

JOHN: How could I be?

How could I be thinking of you, man?

CLAUDIO: Well, I don't know, maybe...

I don't care me, but it's all somebody.

JOHN: I'm thinking about me, or at best, Yoko, if it's a love song.

(John clears his throat) You know, and I think... maybe think about an audience in general.

If I'm singing "Old Hare Krishna got nothing on you," I'm sort of talking to any old friends who've been listening to what we were saying and I'm saying, "Look, well, I think it's a lot of ********, now."

You know, "Let's forget it," you know.

And that, as far as I'm concerned, and...

But that's it.

I'm basically singing about me.

I'm saying, you know, "I had a good **** today," and, "This is what I thought this morning," and, "I love you, Yoko."

Whatever.

I'm singing about me and my life, you know.

If it's relevant for other people's lives, that's all right.

DAN: He had great empathy, which, if you think about it, can be very painful.

You know, he cared.

JOHN: Are you hungry?

Hmm?

CLAUDIO: Yeah.

JOHN: Let's give him something to eat.

♪ Well... ♪ ♪ I... ♪ ♪ Don't wanna be a soldier, mama ♪ ♪ I don't wanna die ♪ ♪ ♪ Well... ♪ ♪ I... ♪ ♪ Don't wanna be a sailor, mama ♪ ♪ I don't wanna fly ♪ (weapons fire, explosions) ♪ ♪ Well... ♪ TARIQ: I went there, I think, about three or four times, sometimes to do the interview and sometimes just to hang out.

One day, John rang and said... "Do you want to come over?

"I've got a new song I want to play it to you.

And it's part of a new album."

JOHN: Well, there's only three I've written this year.

All the rest were things I'd written before and just polished them off.

There's a nice one called 'Crippled Inside.'

I'll play it you later.

TARIQ: We just chatted.

I have to shave my mustache off, have my hair cut, because I went in under false papers... JOHN: Yes, I read it.

YOKO: We heard it too because of... TARIQ: We were talking about the government, we were talking about what was going on in Vietnam, the Cultural Revolution in China, the Japanese student movement.

JOHN: Did I hear there was some good news on China?

TARIQ: Well, there's some good news on Vietnam.

The impression we have is that if we discussed it more concretely, the Vietnamese would be very pleased.

TARIQ: The things that were animating them were the things that were animating, you know, a whole generation.

The war in Vietnam, in particular.

Difficult to explain now to people how much that war did to radicalize us.

And the election of Richard Nixon escalated the war further.

I mean, they took it one whole country further by wrecking Cambodia, bombing it indiscriminately and destroying its government.

♪ No short-haired, yellow-bellied ♪ ♪ Son of tricky dicky's ♪ ♪ Gonna Mother Hubbard soft-soap me ♪ ♪ With just a pocketful of hope ♪ ♪ Money for dope ♪ ♪ Money for rope ♪ ♪ ♪ I'm sick to death of seeing things ♪ ♪ From tight-lipped, condescending ♪ ♪ Mama's little chauvinists ♪ ♪ All I want is the truth ♪ ♪ Just give me some truth now ♪ ♪ I've had enough of watching scenes ♪ ♪ With schizophrenic, egocentric ♪ ♪ Paranoiac prima donnas ♪ ♪ All I want is the truth now, now ♪ ♪ Just give me some truth now ♪ ♪ All I want is the truth now ♪ TARIQ: The world's largest, most powerful military nation bombing what was essentially a peasant country.

They were deliberately targeting civilians.

♪ I don't wanna be a failure, mama ♪ ♪ I don't wanna cry ♪ ♪ Oh!

♪ ♪ I... ♪ ♪ Don't wanna be a soldier, mama ♪ ♪ I don't wanna die ♪ ♪ Oh, no ♪ ♪ Oh, no, oh, no ♪ ♪ Oh, no ♪ ♪ Oh, no ♪ ♪ ♪ Power to the people ♪ DAN: There was a great revolution taking place across the globe.

