he had no American documents, and if he left the country, he could not return.
In addition, Yoko said, it is useful to know what Los Angeles is.
On Yoko's advice, secretary Mei Peng went with John.
This was done for quite practical reasons:
John was completely unsuited to life, he had never driven a car in America, did not know how to buy groceries at the supermarket, could not take laundry to the laundry, did not know how to order a phone conversation, and so on.
When sending Mei Peng along with John, Yoko could not help but understand that there would probably be an intimate relationship between them, but she looked at it philosophically: "It would be better for him to be with Mei than with various golden haired admirers of talent."
Yoko Ono also took into account the fact that Mei Peng did not smoke, did not drink, did not take drugs, was a balanced and unspoiled girl.
We know that during a year and a half quarrel, John and May Peng had a relationship, we know from a book that May Peng later published.
Naturally, this relationship is given a romantic coloring in the book, which, according to John's friends who met with them during this period, did not exist at all.
It didnot exist, if only because John kept in constant contact with Yoko on the phone, talking to her almost daily.
So, shortly after the quarrel, producer Lou Adler offered John and Mae Peng to settle in his Los Angeles home.
One of John's friends, the famous disc jockey and radio journalist Elliot Mintz recalls that three days after arriving in Los Angeles, John appeared on his doorstep at 10 am with the words: "Get up, get up, I canot reach you in any way!"
Ten in the morning was an early wake up call for John.
"When did you get up?"
Mintz asked him, to which John replied: "And I havenot even gone to bed yet.
John was in a very bad mood, by his own admission, he felt lonely, alienated and unhappy, started drinking and got into an enchanted circle: the worse the mood was, the more he drank, the more he drank, the worse the mood became.
"Like an old friend, said then Elliot Mintz, can you tell us about John Lennon one: drink he did not know how!"
Remark Elliot Mintz that John can not drink, I react to the fact that by his own admission Lennon, his body was blown drug and alcohol resistance he was low, he could get drunk from the drink and lose control.
Soon, reports of John's drunken antics began to appear regularly in the newspapers: at the Troubadour Club on Los Angeles ' Sunset Boulevard, he almost disrupted the performance, and he had to be put out: after coming to a concert of his former idol, Jerry Lee Lewis, he began to kiss his shoes drunkenly backstage.
But perhaps the worst story happened when John and the musicians drank Russian vodka on the recording of his album.
Apparently, the vodka was stale.
When he returned home, he went into a frenzy and began to destroy furniture, break vases, knock out colored stained glass windows and smash gold records hung on the walls, which sound engineer Lou Adler, the owner of the apartment, recorded with various famous artists.
The frightened Mei Peng called John's friends, they immediately came and put him to bed, tying the hands and feet of the violent to the bed.
The next morning, buzoter did not remember anything about it.
He had to assure the owner of the house that he would pay all the costs of repairing and restoring the damaged one, and personally apologize to all the friends whom he had offended in a drunken case.
After the first week in Los Angeles, John began to call Yoko regularly, begging her to stop the quarrel.
Their conversations sometimes lasted for hours, but Yoko invariably answered his requests: "You're not ready to go home yet."
This one and a half year period was unhappy for John, but it cannot be called tragic: Lennon had no shortage of money or friends, his drinking companions were Harry Neilson, Keith Moon from The Who, bassist Klaus Foreman from his Plastic Ono Band, Ringo Starr and others.
Lennon visited Las Vegas, tried his luck as a roulette player, and four months later, after drinking and walking in the south, he returned to New York, settled in a hotel.
Excursions to drinking establishments continued.
Despite such a Cossack lifestyle, John continued to write songs, and his album "Walls And Bridges Walls and Bridges" refers to that period.
"What do you mean - Walls and Bridges?" one of his friends asked, to which John replied: "Walls to run into them, and bridges - to overcome them," and added mockingly: "A deep thought!".
As the work on the recording of the album went on, John came to himself more and more, was drawn into the work rhythm.
Soon he left the hotel and together with Mei Peng settled in a small two room apartment.
1974 was the year of the Watergate scandal, and these events captured John completely.
"The country that gives the world the Watergate case," John said at the time, " is the Number One country for me!
I didnot miss a single TV report, it was just incredible."
In 74, George Harrison came to America on tour, he brought a document on which John's signature was missing.
This was the final agreement to disband the Beatles.
John, in principle, did not object, but he did not sign the paper at the appointed hour - on the advice of his astrologer, the day was not suitable for business events.
