#howard smith

The Lewisohn-fact-checkification has heated up in other areas of the interent, and while I can't say the reception is unexpected, it's not the sort of thing for which I'm well-equipped. I'm leading with that because, honestly, I don't see the point in actively fighting Lewisohn's reputation anymore. I have several more comparison posts drafted, and I intend to step back after I churn those out. I want to put the evidence out there as clearly as I can - it may not matter now, but down the line, when more people are ready to put the actual history above a sham historian, it will be there. I can't forcefeed the truth to people who are still unreceptive to it.

This isn't a goodbye post (there are still quite a few drafts to go!), but I want to thank the community here for being so funny, openminded, and encouraging! I don't interact with you all as much as I'd like to--I'm an anxious little bird--but your thoughtful responses and feedback have meant the world to me :) Sincerely, thank you!

Anywho, enough whining - I've got an audio comparison today! I love audio comparisons - the immediacy of hearing John Lennon or Brian Epstein or Paul McCartney say words that are clearly different from what Mark Lewisohn wrote can't be beat. Today's comparison comes from Howard Smith's January 23, 1972 interview with John and Yoko. Let's all praise the estate of Howard Smith, as many of his interviews are available for purchase at a reasonable price! You can find this track for purchase here, and two other interviews at this link. There are three interviews available total, each chopped into two tracks, with each track costing ~$0.99-$1.50.

Lewisohn quotes this interview three times, and there are issues with all three quotes. One is a standard Lewisohn rephrasing (you'll find that under the cut), while the other two construct an equally standard but somewhat meatier John v. Paul narrative.

All three quotes fall in the same ~1:30 of the interview, running from 9:29-11:10 in the track linked above. I've included the clip here for your listening pleasure:

Tune In 24-5 vs. Interview by Howard Smith, January 23, 1972

HS: This tape, the Decca tape that we were talking about, that was for a Decca audition I’m informed, January 1, 1962 [crosstalk] JL: That was the famous one that they turned us down on. I listened to it, y’know, I wouldn’t have turned them down on that, not in those days, y’know. I think it sounds okay, especially the last half of it for the time-  the period it was, there wasn’t many people playing music like that. HS: Were you guys very disappointed? JL: Oh, it was terrible, yeah. I mean, See, we used to-Brian Epstein had come down to Liverpool- to London, and then he’d come back and say, ‘I’ve got you an audition.’ We’d all be excited, it was Decca and all that. We met this Mike Smith guy, and we were going to go down there. So we went down, we did all those numbers, [we were?] terrified, nervous- you can hear it on that album, start off terrified, and gradually settled down, and then we went back and waited, and waited and then we just found out they hadn’t accepted it. We really thought that was it then.

(Emphasis indicates quoted phrases. I've bracketed "we were?" because, while I don't hear it clearly in the audio, it's not clear enough for me to say with perfect certainty that John didn't say it)

Lewisohn gives this quote as John's assessment of the day of the Decca audition, but that's only partially correct. The first word, "terrible," is representative of John's feelings about Decca's rejection, which is clear from the context of the quote. The second part of the quote "we were terrified, nervous" does describe how John felt during the sessions, but only partially. He quickly goes on to say they "start off terrified, and gradually settled down."

The next citation continues on with this theme.

Tune In 25-12 vs. Interview by Howard Smith, January 23, 1972

JL: Oh, it was terrible, yeah. I mean, See, we used to-Brian Epstein had come down to Liverpool- to London, and then he’d come back and say, ‘I’ve got you an audition.’ We’d all be excited, it was Decca and all that. We met this Mike Smith guy, and we were going to go down there. So we went down, we did all those numbers, [we were?] terrified, nervous- you can hear it on that album, start off terrified, and gradually settled down, and then we went back and waited, and waited and then we just found out they hadn’t accepted it. We really thought that was it then. HS: What, that that was all? JL: That was the end, yeah, y’know, cause [crosstalk] YO: You think that the sound was too far out for them or something? JL: [crosstalk] Well, we’d been- they all said it’s too bluesy or too rocky, too much like rock ‘n’ roll, and that’s all over now, they used to keep telling us, y’know.

(Emphasis indicates quoted phrases. This segment overlaps with the transcript above)

Here, Lewisohn recounts Paul and John's reactions to Decca's rejection of the Beatles. The quote isn't too butchered, though there are some small changes (e.g. "they all said" to "they always said")

That's a quibble, though. The main issue here is Lewisohn's misrepresentation of John's feelings at the time. Lewisohn's assessment that "[John] also wondered if they'd shot their bolt" is correct, but the rest, which I've underlined in pink, isn't supported by the source. Lewisohn contrasts Paul’s reaction with John’s: Paul thought the rejection was “shortsighted” but, as Lewisohn writes, “John marked it differently. He knew the Beatles had underperformed on the day.”

John does not express that sentiment in this interview. Within the same brief span that John gives the “too bluesy” quote, he also says of the Decca tape, “I listened to it, I wouldn’t have turned them down on that, not in those days. I think it sounds okay, especially the last half of it for the period it was, there wasn’t many people playing music like that.” John says that their nerves were apparent for part of the session, but he clearly didn’t view it as a dud overall, and underperformance isn’t the reason he states for the rejection. When Yoko asks for clarification (“You think that the sound was too far out for them or something?”), John gives the answer that Lewisohn quotes here: “They all said it’s too bluesy or too rocky, too much like rock ‘n’ roll, and that’s all over now, they used to keep telling us.”

Lewisohn intentionally misrepresents the above quotes to set John up as more knowing, more aware than Paul, who, per Lewisohn's version, even with hindsight couldn't see the flaws John spotted the day of the audition. In reality, John and Paul were of one mind—they didn’t think the audition was that bad. Paul’s assessment that Decca’s rejection was “shortsighted” goes hand in hand with John’s true thoughts on the matter, which I’ll quote here a third time, in case I’ve failed to get the point across: “I wouldn’t have turned them down on that, not in those days. I think it sounds okay”

John Lennon: "Oh, yeah. Well, in the early days—"

Howard Smith: "— in chronological order just to see whether there's been progress made. But I guess you just don't do that anymore."

John Lennon: "It's just got too many. I know there isn't thirty. I mean, there is thirty if they've got thirty, but I think there are some repeats in there somewhere. But I used to play them, the first four albums, one after the other, just to see the progression musically, and it was interesting. I got up to about Revolver and then it got too many probably; or it'd be too much listening time. But you could hear the progression as we learned about recording, as the techniques got refined and everything like that, you could hear it... (Stops talking, listens to "Eleanor Rigby" playing on radio, and starts singing along) "The lonely people..." OK, where are we?"

Ida invited Genevieve for a day out. They couldn't walk much as Genevieve became tired quickly. Genevieve was visibly nervous to give birth, but Ida reassured her that she would be by her side through it all.

Howard has been taking a liking to Amos. As Willhem is working for most of the day, Amos helps the boy with his schoolwork.