The youth of that time were saying, "We don't like the world we were born into.

We want it to be different.

We want to change it."

♪ Power to the people ♪ ♪ Power to the people ♪ ♪ Power to the people ♪ DAVID R.: Coming of age in the late '60s, learning about the civil rights movement, learning about the war in Vietnam, I started to become angry and upset.

And, to a certain extent, embarrassed that I was part of a big lie.

♪ Singing, power to the people ♪ KENELM: There were riots outside the American Embassy.

♪ Power to the people ♪ ♪ Power to the people, right on ♪ It didn't go down well with the Establishment, that's for sure.

And the older generation didn't appreciate it.

JOHN: The people are the government, the people have the power.

All we have to do is awaken the power in the people.

♪ Power to the people ♪ ♪ Power to the people ♪ ♪ Power to the people ♪ ♪ Power to the people, right on ♪ TARIQ: You know, these impressions never go away.

I can still see them.

And they were hugely important in radicalizing me.

And so, we used to discuss these things.

And Yoko, of course, knew.

She said, "Yeah, I know, "and you know what they did to Japan and the way they bombed my country."

♪ ♪ ELLIOT: War was not an abstraction to her.

She experienced it first-hand.

Yoko came from an extraordinarily privileged class from a banking family.

♪ (singer vocalizing) And then the skies opened up and the bombs fell.

♪ (singer vocalizing) ♪ (singer vocalizing) ♪ (singer vocalizing) And she spoke to me about being in the countryside... looking for food, looking for shelter... and looking for some way home that no longer existed.

♪ (singer vocalizing) YOKO: In the Second World War, I was in the middle of it.

All the kids had to evacuate.

And we evacuated in a country house.

Even now, I remember how my brother, who was really always happy... Like this, you know?

And he sat like that.

Like this.

So I said, "Kei, what's happening?"

"Well, I'm hungry."

I didn't know what to do, because we didn't have the food.

So, I said, "OK, let's (claps) create a great menu!"

And I said, "What would you like most to eat?"

"Ice cream!"

"OK, ice cream."

He started to get sort of happier.

And I thought, "Oh, my God, this is great," you know.

INTERVIEWER: And you imagined a meal, then?

YOKO: 'Imagine' made a lot of things for me.

(laughs) (children laughing) CHILD 1: Give it to Jacqueline!

CHILD 2: Yeah, you're the next oldest, Jacque.

JACQUELINE: Yeah, well, I don't like reading, do I?

CHILD 2: Yeah, you do.

You got good reports in your reading.

JACQUELINE: No, I didn't.

CHILD 2: Yes, you did.

JACQUELINE: I didn't.

CHILD 3: You didn't exactly get E, did you?

CHILD 4: "Skin 2,000 balloons, fly them in the air.

1964, Spring.

That's 'Fly Piece.'"

Well, if you skinned a balloon, it wouldn't be able to fly, would it?

CHILD 1: Ow!

(laughter) CHILD 4: No, you've got to use your imagination, or it doesn't mean anything, otherwise.

♪ CREWMAN: I'm going to put a board on now.

This is A1, head slate.

(clapperboard claps) ♪ ♪ Living for today ♪ ♪ Ah-hah ♪ ♪ Imagine there's no countries ♪ ♪ ♪ It isn't hard to do ♪ ♪ ♪ Nothing to kill or die for ♪ ♪ ♪ Imagine all the people ♪ EDDIE: It probably took no more than two or three hours to get the core of 'Imagine' into shape.

Then it was refinement for the rest of the recording session.

♪ Imagine no possessions ♪ ♪ PHIL: Played over you... JOHN: See, I think it would be better if he just played... PHIL: We're not getting any of it.

JOHN: ...either a piano underneath.

It should just be a piano song, you know.