Harrison was angry at first, but then the old friends reconciled.
Paul McCartney also came to America that year, we communicated with him in a friendly way.
But the warmest meeting was with Elton John, with whom John went to Colorado to record.
Many years ago, Elton worked at the music publishing house of Dick James in London, and it was to this publishing house that the Beatles sent their first tape recordings, then they met.
Elton took part in the Lennon record, in particular, in the recording of the song Whatever Gets You Through The Night.
"This song will be number one," Elton said at the time, but Lennon only laughed in response.
"No," he said, " it's impossible, I'm not in favor here right now."
Elton made a bet with him on the condition that if the song came out on top, John Lennon would take part in Elton's concert, which was scheduled for November 28, 1974 at Madison Square Garden.
Elton was right, and the song Whatever Gets You Through The Night rose to the top of the American list, so according to the terms of the bet on November 28, Lennon, noticeably nervous, stood in the wings of Madison Square Garden before the start of Elton John's concert.
20 thousand people gathered met John Lennon as a folk hero.
Elton was a family friend and, without telling John anything, he invited Yoko to a concert.
If John had known about this, he would hardly have gone on stage, he would have been too nervous.
After the concert, Yoko came backstage.
Despite the fact that they talked on the phone almost every day, John and Yoko did not see each other for more than a year.
Lennon was as excited as a schoolboy.
This meeting turned out to be a turning point: over the next month and a half, John met with Yoko several times.
Finally, in January 75, at the Plaza Hotel over a cup of tea, he announced that he was ready to return to the family and ready in every way.
"She taught me everything I know," John Lennon said at the time, " the lessons were harsh, and I could not always bear them.
When we were apart, I was the one who behaved like a pig, not caring that my adventures appeared in the newspapers.
Yoko missed me and loved me, but her life was ordered.
I'm back, but I'm back in her life, not the other way around, "and (with his usual humor) added:" Yoko and I are proud to say that our quarrel ended in complete failure!"
It is curious that shortly after John's reunion with Yoko, the Beatles as a musical enterprise was finally disbanded by a decision of the Supreme Court in London.
The educational measure carried out by Yoko Ono with truly samurai self sacrifice and discipline was crowned with success - the non drinking, pacified and tamed John Lennon returned to the family, reborn so much that after the birth of his son, he readily took on household obligations, turning into a householder and leaving Yoko West to do all the business and carry out communications with the outside world.
A few weeks later, in the spring of 1975, happy John sent postcards to his friends with the message: "Another blow for you John and Yoko are just together again, they are pregnant."
Both John and Yox have long wanted a child, back in the late sixties, remember, the first pregnancy of Yoko ended unsuccessfully, it happened twice more.
In the early seventies, it turned out that the couple could remain childless altogether because of John.
In ' 72, they turned to a 95 year old Chinese doctor, Dr. Hong, a specialist in herbs and acupuncture.
Now, three years later, the news about his future son (for some reason, John was sure from the very beginning that it would be a son) has radically changed his plans for the future.
Lennon promised himself to leave music for five years and devote himself entirely to family life.
He began to read books on infant care, went to physical education with Yoko and protected her peace in every possible way.
On October 8, 1975, when Yoko was already lying in the maternity hospital in a private ward (in which Jacqueline Kennedy gave birth at one time), John's lawyer called and said that the American authorities had agreed to a "green card" for permanent American residence.
John invited him to the hospital and there, at Yoko's bedside, they sorted everything out together and stay in the difficulties of immigration documents until midnight.
At midnight, John's birthday came, and two hours later, Yoko gave birth to a boy.
The birth was difficult, she had a caesarean section, a blood transfusion, the woman in labor almost died.
All these hours, John, of course, was in the hospital, he was waiting for Yoko to wake up from general anesthesia.
The doctor on duty came up to him.
"I love the Beatles music," he said excitedly, " let me shake your hand!"
Several nurses also approached him and asked for autographs, John was outraged: "They were completely indifferent to the blood transfusion from Yoko, to the child, at SUCH a moment they asked me for autographs!"
For several months after returning home, the Lennons ' apartment was completely closed to visitors - John was afraid of some kind of infection, except for John and Yoko, no one had the right to touch the newborn.
