Playboy Interview 1980
Page 9
Playboy: But that doesn't compare with what one promoter, Sid Bernstein, said you could raise by giving a world-wide televised concert - playing separately, as individuals, or together, as the Beatles. He estimated you could raise over $200,000,000 in one day.John: That was a commercial for Sid Bernstein written with Jewish schmaltz and showbiz and tears, dropping on one knee. It was Al Jolson. OK. So I don't buy that. OK.
Playboy: But the fact is, $200,000,000 to a poverty- stricken country in South America...
John: Where do people get off saying the Beatles should give $200,000,000 to South America? You know, America has poured billions into places like that. It doesn't mean a damn thing. After they've eaten that meal, then what? It lasts for only a day. After the $200,000,000 is gone, then what? It goes round and round in circles. You can pour money in forever. After Peru, then Harlem, then Britain. There is no one concert. We would have to dedicate the rest of our lives to one world concert tour, and I'm not ready for it. Not in this lifetime, anyway.
Yoko Ono rejoins the conversation.
Playboy: On the subject of your own wealth, the New York
Post recently said you admitted to being worth over $150,000,000 and...
John: We never admitted anything.
Playboy: The Post said you had.
John: What the Post says - OK, so we are rich; so what?
Playboy: The question is, How does that jibe with your political philosophies?
You're supposed to be socialists, aren't you?
John: In England, there are only two things to be, basically: You are either for
the labor movement or for the capitalist movement. Either you become a
right-wing Archie Bunker if you are in the class I am in, or you become an
instinctive socialist, which I was. That meant I think people should get their
false teeth and their health looked after, all the rest of it. But apart from
that, I worked for money and I wanted to be rich. So what the hell - if that's a
paradox, then I'm a socialist. But I am not anything. What I used to be is
guilty about money. That's why I lost it, either by giving it away or by
allowing myself to be screwed by so-called managers.
Playboy: Whatever your politics, you've played the capitalist game very well,
parlaying your Beatles royalties into real estate, livestock...
Yoko: There is no denying that we are still living in the capitalist world. I
think that in order to survive and to change the world, you have to take care of
yourself first. You have to survive yourself. I used to say to myself, I am the
only socialist living here. [Laughs] I don't have a penny. It is all John's, so
I'm clean. But I was using his money and I had to face that hypocrisy. I used to
think that money was obscene, that the artists didn't have to think about money.
But to change society, there are two ways to go: through violence or the power
of money within the system. A lot of people in the Sixties went underground and
were involved in bombings and other violence. But that is not the way,
definitely not for me. So to change the system - even if you are going to become
a mayor or something - you need money.
Playboy: To what extent do you play the game without getting caught up in it -
money for the sake of money, in other words?
Yoko: There is a limit. It would probably be parallel to our level of security.
Do you know what I mean? I mean the emotional-security level as well.
Playboy: Has it reached that level yet?
Yoko: No, not yet. I don't know. It might have.
Playboy: You mean with $150,000,000? Is that an accurate estimate?
Yoko: I don't know what we have. It becomes so complex that you need to have ten
accountants working for two years to find out what you have. But let's say that
we feel more comfortable now.
Playboy: How have you chosen to invest your money?
Yoko: To make money, you have to spend money. But if you are going to make
money, you have to make it with love. I love Egyptian art. I make sure to get
all the Egyptian things, not for their value but for their magic power. Each
piece has a certain magic power. Also with houses. I just buy ones we love, not
the ones that people say are good investments.
Playboy: The papers have made it sound like you are buying up the Atlantic
Seaboard.
Yoko: If you saw the houses, you would understand. They have become a good
investment, but they are not an investment unless you sell them. We don't intend
to sell. Each house is like a historic landmark and they're very beautiful.
Playboy: Do you actually use all the properties?
Yoko: Most people have the park to go to and run in - the park is a huge place -
but John and I were never able to go to the park together. So we have to create
our own parks, you know.
Playboy: We heard that you own $60,000,000 worth of dairy cows. Can that be
true?
Yoko: I don't know. I'm not a calculator. I'm not going by figures. I'm going by
excellence of things.
John: Sean and I were away for a weekend and Yoko came over to sell this cow and
I was joking about it. We hadn't seen her for days; she spent all her time on
it. But then I read the paper that said she sold it for a quarter of a million
dollars. Only Yoko could sell a cow for that much. [Laughter]
Playboy: For an artist, your business sense seems remarkable.
Yoko: I was doing it just as a chess game. I love chess. I do everything like
it's a chess game. Not on a Monopoly level - that's a bit more realistic. Chess
is more conceptual.
Playboy: John, do you really need all those houses around the country?