David Sheff first met Yoko Ono in 1980 when Playboy commissioned him, then aged 24, to interview her and John Lennon. She asked him to send her his astrological and numerological charts before summoning him to the Dakota, where she and John occupied six apartments. (Elton John, a friend of theirs, wrote an excellent spoof: ‘Imagine six apartments/ It isn’t hard to do./ One is full of fur coats/ Another’s full of shoes.’)
Yoko told him that his charts were good – ‘these are strong numbers’ – and that he would get on well with John. So they fixed a time to meet the next day. The interview lasted three weeks, during which Sheff went everywhere with the Lennons and got to know them and baby Sean well. Then he wrote the article for Playboy, and his editor sent it to the Lennons on 7 December 1980. On 8 December John was shot.
Sheff was one of the first people to visit Yoko at the Dakota after the assassination. She was in bed – ‘I’d never seen grief like that’ – but could still hear the ‘dirge’ from all the fans singing ‘Imagine’ day and night in Central Park. The building was crawling with bodyguards – Yoko spent more than $1 million on security that first year – and Sean had to go to school under escort. Once, he remembers, he was carried in a bag.
Sheff endeared himself to Yoko by taking her artistic career seriously, as John did, and devotes many (quite boring) chapters to her work. She was already well known in New York avant-garde circles before she mounted the show at the Indica Gallery in London, where she met John in 1966.
Magazine articles are subscriber-only. Get your first 3 months for just $5.
SUBSCRIBE TODAY- Free delivery of the magazine
- Unlimited website and app access
- Subscriber-only newsletters
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in