![John and Yoko photographed by Annie Leibovitz]( "John and Yoko photographed by Annie Leibovitz")
John and Yoko photographed by Annie Leibovitz
The session took place in a bright, sunny room overlooking the park," says Yoko Ono of her and John Lennon's photo shoot at the Dakota, their New York apartment building, on December 8th, 1980. "We were feeling comfortable because it was Annie [Leibovitz], whom we respected and trusted, so John seemed not to have any problem taking off his clothes. John and I were hugging each other, feeling a bit giggly and up."
"I was thinking that they had never been embarrassed to take their clothes off, that they could do a nude embrace," says Leibovitz, who was photographing them for a Rolling Stone cover to mark the release of Double Fantasy, their first album in five years. "John took his clothes off in a few seconds, but Yoko was very reluctant. She said, 'I'll take my shirt off but not my pants.' I was kinda disappointed, and I said, 'Just leave everything on.' We took one Polaroid, and the three of us knew it was profound right away."
That evening, returning to the Dakota on his way home from the recording studio, Lennon was shot and killed by a deranged fan. The photo would become the cover of Rolling Stone's commemorative issue, which also included one of the last interviews with Lennon, conducted on December 5th with writer Jonathan Cott.
"When I was with John and Yoko, they seemed like gods to me," says Leibovitz, even though she was living upstairs from them at the time in a small Dakota apartment. "It's hard to think about that time, but I remember being impressed with the simple kiss they did on the cover of Double Fantasy. The Eighties were not a romantic era, and the kiss was just so beautiful."
"The first time John and I worked with Annie was in 1970," says Ono. "That was a long, long time ago, and Annie seemed like a shy teenager. In 1980, Annie came back to us as a very accomplished photographer. She made us move around quietly and casually, but with inspired thoughts behind it."
Leibovitz had started the shoot with Ono and Lennon on December 3rd; when she returned on the 8th, she discovered that Lennon had gone to the barbershop that morning and had his long shag chopped off. "This is the way we used to wear our hair," he told Leibovitz, referring to the early days of the Beatles, "but it takes a lot of keeping up."
"Afterward, I didn't want to sell the picture to anyone else," says Leibovitz. "And Yoko said, 'Sell it! Sell it! Go buy yourself a photography studio!' She was very sweet."
Even now, it's not easy for Ono to look at the photo. "Why wasn't I told that John will be taken away from me soon after, without even a chance for me to say goodbye?" she says. "That's what I think about now when I see it."
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6478087?&rnd=1095227889150&has-player=false
