August 26, 2021 • 30 mins
To settle a copyright lawsuit, John Lennon begins a disastrous recording project with one of the most disastrous producers in the biz: Phil Spector. The former “tycoon of teen” attempts to helm John’s rock ‘n roll covers album in Los Angeles, which quickly devolves into drunken hijinks, all while a threatening music executive presents serious challenges. Plus, Spector reveals the reason why John and Yoko wanted to be in the United States in the first place – and it’s not what you think.
For more info on BLOOD ON THE TRACKS and other great shows, visit the Double Elvis website and follow Double Elvis on Twitter and Instagram.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Blood on the Tracks is a production of I Heart
Radio and Double Elvis. John Lennon was a musical genius
and one of the most beloved cultural figures of the
twentieth century. His songs inspired dreamers to imagine, his search
for the truth gave power to the people. But some
thought he dreamed too much. Others thought he was too powerful.
(00:23):
So he was followed, he was threatened, he was declared
a danger to the United States, and in night he
was assassinated. This is his story told by his so
called friends. This is special Agent Jim Steele with the
(00:46):
Federal Bureau of Investigation work in case number double oh
nine dash zero eight dash zero four nine one case
subject of Glennon, John Winston oh No. This information pertains
to a period and in December seven interview subject as
Yuko own Oh Lennon interview number zero dash zero two
DATS zero six one dash nine one. Recall number one December.
(01:19):
If John Lenning was assassinated, they did a hell of
a job, just like the job they did on John F. Kennedy.
That was a hell of a job. They've gotten rid
of so many of the great ones over the years.
You know, if Mark David Jackman was a dupe, like
the Harvey Oswald was that he was the perfect people.
(01:40):
They couldn't have picked the crazier guy. John was about
to start the talking. He was about to become active again,
not just with music but publicly. It's the perfect time
to get rid of him. It's certainly a possibility. And
if it wasn't the government, there were others that could
have worried about the picture. People felt threatened, who felt betrayed,
(02:06):
people who let a grudge, maybe a spiritual bludge or
political blutch. Well, no, bros, don't we I know I've
got a few, God knows, I know a thing or
two about threats and grudges and all that messing stuff,
the stuff that leaves so much the tracks. Chapter three,
(02:49):
John Lennon and Phil Specter. H fuck John Lennon. There
I said it. It had to be said. Who else
(03:11):
is gonna say it? You've thought it, you just wouldn't
dare say it out loud. But I'll dare. Why Because
I gave John opportunity after opportunity, each one better than
the last, And the more I tried to help him,
the more ungrateful he became. Look, I know he was
(03:33):
a Beatle, but I'm Phil Specter. Okay, the playing field
is at least even. Look, it's the nineteen seventies. John
didn't want to be a Beatle. Fine, it's a free country.
I'm assuming it's a free country over in England, too
free enough to not be a Beatle if you don't
(03:55):
want to be, So what are you gonna do when
you decide to throw in the towel on the biggest
band and on the planet. You've got to reinvent yourself, right, Okay?
Also fine, John spent the nineteen seventies distancing himself from
the Beatles, but he didn't know who the hell he
wanted to be. Next working class hero. Please. If he
was working class, then I made bare bones Folk Records
(04:17):
with a nylon string guitar. This is the guy who
just had to call his record company to get ten
thousand dollars and walking around money bam, just like that
when he came out to l a look takes one
to know one, Okay. The point is John Lennon didn't
know what he wanted one and doubt fuck it. And
(04:40):
then I walked in and I showed him what he
could be. I flew out to England and we made
Plastic Ono Band and imagine they're great fucking records. They
didn't just give John a glimpse of who he could be.
They also proved that I could play against Type two
and make a lean, emotional statement that didn't have giant
band behind it. He liked what we did on those
(05:03):
records so much that once he was living in the
United States, he flew out to l A to make
another record with me. Don't let Yoko tell you different.
That's why he came out there. It's true that he
and Yoko were going through a tough time, but the
time he spent in l A was because he was
there to make a record with me, not because Yoko
ordered him to go to the other side of the
(05:24):
country just to blow the cobwebs out of his brain.
Ask May Pang, she'll back me up. May was John's
assistant and also his travel companion, and also the woman
he carried on an affair with while he and Yoko
were on the rocks. This is the start of the
period that everyone calls the Lost Weekend, even though it
wasn't a weekend. It was eighteen long months of estrangement
(05:46):
between those two and there was nothing lost about it, honestly.
I mean yeah, John spent most of it high as ship,
but we were all high as ship. Excuse me, are you?
Mr Phil Specter? Look, it's been a real bad day.
