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With every mistake we must surely be learning

Can’t buy me love: Yoko tells how Paul saved her marriage to John
“Paul and Linda visited me earlier in the year in New York, and Paul told me he was going to see John in LA,” she says. “He asked what it would take for me to go back to John, and I said, ‘Well, maybe if he courted me’.”

And in a phone call from Los Angeles this week, where she was joined on stage by Lady Gaga during a Plastic Ono Band concert for her late husband, she expanded on this: “I want the world to know that it was a very touching thing that he did for John. He’d heard the rumours that John was in a bad way, in a rough situation, and he was genuinely concerned about his old partner. I was getting calls from big-time music executives who were telling me very rudely that I should pick John up, take him back.

“There was talk that he could be suicidal, although I knew — because John and I were talking almost every day — that things weren’t that bad, and that he wasn’t. Their concern was not out of kindness. They wanted to make sure that one day the Beatles would get back together, and he was the boy they needed. But Paul and Linda were genuinely worried for him, and it was so sweet that he wanted to save John.

“I want people to know how kind and sensitive he was to him. Sure they were two macho, very talented guys, who had strong opinions, arguments, like most brothers. But when it came to the crux of the matter, when Paul thought John was in dire straits, he helped. Even though John was not even asking for help — John, Paul, all of them were too proud to ask anything — he helped. John often said he didn’t understand why Paul did this for us, but he did.

The group on top of the building seemed to be enjoying the group of fans as much as the skywriting, though. After a while, Sean yelled what sounded like, “Daddy’s coming down!” (Maybe that was wishful thinking on our parts.) The entire group made another mad dash across the street and back to the front of the Dakota. (Almost getting killed again in the process.) We waited anxiously; no sign of daddy. About a half hour later Yoko came dashing out of the Dakota, catching the waiting group totally off guard. She ran down the sidewalk a ways, with a few fans in pursuit. She looked at the sky and said, “It’s gone now.” Then just as quickly, she ran back thru the crowd and stepped up on the front step of the building, and turned to the crowd. She put her hands across her chest almost as if she were out of breath (which she didn’t seem to be) and said very softly, “John’s asleep right now, and won’t be coming back out today.

We thank you all for coming. John is very tired; he’s been out recording all night.” Cathy Ray was standing quite close to Yoko and asked, “Yoko, several of us have gifts for John. Would you take them in to him?” She hesitated, then said, “No, we’ll get the gifts later.” About that time, John’s business manager, Richard DePalma, came out and literally grabbed Yoko by the arm and said, “C’mon, Yoko.” He pulled her inside. I didn’t understand this. Granted, the atmosphere was so thick you could cut it with a knife, but I don’t think anyone was about to attack her. Now JOHN was a different story.

Steve, who is the one doorman you can always count on for help, came out to John Colman and me and said, “John is coming out between 7 and 8, but don’t spread it around.” This was about 6 PM, so we decided to get away from the entrance for a while, so that maybe the rest of the crowd would leave. We found that the more people that stood out front the more people it tended to attract. We all split up for an hour. Pam, Cathy, Terry and I went over to Central Park to observe that side of the building, many nights while there, I went to the Dakota and tried to observe the light patterns, etc. in the windows on John’s floor. I had it down to almost a science! I found out later from a friendly Dakota workman that most of my ideas on what room was which were totally wrong! The bedroom, I found out, is located in the center of the building, overlooking the courtyard. By the way, the workman also told me John & Yoko have an ENORMOUS round bed! And the room I had suspected was the bedroom turned out to be Sean’s playroom/John’s exercise room! The workman said John exercises every day!)

At 7 PM the next meeting of the Lennon Lovers Anonymous convened back at the Dakota’s entrance. About 7 PM, sure enough, here came the Esquire limo. It sat under the archway for
about 30 minutes, and then out in the street for another 30 minutes. Suddenly we saw it turn
around and leave! John was not in it. We were rather confused. We left shortly after that
episode, about 9PM. Several others stayed a bit later til 11 or so, but no one ever went out,
After I’d had some sleep, the next day I decided that John had probably planned to go out that
evening, but for some reason, like being tired, had decided not to.

Apparently John had gone out sometime after that because when I arrived back at the Dakota the next day around 1PM? Heinz told me John had just come in about 8AM, There was already an Esquire limo parked out front indicating SOME Lennon was going out.
There were a few other fans out, Marco was there, with a friend he’d brought to photograph the events! They had another Brazilian guy with them. Then there were 2 other guys from NYC that I had seen a couple days before. They left about 2PM. So it essentially just Marco, me, and this other Brazilian guy. The limo was parked out in the street and stayed there for quite some time,
About 2;30 I asked Heinz if he knew what was going on. He told me John was going out, but the limo would be pulled up under the archway when John called and said he was coming down. So, I thought, another one second view in the dark.

About 3PM, Marco and I were standing on the sidewalk directly in front of the archway. We weren’t paying much attention to what was happening in the archway, because we knew we’d have advance warning before John came out, with the limo pulling up under there. I glanced over and suddenly saw John. He was strolling toward us! I nearly passed out. He was wearing tight, straight-leg jeans, with about a 2-inch cuff on them. He had on (wait for it) RED socks, which were quite visible, as his jeans were rolled up a bit. He had on the usual white sneakers, but they had a red stripe on them, making him sooooo color-coordinated. He had on a big, bulky, soft-looking, whitish- blue jacket. It was a soft, cottony-looking material.

He had on his orange glasses with the dark lenses we’ve seen in pictures lately. He was carrying what might be called, in nice terms, a “shoulder bag”, or might be called, in worse terms, a “purse”. It looked like a purse to me, but it had a shoulder strap. Everytime anybody has seen him lately, he’s had that brown bag over his shoulder. I bet he carries his sushi lunch in there. I said the first thing that popped into my head, brilliant though it was…”Well…HI, JOHN!” (Degree in woodwork.) He smiled and said, “Hi, how are ya?” The smile was encouraging, not to mention breathtaking. I managed to blurt out, “John, could I please take your picture?” He said, word for word, “Sure ya can, darlin’!” I felt faint again, but while Marco detained him, I started taking pictures. I took 2 close up, and probably would have had time for more, if I hadn’t had camera problems. John didn’t seem to be in any hurry. Marco asked him about coming to Brazil when he toured, and John allowed as how he had been considering it, and had gotten the letter Marco had sent regarding it. John referred Marco to his business manager, saying he could set up an appointment with him to talk about it. Marco asked John for his autograph, and they shook hands.

About this same time, I had moved back a ways to get a full-length shot of John. They had finished their conversation, and as soon as I got all of John in the view-finder, he started walking toward the limo. So I took one quickly of him as he walked.

Just as he started to duck into the limo, I called out, “Thanks} John!” (One of the same witty lines I had used in March; gee, I’m glad I remembered it again!) He stuck his head up above the door of the limo, looked at me, and said, “What?” I repeated it, and he said, very nicely, “Oh, yeah…yeah…” Then he sat down on the back seat. Just as the doorman was closing the door, I peeked inside, and saw Yoko sitting there. How she’d gotten by me I’ll never know, but I’m sure King Kong could’ve walked thru there and I wouldn’t have noticed, as absorbed as I was in John. Before the door closed, I called out, “Hi, Yoko!” The door closed, and she smiled and nodded and waved. Then the limo took off.

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