Meanwhile, congratulatory letters and telegrams were coming from all over the world, many of them with jokes about the fact that the couple managed to give birth to a son on John's birthday, but John was completely serious about this: "The child," he said, " chooses the time, place and family in which he will be born; Yoko didnot just give birth to Sean, he was given to us through her as a miracle, as a gift. "
"Well,"Yoko told her husband shortly after returning from the hospital," I carried the baby for nine months, I gave birth to him, now it's your turn."
By mutual consent, Yoko took over the financial affairs of the family, her office was located in the same house, in another apartment downstairs, owned by the Lennons, and John began his new role as a home owner.
Four months after the birth of Sean and John, the contract with EMI expired, and despite the company's offer, John decided not to renew the contract.
Thus, for the first time in the last 15 years, he was free from any obligations and was left to himself.
He fed the child, washed him, bathed him, dressed him, read books to him, played with him.
Most of all, John did not like changing diapers, but he did it himself.
All this is all the more surprising when you consider that the Lennon family had about 20 service personnel on staff at that time.
The boy's full name was SEAN TARO ONO LENNON, John insisted that one of the names be Japanese, TARO is a name similar to the Irish SEAN, English JOHN or Russian IVAN.
John also wanted his son to grow up a real internationalist, so he not only had two names, but his birth was registered in New York and in London and, accordingly, he received both American and British citizenship.
Sean's godfather was Elton John.
Meanwhile, businesswoman Yoko was undergoing a transformation.
Up to that time, she was completely immaterial - partly because her mother at one time reveled in luxury and loved to show her daughter her jewelry, Yoko seemed to have developed immunity, immunity to greed, but when starting to fulfill her new role, Yoko realized that her previous attitude to money would interfere with work.
It was necessary to change the psychological attitude.
"I took up meditation," says Yoko, " I imagined the riches of the world - diamonds, silks, works of art - and I tried to imagine it not in the same way as before, but with love.
John, as if sensing this, immediately bought me a diamond necklace, and if earlier I would have said why is all this necessary?
"then this time I noticed the beauty for myself and thanked John."
One of the first decisions of the spouses was that the family capital should be invested in something that does not harm nature - no shares in the chemical and oil industries, but for starters, they gradually began to buy apartments in their own house.
If you ever manage to watch the film Roman Polanski Rosemary's Baby - "Rosemary's Baby", you will pay attention to the location of the film, it was filmed in this apartment building on West 72nd Street.
It is not easy to become a tenant of this HBC, the decision to sell each apartment is made by an elected house committee, and many famous even movie stars and various rich people were refused at one time, but the Lennon family enjoyed a good reputation, so there were no objections to their candidacy.
In the end, the couple purchased five apartments with a total of 34 rooms.
When Youko was asked why they need so many apartments, she replied: "You know, John and I have always wanted to live in our own house."
After finishing with the apartments, Yoko turned to agriculture, soon four farms with a total area of 1,600 acres, i.e. 640 hectares, were purchased in the state of Virginia and in the state of New York, for growing various crops, as well as 250 breeding cows of the Holstein breed.
I must say that then one of these cows with a productivity of 24 thousand liters of milk at that time was sold at an agricultural fair for 265 thousand dollars, which at that time was a world record.
Once or twice a week, fresh products obtained purely by natural means, without chemical fertilizers, were delivered from family farms to New York.
Not far from New York, on the island of Long Island, the family bought a cottage, a house with a view of the Atlantic Ocean.
Next to the dacha, a 20 - meter ocean yacht called Isis - "Isis" and a sloop, which John called Strawberry Fields, were moored on the occasion.
In the southern state of Florida, in the resort heat, the Lennons purchased a beach estate built in 1919 and at one time belonged to the arrogant Vanderbilt family.
In addition to the usual reception and living rooms, the building had seven bedrooms, five servants ' rooms, indoor and outdoor pools and its own 50 meter stretch of ocean beach.
The more successful Yoko was in business, the more John believed her implicitly.
When making a business decision, Yoko always consulted with several astrologers, numerologists and tarot card readers.
Moreover, the combination of stars and Zodiac signs for all newly accepted into the family staff or even new acquaintances was carefully checked by astrologers.
There were days that were astrologically favorable for business, there were days when Yoko did not sign any papers, days when it was impossible to make any trips or come into contact with people with unsuitable stars.
In June 77, the whole family went to Japan, where the Lennons Ono spent five months, on a trip they were accompanied by an old friend Elliot Mintz.
John led a strict and healthy lifestyle, did not drink at all, did sports, yoga, completely refused sweets.
John was very impressed with Japan.
