"I think that I was probably the
successor to Aunt Mimi in John's life."
"(John Lennon) hated being compared in any way
with Winston Churchill. His incredible idea of having his middle name
changed to Ono, to accommodate my request, made me feel good and
amazed me at the same time. He said I could carry on being known as
Yoko Ono, and why not, and he had made a step towards me without
dropping Lennon, which nobody wanted him to do, anyway."
"When people get cynical about love, they should
look at us and see it is possible."
"I told Sean what happened. I showed him the
picture of his father on the cover of the paper and explained the
situation. I took Sean to the spot where John lay after he was shot.
Sean wanted to know why the person shot John if he liked John. I
explained that he was probably a confused person. Sean said we should
find out if he was confused or if he really had meant to kill John. I
said that was up to the court. He asked what court-a tennis court or
a basketball court? That's how Sean used to talk to his father. They
were buddies. John would have been proud of Sean if he had heard
this. Sean cried later. He also said, 'Now Daddy is part of God. I
guess when you die you become much more bigger because you're part of
everything.' I don't have much more to add to Sean's
statement.."
"(The outpouring of grief from John Lennon's fans)
began on the night of the murder. As it wore on, throughout the week,
it nearly drove me crazy. All day and all night, the music...after
what had just happened, it was unbearable."
"I think that in many ways (John Lennon) was a
simple Liverpool man right to the end. He was a chameleon, a bit of a
chauvinist, but so human. In our fourteen years together he never
stopped trying to improve himself from within. We were best friends
but also competitive artists. To me, he is still alive. Death alonne
doesn't extinguist a flame and a spirit like John."
"Do you know how that feels (to be applauded for
dignity after John Lennon's death)? For ten years I waas the devil.
Now suddenly I'm an angel. Did the world have to lose John for people
to change their opinion of me? It's unreal. If it brought John back,
I'd rather remain hated."
"Making the record (Season Of Glass) was definitely
a therapy, the only way I could survive. I felt John with me all the
time in the studio."
"John would have approved (of using his
blood-covered glasses on the cover of Season Of Glass) and I will
explain why. I wanted the whole world to be reminded of what
happened. People are offended by the glasses and the blood? The
glasses are a tiny part of what happened. If people can't stomach the
glasses,I'm sorry. There was a dead body. There was blood. His whole
body was bloody...That's the reality...He was killed. People are
offended by the glasses and the blood? John had to stomach a lot
more."
"(Strawberry Fields in Central Park) is the nicest
tribute we could give John."
"I'd be a masochist if I loved this country
(England), where I'm constantly abused. It's a bit tough on me, you
know."
"I was a conceptual artist and had no interest in
pop music. The Beatles' thing, rock'n'roll, had passed me by."
"Yes (1968-1969) was hard, but (John Lennon) and I
had no doubt we would get through. John's excitement at doing things
together with me as an artist was so obvious that he didn't have that
much time to get upset with what people were thinking.."
"We were close friends, twenty-four hours a day,
as well as artists. No relationship survives wihtout highs and lows.
It's a realization of the situation that's vital."
"I was gettin g sick and tired of the
pseudo-intellectual, elitist atmosphere of the circle I was in in
London. I was thinking: Am I going to end up as the Wueen Mother of
the vant-garde world, always meeting these snobs talking about
elitist kicks? I was starting to feel frightened."
"When I started to make the bottoms film I became
very known in England in a strange sort of way...and my elite friends
were so very upset about that. They were saying 'Well, she copped
out, she went commerical.'"
"Most people in the world are very lonely. That's
the biggest problem. Because of their loneliness, they become
suspicious. When I met John I started to open up a little, through
love, you know, and that's the greatest thing that happened to me
yet...I never met anybody else who could understand me. We understand
each other so well and I'm not lonely any more. Through loneliness, I
was starting to become a very firm and strong ego. That's melting
away and that's nice."-Yoko quoted in the early 1970's
"Material pleasures are all right as long as they
don't clog your mind."