♪ A brotherhood of man ♪ PHIL: See, when we tape I'd go to him... JOHN: Nicky, we can try you an octave higher on the piano, playing the same as me, almost.

NICKY: Yeah, OK. EDDIE: John would do that sort of thing, "Come and sit down, and play with me."

They'd play it together and see if they could enhance it.

JOHN: So... ♪ No, do the same as me.

EDDIE: The thought was that I... the piano in the white room, because it was a far better piano than the upright in the studio, that it would give a better piano sound.

♪ Imagine there's no heaven ♪ ♪ Yoko, why don't you go in there and listen, instead of being here?

♪ OK. Let's just try it with piano, bass and drums.

Yeah, good.

We'll come in on the F now.

I don't think you can stay in, but just try coming in on the F. EDDIE: John tried it out, but there was just too much room content.

The room was too reverberant.

And it wasn't a complementary reverberation to the piano.

JOHN: Yes?

YOKO: The piano sounds terrible.

Play it on this... And Nicky... And then we'll track it later or something.

That might be the best answer.

Yeah, OK. Well, look, I'll just do it and track it myself, but not in octaves, the same key, you know.

PHIL: Same register?

JOHN: Yeah, right, right.

PHIL: The problem is in that room.

JOHN: OK, let's go, then.

It's spread out like hell.

Well, I wish they'd told us before.

CREWMAN: Phil?

(indistinct chatter) JOHN: And the world will be as one!

(burps) So, we'll have to do this some other day, ladies and gentlemen!

You see?

Because they've only taken an hour, you see, to tell us that the noise is spreading in this room, you see?

Just don't forget.

KLAUS: Well, it was in the afternoon, and I think it was the first song we played in that day.

And everybody came in and, "We're gonna do 'Imagine' today."

YOKO: That's the best, I think.

♪ KLAUS: And so, we all stood around and listened to it.

And it was apparent that that was going to be a big, big one.

♪ ♪ Imagine there's no... ♪ JOHN: Vibes.

YOKO: Vibes, right.

ALAN: He played it on the piano and he gave everybody lyrics, and he wanted everybody to read them.

♪ No hell below us ♪ ♪ ALAN: First of all, I didn't care about what the drums played because the lyrics were so stunning, so I said, "I've just got to really cater to what this song needs."

♪ Living for today ♪ ♪ Ah-ah!

♪ (coughs) ♪ Ah-ah!

♪ ♪ Imagine there's no countries ♪ ♪ ♪ It isn't hard to do ♪ ♪ ♪ Nothing to kill or die for ♪ ♪ KLAUS: It was just so simple and so nice and still, to this day, I feel that if he would have played it just on the piano, no bass, no drums, no strings, no nothing, it would have been enough.

The song was really finished already.

♪ You-hoo, ooh-ooh-ooh ♪ ♪ You may say I'm a dreamer ♪ ♪ ♪ But I'm not the only one ♪ ALAN: The feeling of the vocal and what the words meant were really huge, in my mind.

♪ ...you'll join us ♪ ♪ ♪ And the world will be as one ♪ DAVID R.: Imagine what it means if we can get rid of all the labels, all the categories, all the things that divide us, and imagine that.

Because that's the way to peace.

It's that, at first, you have to see it, you have to be able to imagine it.

And the role of the imagination, not just in art, but in being a complete human being.

♪ A brotherhood of man ♪ ♪ JULIAN: He's not shoving it down people's throats.

I mean, this is what I admire.

And it's not religious, it's not political.

It's just humanity and life.

♪ You-hoo, ooh-ooh-ooh ♪ ELLIOT: To imagine something is not a passive experience.

That if you want the kind of world that's expressed in that song, you have to do something about it.

It was a demonstrable call to action.

♪ And the world will live as one ♪ JULIAN: A lot of people have said, "Well, you know, it's all a bit too dreamy."

Yeah, but we all actually really want what he's singing about.

We all want that.

And I think that's why, even today, the song is still so important.