On the way back, Yoko checked the numerological tables and came to the conclusion that it was necessary to fly home separately, and she herself took a direct flight to New York, and sent her husband with a friend and son by a roundabout route: Tokyo, Hong Kong, Dubay, Frankfurt and only then - New York.
Eliot Mintz recalls that John had never been so frank with him as during this 26 hour flight, especially since a nanny was looking after his son, and there were empty seats on both sides.
During flights, John and Yoko usually bought not only two adjacent seats, but also two in front - so that no one would sit on them.
"So," John said, " I'm at least guaranteed that the person sitting next to me will not ask: when will the Beatles get back together?"
For the first two years after Sean was born, John led a reclusive life, rarely even answering the phone, but after returning from Japan, he changed.
The son was two years old, and in the light of his mother's material success, John decided to apply his theory of "reverse materialism"to him.
The theory was that Lennon himself and millions of others like him grew up in the hope that one day they would be able to buy their first car, their first house, their first suit, their first guitar, etc. - tomorrow was associated with hopes for well being.
"I donot want my son to grow up as a consumer," John said.
Therefore, Sean was given everything that only he could wish for, and at a very early age.
A visit to the famous New York toy store "Schwartz" could cost John several thousand dollars at a time, a lot of money was spent on various robots, on the latest computer games.
Lennon's theory worked: at the age of eight, the most important thing for his son Sean was a collection of pebbles collected by himself, his main hobby is collecting rare shells on the ocean shore.
Heaps of expensive toys, electric cars and trains, different models of Sean were no longer interested in that time.
In August 80, John decided to go on his yacht "Isis", accompanied by a five person team to Bermuda.
On the way, the yacht was caught in a storm, half of the crew was out of order due to seasickness, and John himself had to take the helm.
He went on this trip to take a break from household chores, but instead called home every day.
It often happened that Yoko was busy with a business meeting and did not take phone calls.
This turn of events inspired John to write the song I'm Losing You- "I'm Losing You" , he sang it the next day on the phone.
This song was followed by another one, he also played it on the phone, to which Yoko replied that she also had new material, which she immediately performed.
Upon returning home, it turned out that the couple had about 20 songs ready for recording.
John came up with the name for the record back in Bermuda, at the local botanical garden the garden where the flower called Double Fantasy grows - "Double Fantasy", this name perfectly reflected the essence of the new record.
For the first time in many years, they recorded not for some record company, but for themselves.
To all the musicians who participated in the recording, Yoko set a condition no strong alcoholic beverages, no drugs.
During breaks, Japanese food was brought from the restaurant, one of the small rooms at the studio was equipped with a rest room for John and Yoko - some furniture from the apartment was put there, paintings were hung so that both John and Yoko felt at home.
When they mixed enough songs for a long playing record, John began to think about who to offer the finished tape to, he did not want to get involved with a large corporation again.
Many companies showed interest in new recordings, but almost all of them wanted to listen to these recordings first before making a business offer.
John considered such a situation offensive to himself and did not agree to a preliminary audition on principle.
The record was eventually released by Geffen, whose head, David Geffen, agreed to accept the tapes and sign a contract, so to speak, blindly.
By the time the record was released, John was 39 years old, after a long period of a moderate and healthy life, vegetarianism and travel, he was in great shape - both physically and mentally.
He was full of plans for the future, at least two more long playing records were in the background, in 81 he was going to cross the Atlantic Ocean on his yacht and perform a short tour in the UK, then in Hamburg and three major American cities.
Lennon was clearly aware that many rock heroes who died early - Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin and others became a kind of victims of legends created by themselves.
John did not want to be a rock and roll hero, he did not want to burn his life, he was going to use rock music to express his new grown up "I", his new established views.
"The artist," said John, " at first free, gradually becomes a slave to the image of the artist created by himself, and many people kill themselves in this way.
They say that life begins at forty years old, and I believe that too, I live with interest - what happens next?"
One of the songs on the album Double Fantasy called Just Like Starting Over, "it's Like Starting Again," and here, noting the recording is in the light, Yoko gave John a gold watch on the cover of which was written: "To John.
It's like starting all over again, with Yoko's love."
After the release of the album, Lennon fell into an old musical rut: writing new songs and recording them was almost non stop.
On December 8, 1980, after spending about five hours in the recording studio, in the evening, at ten minutes to eleven, John and Yoko were returning home.
Jay Hastings, a twenty seven year old desk clerk who was sitting in the oak paneled lobby of the house, came out of his fence to open the door for the Lennons.
