Has Yoko ever commented on the unseen 1980 Lennon music videos?

Chris- I don't know your source, but your certainty makes me feel very good.

 

Yeah, well I'll be certain the footage isn't junked when I'm looking at it.

 

No, he wasn't going bald- photos taken late afternoon, December 8th 1980 show him with a full head of hair.

 

IMO he looks almost, if not just, as thin in the famous late 1980 Rolling Stone/Annie L. photos.

He either seems to have just accept it a lot better in just a few months' time (I mean really accepted it - he got nude again), or maybe that ain't the reason for the footage not being used?

 

If this footage exists, I can't imagine that Yoko wouldn't have released it by now. It's been 30 years, and she's put out pretty much every other film clip of John. When she did the Lennon Legend DVD a few years back, I'm sure at least a piece of that footage would had appeared if it still existed. I believe that either John destroyed it or threw it out. Either way, I don't think it will ever see the light of day.

 

John was even thinner in the 1969 bed in footage. Yet he didn't destroy that 1969 material.

Remember, John was near obsessive about documenting his life. His journals recorded everything he did during a given day. For example: he would jot down mundane stuff in his journal to the effect of "Watched Deputy Dawg on TV with Sean."

While Lennon may not have liked his appearance in the Dubin footage, I doubt he destroyed it, as it is another documentation of his life. Remember Lennon even videotaped himself singing on his home video camera in 1980 -- stuff like Dear Yoko.

Yes, it's possible Lennon could have tossed the open reel 1" Type C video tape masters of the Aug 80 footage in his bathtub and destroyed them. But it's also possible Lennon may have told Jack Douglas ""I tore it up in the bathtub" & "I sunk it in the pool" to get Jack to stop asking questions about editing the footage into a final video to promote the "Starting Over" single and therefore close discussion on the subject. (It's also wishful thinking on my part.)

 

Agreed. Chris, if you have additional information please feel free to share!

 

Same here!

To answer the topic question: While she answered (even on her Twitter) other pressing questions about this period like about the use of his '58 Rickenbacker 325 on his last sessions, and the rehearsing of songs like "She Loves You" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" for his planned 1981 tour, I don't think anybody ever asked her about this subject.

 

Who knows if he destroyed it because he was thin? Maybe he just didn't like how he looked in the footage. But I think he was thinner in 1980. I found this picture, and he looks very thin.

 

I think his Candy Apple Red Strat was a 25th anniversary model made in 1979. That famous pic of him strumming it in bed is perhaps from December 3, 1980 -- taken by Annie Leibowitz.

I think the Rick was the black one from his Beatles days, but he had it refinished in natural in the early 70s -- similar to what he had done to his sunburst Casino in the late 60s.

Didn't he play the piano himself on "Watching the Wheels?" I've always wondered about that.

 

I haven't been able to find any photos confirmed to actually be from the week of Aug 18, 1980.

Below there are a couple of pics listed as Sept 2, 1980 on Beatles Photo Blog. This would be two weeks after the Dubin video shoot. Note that John has cut his hair since the Aug photos of him wearing the cowboy hat. Maybe John didn't like his hair in the Dubin shoot, prompting him to cut it after seeing the footage?





The thing is, if John were really that concerned about his slender appearance in the Aug 80 Dubin footage, he apparently didn't make any attempt to gain weight during the last months of his life.

Maybe a better explanation is that Lennon didn't like quality of Jay Dubin's directorial effort and thought the footage was not worthy of release or could be improved upon. He may have been unsatisfied with his performance takes as well.

Here are some of the Crazy Eddie TV commercials that Dubin produced during that period: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi5H...CE3074C0&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=45

 

I suppose that is possible. Maybe he didn't want to insult the director at the time so he said he didn't like how he looked. Or, he just didn't really like the way he looked. Either way, I just think the footage would have surfaced by now if it still existed. I mean "I'm Losing You" was the "single" from the Anthology 12 years ago, and they didn't use footage in the video of John recording the song in the studio? It doesn't make any sense. Now it's 30 years later, and Double Fantasy is being reissued. If clips don't surface this year (which I'm betting they won't) the footage does not exist IMO.

 

Maybe there is a bit of rehearsal or jam material captured to test the video equipment.

 

It is indeed perplexing. When Yoko and Jack D. do their PR blitz to promote the new Lennon CDs later this year, it presents the perfect opportunity for a high profile music journalist to at least ask what happened to the footage and press for answers.

Maybe we could email this thread to the music critics at The New York Times, Rolling Stone and LA Times etc and at least plant the seed that these music critics will have a prime opportunity to ask Yoko about this Double Fantasy video footage later this year when she promotes "Double Fantasy Stripped." As the final footage of Lennon in performance, this is historic material that music journalists should investigate.

 

Keep in mind this is someone that made important decisions based on numerology. I wouldn't expect her to make sense. FWIW there is quite a bit of Lennon footage Yoko hasn't used. The live performance on the 1972 Jerry Lewis Telethon performance being one.

 

That might be some sort of a rights issue, although Jerry speaking for some reason is on the Anthology....but no music from that performance.

 

All I have is that the footage exists and is in the Lennon archive. Undoubtedly others will know more.

 

Question to anyone who has heard the Jack Douglas hidden mic tapes which document the video shoot of the two songs being filmed. When doing takes of "Starting Over" and "I'm Losing You," was Lennon singing a live vocal blended with a pre-recorded backing track? Or was the entire band playing live?

 

Yes, John Lennon play the piano on "Watching the wheels" according with Tony Davilio, who was the Music Associate of the Double Fantasy album.

 

Have any members of the Double Fantasy band recently commented about their recollections of the video shoot? Was it really a 5 day shoot?

 

Awesome! I love that little blues inflected piano coda at the very end of the song. Cool to know that was actually John and not a hired session musician!

 

Yes, i love that piano too. I play piano and i try to get the identical notes of the song but something is missing. At times I have come to believe that there are two pianos in the recording of the song. That's something that John had done before in "God", but I can assure that this happens in "Watching the wheels"

 

Besides Douglas (far right), anyone know if these guys are Cheap Trick? If so, that might date the picture. The Cheap Trick "I'm Losing You" session was supposedly Aug 12? Is this right?

 

It actually looks like John may have worn the country western shirt on more than one occasion. Note Yoko's shirt is different in above two photos, suggesting two different dates. So it is possible he wore this outfit for the "I'm Losing You" video shoot on Aug 18 (with the cowboy hat for some takes).

 

I'd never seen this pic before. I think it's Dec. 6, 1980. from the "f" yeah John and Yoko blog.