Because, the sad thing is, the world is still in a bad way.

Why is it impossible to... to move forward in these dreams and make them a reality?

♪ TARIQ: He was always saying to me, "Our appeal, your appeal, it's too limited, we've got to get more people involved," etc.

And I think he wanted 'Imagine' to be...

It's almost like a manifesto for a movement.

A utopian manifesto for a progressive movement.

And he wanted to appeal to... the world outside.

"If you agree with these aims, come with us and we'll create a new world."

That was the way he wrote that song.

♪ No need for greed or hunger ♪ ♪ ♪ A brotherhood of man ♪ DAN: I hear Yoko, because those are all her words.

You know?

Those words are...

I love John, but, you know, those were her words.

She was speaking through him.

You know, I mean, I don't think the world's got that quite yet, but all of this... You know, the language that you see from the time they got together, forward, is Yoko's language.

She taught him this language.

♪ I hope someday you'll join us ♪ ♪ ♪ And the world will be as one ♪ JOHN: That should be credited as a Lennon-Ono song because a lot of it, the lyric and the concept, came from Yoko.

But those days, I was a bit more selfish, a bit more macho, and I sort of omitted to mention her contribution.

But it was right out of 'Grapefruit,' her book.

There's a whole piece about imagine this and imagine that, and give her credit now, long overdue.

YOKO: I feel, in the big picture... the fact that John and I met... was to do this song.

♪ ♪ You-hoo, ooh-ooh-ooh ♪ ♪ You may say I'm a dreamer ♪ ♪ ♪ But I'm not the only one ♪ ♪ ♪ I hope someday you'll join us ♪ ♪ ♪ And the world will live as one ♪ ♪ (clapperboard claps) CREWMAN: 283 on the end.

Excellent.

MAN 1: We have a movie.

MAN 2: Cut!

MAN 3: What?

MAN 1: That's the full output... (indistinct) JOHN: I'm going for a ****.

DAN: All the photographs... (inaudible) DIANA: Is that what it's going to be called?

DAN: Imagine.

DIANA: Wow.

DAN: And want to get it done by Sunday.

DIANA: Oh... DAN: No, I'm not kidding.

It's got to be done before they split.

DAN: Yoko said she had this idea of John with clouds in his eyes.

DIANA: OK, I can get the glasses for this tomorrow.

DAN: So, we get the glasses in the morning, and in the afternoon, I do this photograph, this photograph, and this photograph.

JOHN: Yeah.

OK, so, the light should be from there just to above the eyebrows.

DAN: Yes, I'm doing it a bit larger, John, so that we can cut it.

JOHN: OK. DAN: So I had taken a bunch of pictures of John, blown them up, and cut the eyes out, that was the original idea.

And then we took pictures of clouds and put them in.

(indistinct chatter) YOKO: It's not the final version.

JOHN: Oh, yes.

DAN: Ah!

YOKO: No, but you see, and then in the back, there will be a profile.

Yes, 'Imagine.'

DAN: 'Imagine.'

But the problem was, it looked weird.

YOKO: It would be more delicately done.

JOHN: How would we do that, then?

Just have a slide... MAN: It's going to be called 'Imagine.'

JOHN: Yeah.

MAN: Very, very, good.

JOHN: Freaky, isn't it?

KLAUS: When we were at Tittenhurst Park, John and everybody was running around with Polaroids and they found out this way of exposing it twice.

Just like you took a picture and then you take a photo of the sky, a cloud or something.

♪ DAN: He had this Polaroid, he had a Snoot Polaroid, it had a long nose.

It was for taking portraits.

And he said, "The wonderful thing is, I can take a picture "and then I can take another picture and I get a double exposure."

And, so, Yoko took a picture of John and then took a picture of the clouds.

And, of course, she got it.

♪ KING: Sorry I'm a little late.

JOHN: That's all right, you're just in time in a way.