When John entered the alley, a young man with glasses called out to him.
"Mr. Lennon?" he asked, and without waiting for an answer, he fired five bullets at John from a .38 revolver.
John staggered up the six steps and collapsed on the lobby floor.
"I was shot at, I was shot at," he said.
Hastings pressed the alarm button connected directly to the police station, a car arrived two minutes later, the police, deciding not to wait for an ambulance, took John to the President Roosevelt hospital.
Doctors tried to massage John's heart, but it did not help - he died of blood loss.
The news of the murder literally shocked the whole world, radio stations in many countries broadcast Lennon's music, thousands of crowds began to gather in places memorable for John, especially in New York, at his home, which did not disperse day or night.
Heartbroken, Yoko cut her hair as a sign of mourning and gave a short note to journalists and Lennon's fans: "John loved and prayed for all people, do the same for him."
Later, at the request of Yoko, four hundred thousand people gathered in New York's Central Park, honored John's death with a ten minute silence.
All his life, John Lennon was aware of the meaning of the number 9 for himself.
He was born on October 9, 1940, his son Sean was born on the same day, October 9, 75.
The Beatles ' manager, Brian Epstein, first came to see the guys at the Liverpool CAVERN club on November 9, 61, and their first contract with EMI was signed on May 9, 62.
John met Yoko Ono on November 9, 66, the apartment of John and Yoko is located on West 72nd Street (seven and two in total - nine), and the number of their first apartment was also 72.
It is interesting that in his student years, in Liverpool, John went to art school on the bus number 72.
Among John's songs there are several, the name of which includes the number 9.
Revolution 9 - "Revolution Nine", Number 9 Dream - "Dream Number Nine" and One after 909 - "Next for 909".
He wrote these songs at his mother's house, number 9 on Newcastle Road.
The address of his aunt, Mimi, was 126 Panorama Road (one two and six add up to nine).
John even joked that one of his most significant songs, Give Peace A Chance, contains nine main words in the chorus.
In the names "John Ono Lennon" and "Yoko Ono Lennon", the letter " O " occurs nine times, finally, John was killed at 10.50 New York time on December 8, 1980, in the UK at that moment it was five hours more, it was already December 9 there.
John's body was taken to the Roosevelt Hospital, located on Ninth Avenue.
After John's death, Yoko asked the service staff to leave all the items in the apartment, furniture, paintings and photographs in the same place and in the same position where they were during his lifetime.
For almost three months, Yoko spent locked in her bedroom, looking out the window at Central Park, where she often went for walks with John, ate only mushrooms and smoked.
In the end, Yoko decided not to move out of the apartment, everything here reminded her of John, she felt his invisible presence.
In the two months after John's death, more than 250 thousand letters came to the Dakota Building from all over the world, and the letters continued to arrive later.
In 82, Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman, wrote to Yoko from his solitary confinement, asking for permission to write his biographical book so that the proceeds from it would go to charity.
If Yoko objects, Chapman wrote, he will not write this book.
The letter caused Yoko a lot of tears, she did not answer it, but decided to save the letter for historical reasons, as she said, for future generations.
In his will, John left half of his fortune to Yoko - and it was estimated at about $ 150 million at the time of his death (in addition, about fifty thousand dollars are received daily in the form of royalties), and the other half was left to create a charitable foundation.
In addition to this foundation, Yoko herself is also engaged in charity: in 83, she sold the family farms and the beach estate, donating about five million dollars to orphanages around the world.
Among them was the Liverpool children's home "Strawberry Fields", which inspired John to write a song.
The New York City Administration, wishing to honor the memory of John Lennon, allocated an area in New York's Central Park to create a memorial called Strawberry Fields.
Yoko wrote to heads of state around the world asking them to send a plant, stone or mineral that could represent this country in the memorial
Strawberry Fields.
One hundred and twenty six States responded to her request.
On March 21, 84, the mayor of New York, Ed Koch, inaugurated this memorial.
John Lennon was not just a brilliant personality, he was a man of rare integrity, absolute honesty and enormous tireless energy.
He was a direct, witty, easily vulnerable, simple, romantic at heart for all these qualities, millions of people loved him.
Lennon was a twentieth century philosopher who set an example of humanism, a man who looked to the future.
John Lennon's music and his spirit remain with us.
At least not with me.
Seva Novgorodtsev,
"Oh!", October, 1995
Back