Could you come back in April. That's why the l
A sessions were a bit of a disaster. Everyone was stoned.
(06:07):
We drank directly out of vodka bottles. And it was
a record that John was essentially forced to make by
Maurice Levy. Of all people, you didn't funk around with
Maurice Levy. He knew guys. He was tied to the mob.
He owned Birdland in New York City and also Roulette Records.
He owned some record store chain to Strawberries, but some
(06:29):
of his most prized possessions were the publishing rights to
songs like Chuck Berry's you Can't Catch Me. He sued
John for repurposing one of the lines from that song
and come Together. Okay, you know this whole story, it's boring,
bing bang boom. We're making a record entirely of songs
that Maurice Levy owns the publishing rights too, so that
Marice Levy can make a lot of money off it.
(06:50):
When it's released. That's the agreement that he and John
came to. I didn't care what we were recording. It
was John Lennon, okay, So I knew it was gonna
make money no matter what. And also we were recording
an album of rock and roll standards. We were going
to call it oldies, but Moldi's stuff from the fifties.
That's my bag. Man. People said I lived in the past,
(07:12):
that I wouldn't let the past go, and then John
Lennon comes along and validates my living in the past.
It was too good. Plus I had what I wanted,
control of those sessions me. John had put me in control.
He didn't want control. He trusted me to steer the
ship to take his career to the next place. He
(07:33):
just wanted to be the singer in a band. He
wanted to be told what to do. Phil so a
big chance today and m now, let's not fuck it.
He told me, Phil, I just want to be Ronnie.
You do everything else. He was referring, of course, to
my wife at the time, Ronnie Specter, who sang lead
in the Ronets back in the sixties. If only he
(07:55):
had just stuck with the plan, If only he had
just trusted me. See, the sessions in Los Angeles were
my sessions. Okay, it was my money and my time,
and so as far as I was concerned, I owned
those master tapes. He says. I held the tapes hostage.
I was just protecting what was rightfully mine. When I
(08:16):
realized the whole thing was going to ship because the
sessions were fucked up, there was this damn bird at
the window, and then there were more noises coming from outside,
always just bleeding into the studio. And then the bass
player got into a car wreck, and then I got
into a car wreck. And the whole time, John still
doesn't know what he wants to be doing with his life.
(08:38):
I'm gonna be a nine year old. There were some
good times, the kind of times I can barely remember.
You know they were good when you can't remember. The
sessions would spill out into the l a nightlife. We
hit the restaurants, drunk and stoned and make a scene.
Jesse Ed came with us. That's Jesse d a us
(09:00):
fucking great guitar player. This one night we were at
the Brasserie and Sunset Plaza. I remember being under the
dining table with John giggling like a couple of teenagers
with their first whiffs of reefer. I'd shake up a
champagne bottle and tell John to open wide. He would,
and I'd popped the cork out of the bottle and
shoot champagne right in his face. Meanwhile, Jesse Ed is
(09:26):
drunkenly trying to reassure the restaurants staff and the other
customers that everything is all right. Don't worry. It's just
a beatle and the world's most famous record producer rolling
around on the floor covered in champagne. Right. John and
I eventually emerged from under the table and got on
top of the table. I think I had put some
carrot sticks in my ears. John was laughing so hard
(09:47):
I thought he'd puke. I yelled, hey, John, watch this,
and I did this backflip off the table. I mean,
I thought I did a graceful backflip. I don't think
I'd ever attempted a backflip before that moment. All I
did was bend the funk out of my back midair,
and before my body could rotate the full sixty degrees,
(10:08):
I hit my head off the goddamn floor and I
bit down on my tongue. That was where the fun ended.
That night. My head hurt, my tongue was swollen. It's like,
what do you call it? A metaphor. It's like a
metaphor for me and John. It was all fun and
games until somebody got hurt and I got hurt. I
(10:57):
don't know what Yoko told you, but I'm guessing she
didn't tell you a real reason why she and John
were in the United States in the first place. I
know the real reason. It was Yoko's daughter, ki Yoko.
Yoko's ex husband, Tony Cox. He was hiding out here, there,
and everywhere with Kiyoko and wasn't allowing Yoko to see
her or talk to her. He eventually made his way
(11:18):
to Houston, of all places, with Kyoko and his new wife.
So Yoko wanted to be in the US to hunt
down her ex husband in order to see your daughter. Now.