We're OK. (indistinct) JOHN: Just this intro I want you on.

Just comes in, it goes from A to D. (John vocalizing) ♪ (John vocalizing) ♪ JOHN: That's it!

I want them hooked on the sax, so they're waiting for it all through the record.

♪ JOHN: You're going to be in the frame.

Is that camera in the frame?

No.

♪ ♪ JOHN: Just relax, you don't have to be in or out of the picture.

Just do whatever you have to do, OK?

It's going to be a clock, you know, so it's not like a proper movie.

It'll just be like a background.

♪ Well, I was standing ♪ ♪ Well, I was standing on the corner ♪ ♪ Just me and Doris Horner ♪ ♪ She was holding love letters in her hand ♪ ♪ Up come the man ♪ ♪ Took his fingers from the trash can ♪ ♪ Really big phenomenon, this man ♪ ♪ Well, she was trying to do a Judas ♪ ♪ Jesus, on tutti-frutti ♪ ♪ Singing, "Long Tall Sally's a man!"

♪ ♪ Up come the preacher man trying to be a teacher ♪ ♪ Singing "God's a red herring in drag!"

♪ ♪ Eh, que pasa?

♪ ♪ Que pasa, New York?

♪ DOUG: At the time, the job was to take a lot of film that was shot in England, in various places.

It was all very experimental and I don't think we really knew exactly what we were going to do.

♪ JOHN: So hot, isn't it?

DOUG: We went up to the suite in the St. Regis and met them.

(phone rings) JOHN: Hey, que pasa?

Who's this, please, que pasa?

Karen.

I've got news for you.

DOUG: I don't think we really knew exactly what we were going to do, except take all this footage and edit it with the songs.

That's how we set out.

♪ ♪ ♪ You can shine your shoes and wear a suit ♪ ♪ You can comb your hair and look quite cute ♪ ♪ You can hide your face behind a smile ♪ ♪ One thing you can't hide ♪ ♪ Is when you're crippled inside ♪ We had thousands of feet of film of just about everything you can imagine.

There was a lot of stuff besides Tittenhurst, there was a recording session.

♪ ♪ You can wear a... ♪ There was some kind of political demonstration through the streets of London.

♪ One thing you can't hide ♪ ♪ Is when you're crippled inside ♪ There was stuff on the lake.

♪ Well, now you know that your cat ♪ ♪ Has nine lives, babe ♪ ♪ Nine lives to itself ♪ ♪ DOUG: In addition to all the film that came from Tittenhurst and other places in and around London, we shot quite a bit in New York City, because we realized that we wanted to get that part of their lives into the movie, and that we didn't really have anything that was showing what they were doing in New York City and what it was like.

♪ The Whisper Piece was one of my favorite things in 'Imagine.'

And that was Yoko's concept.

People that Yoko knew and that had some celebrity, generally, would come in to visit with John and Yoko and they would, the three of them would stand side by side and they would...

"Psst-psst-psst."

"Psst-psst-psst."

And you don't know what they're saying, they're just whispering.

To me, what I got out of it, was that it was people whispering cuz there's a lot of secrets in life.

And many of which don't mean anything, so it doesn't matter whether you hear it or not.

It was people whispering.

♪ ♪ I realized that, after a few songs, that there was a sense to it all.

We were starting to paint a picture of their life, of how they did things and how they lived their life and what was going on in their life.

♪ I think John loved the energy of New York City, there's no question about that.

And I think he loved that it was an opportunity for him to become an American.

♪ You gotta be somebody ♪ ♪ You gotta shove ♪ ♪ But it's so hard ♪ RAY: He saw New York as being kind of a bit like Liverpool, or the Liverpool 8 area, where the art college was.

And Yoko was, in a way, American.

I know she's Japanese, but she's mainly American.

She wanted to live there.

She felt happy there.

♪ You gotta feel something ♪ JACK: They loved New York, absolutely loved New York.

It was like, "Wow!"

