The interview was conducted by Jody Denberg

Jody Denberg: This is Jody Denberg and I'm on the line with Yoko Ono, who along with KGSR is presenting Come Together, The Artwork of John Lennon.

Yoko, this artwork show has been touring for about 15 years. It was last in Austin three years ago. Do you do different things to the show to make it a little different each time?

Yoko Ono: Well, it's a very hot show now, you know. And every year we just put something else in. Add something in and -- it's just great. It's going very well.

JD: John's education, he went to the Liverpool Art Institute. So he, I guess, got some education in visual art. And then became a musician. And you studied music and then you went on to visual art and performance art. It's interesting that way.

YO: I know, it's amazing, isn't it? No, we just had a very good luck in knowing each other and knowing our backgrounds, which are very similar in a way.

JD: Did John keep notebooks from an early age of his drawings?

YO: Yes. You know, when he was nine or something, I think, he did this incredible, beautiful drawings of -- it's called the Liverpool Echo or something like that. And just kind of like take off on Liverpool Echo newspaper.

JD: Right.

YO: And he did an incredible mature drawings. And the concept of it was very much mature too, like a kind of black humor. And it's really an amazing guy John was. From early age he was very good.

JD: Are some of those early drawings the ones that were on the cover of Walls and Bridges?

YO: Yes. And also I think you should take note about the fact that he started as an artist because he was so good and the teacher said, "Okay. Well, you better go to an art school." And he was going to a Liverpool Art school, which was supposed to be one of the best in the world or something. And then afterwards, he decided to become a musician.

JD: So interesting. And for someone that moved around as much as John did, I mean, on the road during the Beatles - he kept his stuff. I mean, it's all there, isn't it?

YO: I know. He never ceased to be an artist. It was very interesting that way, yeah.

JD: But even when you moved from England to New York -- for instance, one of the latest editions to the artwork show in the last few years has been the reproduction of his song lyric manuscripts. He had to save all of these and put them in boxes and really keep an eye on that stuff.

YO: I know. Well, you know, he was always like that. He was very aware of what he was doing as an artist. And if there was something that he didn't like, he knew that that might just get around somewhere later because he was so famous and all that. So would just immediately crumple it and throw it in the trash can and that was it, you know. He editing it himself, in a way.

JD: When you were with John and he was doing his visual art, was he the kind of guy that would just draw anywhere or would he go to his room to be alone?

YO: No, no, no. He wouldn't do a thing like that. I mean, it was like it was pouring out of him all the time. He was a very inspired person. He would be doing it on the plane, for instance. There's a famous story that he had written some parts of the lyrics on the plane, et cetera. But exactly like that with visual arts as well.

JD: One series of John's drawings that I'm especially fond of are the line drawings. And were those done when he would spend some time in Japan with you and Sean?

YO: Right. Yes. I mean he kind of quickly adopted the oriental way of doing things. He was very fascinated by that. So, it's like he's experimenting that way. But he did very, very incredible good version of it.

JD: Another series that folks will see at the Artwork of John Lennon show is the Real Love series, which were drawings for Sean. And I don't know if you've come across it, but I will go to a friend's house and they have a new baby and they'll have a bib or a crib or whatever and then I'll realize, oh, there's John's drawings. It really has made his drawings accessible to all ages of people.

YO: Yes, it's just made such a big impact. Well, I wasn't expecting a real sort of explosion like that, but it's great. And of course it's logical in a way because, well, parents love children and they want to buy something that's very sweet. And I'm very happy about that.

JD: Real Love was a good name for that series.

YO: Well yes, it's a little bit of John's love that we're all giving to children, actually.

JD: Yeah, the Real Love series does give John's love to children. And what's interesting is, children used to turn on to John and the Beatles through Yellow Submarine. I mean, that's how Sean first realized that his father was in this group called the Beatles.

YO: (Laughs) Right...

JD: And now, Real Love catches the kids even earlier.

YO: I know, it's great.

JD: The Artwork of John Lennon, some of it is actually a collaboration with you because some of the pieces have been colored. And you did that after John's passing. It's nice that you can still collaborate with him in that fashion.

YO: Yeah it was just a practical thing that happened. But I'd like to do it myself, instead of letting some professionals do it. Because we were partners and I thought that he wouldn't have minded. It's that kind of thing.

JD: The artwork that John has done, as we said earlier, stretches from his earliest days as a child to right up until his passing. You've been spending a bit of time with John's early days by going to Liverpool. There's the Liverpool John Lennon Airport. And also, there's Mendips. And that's the home where John lived from when he was five to when he was 23 with his Aunt Mimi. Can you tell me what the experience was like? You purchased Mendips, right, so that the public could have access to it?

YO: Exactly. Yeah, well, it was a nerve-wracking thing to do because first of all, I didn't know if I could get it. And I finally got it and I said, "Well, what am I going to do with it?" Of course, you know, I should donate it to the city. And that's what I did.

JD: I was curious how they kept the home -- you know, how they made it seem as if time had never passed?

YO: I know. That was very important. John's cousin, I kind of appointed him to oversee that site because I knew that the family had to look after it, too, because they're the ones who really remember and know how it was. And he's done a very good job. And well, of course, I worked my side of the stuff, too, in a way. It was hard work but it really paid in a way.

JD: It's just amazing. You fly into Liverpool. You go to the Liverpool John Lennon Airport. It's so sweet.

YO: Isn't it great? It's just so great, you know. And all that added to the fact that finally Liverpool was selected as the coastal city of Europe. And I'm very happy about that.

JD: Next month, in Japan, there's the Dream Power concert, which is a tribute to John Lennon. I don't know too much about that. Can you tell me a little about that?