Shortly before Tony went to Houston, Kei and Yoko had
a shared custody arrangement when it came to Kiyoko, but
Tony was more than a little wary of John and
Yoko's lifestyle. He was concerned that the way they lived
(11:40):
was an appropriate environment for a child. He even started
to worry that Yoko would keep Kiyoko from him. And
there was a car wrex somewhere in the Scottish Highlands,
I believe, when Kiyoko and John's son Julian were in
the car. Anyway, Tony got squirrely. First he decided that
he had to be present when Kyoko was with John
(12:01):
and Yoko. And then one day Tony disappeared and he
took Kiyoko with him. Kyoko was seven at the time.
Someone close to both parties told John and Yoko that
Tony had decamped to Malorca, Majorca whatever, that that Spanish island.
(12:22):
He was there for some spiritual guidance courtesy of some
yogi or shaman or whatever the fuck. And so you
know what John and Yoko did. They went after them.
They went to get Kiyoko. It was March or April.
John and Yoko flew out to the island. They had
to charter their own flight. They got there in Yoko
(12:43):
called Tony. Tony agreed to meet with her, but only
if she came alone. This is around the time that
John learns that Tony is shacking up with this Maharishi
guy and ship. Well, you know about John and Maharishi's.
There are a bunch of phonies in John's eyes, so
no doubt John c's read when he hears this, not
(13:05):
really for any other reason than he really doesn't like Maharishi's.
Yoko does some recon and finds Kiyoko is at a
school nearby, like a place for the kiddies to be
while the adults all achieve higher consciousness or whatever. So
she gets John and another friend of theirs, Dan Richter,
and the three of them sneak into the place in
broad daylight. It's like the fucking Great Escape. They were
(13:27):
literally crouching, sneaking through doors and across halways, being extra
careful that they're not found out by any adults working there.
Or maybe worse, some kids screams out that there's these
two strangers skulking around a fucking kindergarten. Now, according to
who you believe, one of two things happened. Either Yoko
spots Kiyoko playing in a group of kids, and when
(13:49):
their eyes locked, Kiyoko runs into her mother's outstretched arms
like any seven year old who has been taken away
from their mother would, Or it was Dan Richter, John
and Yoko's aiding and a betting friend who made the
daring kidnap of Kyoko. Because look, that's what it was.
They kidnapped Kyoko. One of the teachers screams out loud. John, Yoko,
(14:12):
and Dan high tailed it out of the school with
Kyoko in their arms. They got to their car, which
was parked right outside. John and Yoko jump in the
back seat with Kiyoko, and Dan drove. You've got to
think that reality was setting in hard for all of
them at this point. John and Yoko are literally on
the floor of the back seat, Kiyoko in their arms,
freaking out, and Kiyoko was realizing that she's been taken
(14:34):
from her father, and you've got Dan driving this hot
mess around. Cops found them at John and Yoko's hotel suite.
Later that night, John and Yoko were arrested, Dan Richter disappeared,
Kyoko went back to Tony Cox, and then Alan Klein
flew in, you know, the Beatles business manager who was
(14:56):
busy screwing them all over. So Alan came in and
took over, and thanks to him, John and Yoko didn't
do time in a Spanish prison or anything. A few
years later, when John was in l A and we
were attempting to make that rock and roll record. His
first son, Julian, came out to visit. Julian lived with
(15:18):
his mother back in England. John didn't see him all
that much. I know it was hard for John, and
I know all the drama surrounding Kiyoko only added to
the conflict of feelings he had as a parent who
wasn't a regular part of his kid's life. Relationships with
John could be strange. They'd start fine and then they'd sour,
or like in Julian's case, they started off rocky and
(15:41):
got better as the years went on. I mean ship
John threatened to have his own father shot, his body
dumped out at sea. I ain't kidding, man. John got
cozy with the Maharishi and then things went south. He
bought into the primal scream guy jam and off when
we were doing that Plastic Go No Band album, and
(16:03):
then turned his back on it. He was all buddy
buddy with John Sinclair and Bobby Seal and all those radicals,
and then thought better about it and shut his yap
when it came to politics. So when he accused me
of stealing the tapes, of the oldies. But Moldy sessions
my tapes. Remember I knew where the relationship was going.
(16:23):
John no longer wanted me around, I guess, so we
made a deal and both got what we wanted. I
got ninety grand from a Capitol Records exact and exchange
for handing the tapes over, and John got to move
on without me. But what really pisces me off is
that John Lennon would then go on to use me
use my name as an excuse for why his record
(16:45):
wasn't done. When Mars Levy and his tough guys came calling,
we'll be right back after this world, World, World, Maurice
Levy told John they had to meet in the fall
of nine. Maurice Levy wanted to know where the funk
(17:07):
his record was. He was waiting to reap the royalties
from all those rock and roll tunes. He owned the
publishing rights too. Remember, he had given John a break
and decided not to sue his ask for millions of dollars.