You know, "I'm here, this is it."

So, for him, that was it.

He was in the village, it was like in the center of it all, of the culture.

He was John... Lennon.

Yeah.

He wasn't Beatle John.

♪ REPORTER: How did you like Yoko Ono's show?

WOMAN: Well, it was a little different, I have to admit.

REPORTER: Can I ask you, did you enjoy Yoko Ono's show?

WOMAN 2: I certainly did.

REPORTER: Thank you.

MAN: Yoko?

REPORTER: Ono.

MAN: Oh, Yoko Ono, yes.

No, I did see it.

REPORTER: Do you like her work?

MAN: I don't know much about her.

She's Japanese, isn't she?

REPORTER: Have you had many inquiries about Yoko's show?

MAN 2: I have indeed.

ALLAN: One morning, I'm sitting in my office and my secretary comes in and she said, "You have to take this phone call."

I said, "Who is it?"

She said, "It's the director of the Museum of Modern Art."

He said, "Did you see the paper, today?"

And sure enough, there's a one-third-page ad about an art show at the Museum of Modern Art, a Yoko Ono art show.

REPORTER: Are you familiar with Yoko's work?

MAN 3: No.

I've never seen anything, but I've heard of films, you know, like, she just makes films of 365 behinds and I saw her film of the body with the fly walking on it.

ALLAN: I called Yoko.

I said, "Yoko, I've just gotten a call "from the director of the Museum of Modern Art.

There's supposed to be an art show there today."

She said, "Yes."

I said, "What kind of art show?"

She said, "It's a conceptual art show."

I said, "What does that mean?"

She said, "It's just in my mind, it's a concept."

(phones ring) MAN: There's no Yoko Ono show here.

WOMAN: I was a little mad about getting here and not finding it, but I think it's pretty funny.

WOMAN 2: Well, I think it's a bit bonkers.

(chuckles) Do you know what bonkers is?

REPORTER: No, what's that mean?

Crazy, crazy, is it?

WOMAN 2: Yeah, yeah.

That's good old Liverpudlian "bonkers," you know.

Yeah, yeah.

REPORTER: I see.

Thank you very much.

WOMAN 2: I think it's too far out for me, anyway.

CHILD: Well, like, maybe if you look at a picture, then you can think of a whole bunch of different things.

You know?

REPORTER: Exactly.

CHILD: Is that what you mean?

Right.

REPORTER: Except if you take it a step farther, if there's no picture to look at and it's just all in your head.

It's just what you think.

CHILD: Then you would... Then you would have a very good museum there.

(laughs) JOHN: At 3:35, Karen called.

What time does that say?

I can't even see it.

♪ Oh, it's time.

(whistles) (chandelier crashes) Oh!

At quarter to, he broke the lights.

(laughing) That's what happens at quarter to.

(laughs) ♪ ♪ ♪ JOHN: But I always wanted to write something that would be a Christmas record that would last forever, you know?

♪ So this is Christmas ♪ ♪ ♪ And what have you done?

♪ ALLAN: John called me one day, he said, "We want to do a Christmas... "a record for Christmas.

We've got to do it really quick, book the studio."

♪ A new one just begun ♪ ♪ PHIL: We don't have a bass sound at all yet.

JOHN: Phil was the producer and it was a beautiful session.

PHIL: Nicky, you come in on the D chord, as well.

With the bass drum, you have to... You're coming in on the same place Nicky comes in, on that D chord, after the first.

You play the guitar by themselves, then you and the bass come in.

♪ And so this is Christmas ♪ ♪ I hope you have fun ♪ ♪ The near and the dear ones ♪ ♪ The old and the young ♪ ALLAN: John said, "We're going to... in conjunction with the song, I want to get a billboard in Times Square."

John was thrilled with it, Yoko loved where it was.

It was a prime location.

Huge billboards, all around, selling anything you can imagine.

