April 16th, 1973 (Beverly Hills Hotel, Los Angeles): A few months before the Lost Weekend, DJ Elliot Mintz, in his interview with John and Yoko, slips in a leading question about Paul. Cue Johnâs defensive, convoluted rambling. (Note: Elliot Mintz was, and still is, a good friend of Yoko Onoâs; itâs been said, however, by at least one credible source that John himself didnât have a very good opinion of Mintz, and mostly tolerated his company. In this interview - with Mintz keen for an unfavorable comment about Paul, and John pointedly not giving him one - it may seem so.)
MINTZ: Thereâs one name that has not come up in our discussion.
JOHN: Whoâs that?
MINTZ: Paulie. [laughter]
JOHN: Yes, he did! We got Paul in it. And I object to that Paulie business.
MINTZ: Mr. McCartney. His nameâ
JOHN: Paul.
MINTZ: Paul. Yes. And we really havenât discussed him to any degree, and people are always concerned about, er, how you regard him.
JOHN: I first met Paulâ
MINTZ: No, no, theyâre not interested in that aspect, but they â they are interested in how you relate to him now. There is this all-pervasive feeling, you know, that folks sometimes articulate, that you donât have the fondest of feelings towards him. Perhaps youâd like to discuss that.
JOHN: Well, because of the situation weâre in, and I often express myself through song, or mainly through song, somebody can have â letâs call itâ Letâs say heâs a brother of mine, in the family. Now, if two brothers argue and fight, for whatever reason, or even â write, the only way they can express themselves, because theyâre not artists, is either through letters or through dialogue. One brother goes away to sea, not because they had a fight, but because he was going away to sea anyway. The last thing they did was have an argument. He, the brother away at sea â letâs call that me, âcause I went to America â might write to his brother, or he might write to his other relaâ his auntie, letâs say, to, you know, jolly do, say this, or whatever you might say about it. Now, because weâre in the â we do it on the grand scale, or whatever the trip is weâre on, my letters home are examined and taken for a lifelong statement. Now, I said, âI want to hold your handââ Thatâs what I was saying then. At the same time, I was saying, âid grooble on the diddle bow,â in me books, right?
So â yeah, okay, I said it, alright? So what does it mean? Does it mean that that is the Bible, and I â and when Iâm eighty, thatâs what I mean? And now to reiterate yet again âcause I heard the program â you know, do they will they are they about the song âHow Do You Sleep?â. And Iâll say once againâ âHow Do You Sleep?â was my reaction to Paulâs [second] album. And the song that particularly offended not only me, but the others too â and maybe we were super paranoid at the time, but thatâs irrelevant, itâs there in green and white â was âToo Many Peopleâ, and some various other remarks. Now whether heâs â he was expressing himself because whether we plan it to express our innermost feelings, or sort of surreal it like Dylan, or â Paul, you could say, his lyrics are very sort of⌠non-specific â if one knows the person, one knows what is coming down. You know, you can read whatâs being saidâ
YOKO: Between the lines.
JOHN: Between the lines. Because peopleâs expressions and feelings come out in their work whether they want it to or not. So I always express myself directly, or [in the] language of the streets, and other people donât. And thatâs what it was all about. And I donât go âround thinking, âhow do you sleep?â the same as I donât go, âimagine thereâs no heaven,â you know. Because itâs 1973 now, and itâs a different world. And as youâve probably heard, or people have read, Paul and I have communicated, Linda and Yoko have communicated. And another myth was that Linda and Yoko had all sorts of arguments going on in the early period, and they never had one.
YOKO: No, never.
JOHN: And they related to each other fairly well. And if anything the arguments are between the two males, you know, the machos. And thatâs how it was, and as far as Iâm concerned, itâs all over, and I hope not to go through that kind of trip again with anybody. For whatever reason. Itâs just a waste of energy and time. There you go. And weâre fine! And if we could meet, itâd probably be finer, but the governmentâs making it inconvenient.
MINTZ: So when you think of him now, you donât think hostilely or negatively?Â
JOHN: No. Iâm happy heâs doing well with his song, I think his album will do well, and â good luck to him, you know. I hope the James Bond themeâs well, and good luck to all of them, you know. Just â as long as I donât have to be a part of it, then great! I wish them all well. Even, or including Mr. Klein. Good luck to him. I just wish to lead my own life. Yoko and I want to be happy. And whatever it takes â I mean, not over somebodyâs dead body, as it were â but thatâs the main concern, and thatâs what itâs all about.