YO: Yeah. Dream Power concert. That has been organized by a guy named Tetso Hamada Hada. And he was the president of (the) Beatles Fan Club just when John passed away. And that's when I started to know him. And he was organizing people at the time, the fans at the time in a very wise way so that kids who were just about to jump out of the window or something, they didn't. That kind of thing. It was very important that he was there. And then now, he's organizing this concert, which came from him, actually. And I thought it was a very good idea. And so it's a tribute concert to John. And all the Japanese big pop stars sing John's songs. It's a charitable concert and the proceeds goes to building many schools in Third World countries.

JD: That's interesting, because the Artwork of John Lennon show here in Austin, Texas, benefits Adopt a Classroom.

YO: Yeah well it's the same idea. But it's more desperate in Africa, I think, they just don't have enough schools. So we're building many schools. Actually, $15,000 makes a school. And I - well kids don't like school. I mean, usually. That's the idea, isn't it? But no, because it was starved for some culture and education and an institution that would give that to them. So the kids are so happy, you know. And I saw the video of kids all smiling and happy studying and everything. And I feel very good about it. And we're doing it every year.

JD: And will you be going to Japan and performing at the show?

YO: Yes, I'll be there.

JD: Do you know which song you will do?

YO: No, no, no. I'm not going to be doing a song. I'll be there to join them in singing in the end, we sing Imagine and Give Peace a Chance or something like that. I'm there.

JD: Yoko, you've been so busy with your own artwork and traveling so much, have you had a chance to catch your breath this summer at all?

YO: Not yet.

JD: What's your next stop? Is the Yes Yoko Ono retrospective still on tour?

YO: Yeah, it is. But I'm going to be doing a performance art in Paris next week (AIU note: Cut Piece re-staging). And then there's going to be a show in New York City (AIU note: The Odyssey of a Cockroach, at Deitch Projects). And you know, I get around.

JD: At your Yes Yoko Ono show you had a series of your own visual art and drawings that you had done (AIU note: Franklin Summer series). I guess you started doing them because you had to talk to so many people like me on the phone all the time. Those drawings are amazing. Is that something you stated doing later in life?

YO: Yes, much later in life (laughs). And, you know, as you say, it's sort of like whenever I had time it's just kind of like -- it's nice to do it, so…

JD: Who's art do you have in your apartment there? Are there certain artists that you like to surround yourself with?

YO: John and I both loved Magritte. Also it's the first name of an artist that came up when we first met. Not the first meeting in Indica, but the next meeting when John invited me to his home. And he just started talking about the fact that he thought that he was like Magritte. So I said, "Oh, well, okay!"

JD: It's so special to have art in our lives and to surround ourselves with. I have many of the pieces of the artwork of John Lennon at my home. And they just put a smile on my face as I walk through the house. I have some of the line drawings done in Japan. One of my favorites is Hey Brother of John and Sean walking in Central Park.

YO: Well it just means that John is there with you in your home, you know. So naturally, you get a smile out of it I suppose.

JD: Well, you are there as well and that gives us a smile, too. First of all, congratulations on your first No. 1 single, Walking on Thin Ice.

YO: Right. It's about time, isn't it? It took a long wait, right?

JD: Yeah, but that was always such a wonderful song. Didn't John say something to you after it, like you just cut your first...

YO: Number one, yeah. And he said it on tape. And so there's a CD called Walking on Thin Ice with all different songs, including Walking on Thin Ice that's kind of like a collection of. And in that, I put it in, because he said it on tape. The reason being, I'd just sung and, you know, just recorded that part of the track. And then when that was finished, he just said, "Hey, that was your first number 1, Yoko." And, you know, the tape was still running.

JD: He was right.

YO: I know, he was right. But he didn't tell me that I had to wait 20 years!

JD: I know you're very busy, but do you think you might tour next year?

YO: Yes, I think so. I'm thinking of touring. Maybe it'll be a summer tour, but I am going to do it.

JD: Do you think it would just be the dance music that's made you popular or do you think you might do more of a retrospective?

YO: Well, not retrospective so much, but I have some new songs. So maybe, you know…

JD: Well, we look forward to that. And what about John's music? We've heard, you know, there are still some demos that didn't come out. I know that you're not real fond of putting out stuff that's just John on a cassette with a guitar.

YO: Well, because he didn't intend to, et cetera. And you know, you have to really think about it in terms of it's alright that it's part of an Anthology or a radio show, but you know, if it's going to be going out there for the critics to review and everything, I don't think he would have liked that. It was just something that John played me at home kind of thing. But he was an artist and believed in the top quality of his songs in that sense. And they're top quality songs, but it's not been executed yet. But did you know that there's going to be a DVD that's going to come out of John's Lennon Legend? Lennon Legend is a collection of John's songs which were very, very -- actually, they were very, very popular. And so that we made a DVD out of it. Well, we are in the process of making a DVD out of it. And it's going to come out.

JD: Well, we certainly look forward to that. And look forward to the Artwork of John Lennon. I've been to the shows before. It's a beautiful atmosphere at those shows, isn't it?

YO: I know, because you know, it turns out that there was a side benefit in the sense that people come and you know that they would appreciate John's work. But they appreciate each other because you know, you bump into another John Lennon fan and you know, you speak the same language. And these days, sometimes it's not easy to meet somebody who still believes in love and peace and things like that. So when you go to John Lennon's art show, of course, surely, people who are John's fans are still believing in peace and love and everything. And it's nice. You know, we speak the same language.

JD: Well, that's why Come Together is the perfect title for the Artwork of John Lennon show. Yoko, always a pleasure to talk to you. I hope that you'll put Austin, Texas, on your itinerary if you tour next year.

YO: Okay. It's nice talking to you again, Jody.

More information

More interviews by Jody Denberg
www.johnlennonartwork.com