♪ And so this is Christmas ♪ (children singing) ♪ For weak and for strong ♪ (children singing) ♪ The rich and the poor ones ♪ ALLAN: And all of it was in brilliant color and in the midst of it was this stark, white billboard not selling anything, but letting people know that war could be over if enough of you believed it.

It was Yoko's belief that people, if they wanted something strong enough, could achieve it.

And she believed that if enough people wanted war to be over, it would be over.

♪ ♪ Let's hope it's a good one ♪ ♪ Without any fear ♪ YOKO: "War is over, if you want it."

Well, that's artistic, too, you see?

"War is over" is not war is over.

But conceptually, it is over.

Mm-hmm.

♪ (birds chirping) RAY: When you're in a city, there's stuff going on.

In Tittenhurst, they were cut off, they were cut off, artistically, from what you can get.

♪ You know life can be long ♪ ♪ And you've got to be so strong ♪ RAY: Yoko never really fitted in, into English country life.

♪ Sometimes I feel I've had enough ♪ ♪ How can I give love... ♪ TARIQ: And, later, of course, it was Yoko who said that this island here in which they were living was too small and too big at the same time for her.

She didn't want it.

(laughs) And John said to me, "We're moving to Manhattan.

Yoko can't bear this anymore."

And who could blame him?

♪ How can I give love when love is something ♪ ♪ I ain't never had?

♪ JULIAN: There were a lot of great moments at Tittenhurst that I do fondly remember, giggling and laughing with Dad.

And, er, as they say... 'shooting the ****.'

But it was difficult to know... You think, "OK, well... is this going to stay?

Is this what it's going to be, now?

"Can I count on this?

Can I be here next weekend, or the weekend after?

Is that going to happen?"

That was one of the... obviously, the hardest pills to swallow, was the constant change.

You know, you thought things were going to settle down, but they just never quite did.

♪ How can we go forward ♪ ♪ When we don't know which way to turn ♪ ♪ DIANA: I'm trying to remember when they actually went to the States because when they went, that was actually the last time I saw them.

And then when they didn't come back again.

I can't even remember them actually leaving or saying goodbye.

I never said goodbye to him, never did.

♪ Oh, no ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, no ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, no ♪ ♪ JOHN: Yeah, I lose a little rhythm here.

PHIL: Come in, John, because you may have the opening.

But you can just use the first bridge and then the last "How can we?"

JOHN: Oh, I see.

♪ MAN 1: 79 on the end.

MAN 2: I think the 99th clap.

MAN 1: Camera B.

♪ ♪ ♪ Imagine there's no heaven ♪ ♪ ♪ It's easy if you try ♪ ♪ ♪ No hell below us ♪ ♪ ♪ Above us only sky ♪ ♪ ♪ Imagine all the people ♪ ♪ ♪ Living for today ♪ ♪ Ah-ah ♪ ♪ Imagine there's no countries ♪ ♪ ♪ It isn't hard to do ♪ ♪ ♪ Nothing to kill or die for ♪ ♪ ♪ And no religion, too ♪ ♪ ♪ Imagine all the people ♪ ♪ ♪ Living life in peace ♪ ♪ You-hoo, ooh-ooh-ooh ♪ ♪ You may say I'm a dreamer ♪ ♪ ♪ But I'm not the only one ♪ ♪ ♪ I hope someday you'll join us ♪ ♪ ♪ And the world will be as one ♪ ♪ ♪ Imagine no possessions ♪ ♪ ♪ I wonder if you can ♪ ♪ ♪ No need for greed or hunger ♪ ♪ ♪ A brotherhood of man ♪ ♪ ♪ Imagine all the people ♪ ♪ ♪ Sharing all the world ♪ ♪ You-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh ♪ ♪ You may say I'm a dreamer ♪ ♪ ♪ But I'm not the only one ♪ ♪ ♪ I hope someday you'll join us ♪ ♪ ♪ And the world will live as one ♪ ♪