But this was the compromise. John had to make the record,
but the record was late. John was late. Now John
had just gotten the tapes back from me, and the
(17:30):
sessions had been such a drunken mess that only a
handful of songs could be salvaged for release. Is that
my problem? I did what I was told, I took
control and told everyone what to do. But you know,
people don't listen, and then when they do listen, there's
a goddamn bird outside the window, or someone rams into
your car, and that lays you up in bed for weeks.
(17:52):
So Maurice Levy tells John to meet him at Club Cavallero,
fifty eighth Street, New York City, right between Fifth and Madison. God,
let me tell you, I don't miss New York City.
But John was back in New York, still on his
so called lost weekend trip, shacking up with May Pang
in an apartment while Yoko skulked in their place at
(18:13):
the Dakota, was probably trying to figure out if she
would ever take him back. His affair with May was
full blown, and as usual, I don't think he knew
what the funk he wanted. So John went to Club
Cavallero and brought May with him along with his lawyer,
this guy Harold Sada Maurice Levy on the Cavallero. Now,
(18:35):
I told you before that Mars knows guys he had
ties to organized crime for years, though no one would
be able to prove it until much later. At least
five federal grand juries are investigating allegations of mafia involvement
in the music business, and Tuesday, a grand jury in Newark,
New Jersey, returned to one seventeen count indictment against people,
(18:55):
including Marius Levy, a powerful figure in the music business
who owns record companies and record stores. He was a
shady guy. He would find ways to give himself writing
credit on a song, even though he'd never written a
bar of music in his goddamn life, so that he
could get richer and richer off the artists who worked
(19:15):
for him. When it came to running his label, Roulette Records,
he ran it like a mob boss. You've heard of Payola, right, Well,
this ship was like Paola or Elsa. He'd grabbed the
latest Roulette forty five, pick up a couple of fancy
(19:38):
prostitutes in his nice car, and then drive to meet
with disc jockeys. Morris would give them the new Roulette
singles along with an envelope of cash, let the DJ's
party with the prostitutes, and in return Roulette singles would
get significant airplay. If you were a DJ and Mars
Levy worked you over like that with some dough and
a plain white envelope and some ready willing hookers. Holy shit, man,
(20:02):
you'd better play those fucking records, because if you didn't,
Morris would come back, and this time he'd bring some
guys on the payroll who enjoyed breaking kneecaps with baseball bats.
There is no connection between the mob and the music business.
John knew this. He knew who he was dealing with
when he walked into Club Cavallero. He was walking into
(20:23):
a meeting with a disappointed Maurice Levy. John had to
deal with this guy to release a record, and John
delayed the release, and then he wound up releasing an
entirely different album while the tapes for this project sat
on a shelf and gathered dust. John was in breach
of his contract with Maurice Levy. No bueno. He was
(20:44):
greeted inside the Cavallero by some of Marris's guys, big
guys who barely fit into their polo shirts, and they
all sat on either side of him at this horse
shaped table inside. There was no way out for John,
they could do whatever the hell they wanted to him.
What's he gonna do to Morris's place? Morris's guys, Morris's
(21:04):
rules only in America? Am I right? You think? At
some point along the way, John thought, why don't I
just go back to England, you know, because America's nuts man.
So after a few minutes of awkward conversation with these cronies,
mars Levy finally walks in the room, sits down at
(21:25):
the table, and asks John point blank, what's the fucking problem?
And guess what? He throws me under the bus, says,
it's all my fault. I'm the problem. Phil Specter, he
called me a loon, said I was out of my
mind that I came and went, that I couldn't control
(21:46):
the players, that I shot a gun off in the studio, which, okay,
I'll admit that did happen, But listen, shit happens. John
tried to buy off Morris Levy, or rather his lawyer,
Harold Sayer did. Harold asked Morris if a cool two
grand would smooth things over? Can you believe that John
(22:10):
tried to Maurice Levy? Maurice Levy, I'm sure Mars just
laughed at that offer. John Lennon was on the hook brother,
whether he liked it or not. And you know, unlike me,
John couldn't just sever that relationship. But look, here's my
point in all this rambling. Okay, John made and unmade
these relationships with people, and I'm not entirely convinced that
(22:33):
they didn't get him killed. You dig, you piss off
a guy like Maurice Levy, who knows what he'll do
to you tomorrow, the next day, the next year. You
piss off the United States government. You piss off a
protective father like Tony Cox. I for one, never saw
(22:56):
John in person again after that whole Oldies, But Moldi's mess.
Who knows what would have happened had our paths crossed?
What do you think I would have said? What do
you think I would have done? In the summer of
(23:41):
ninety three, Americans binged on nostalgia at their local movie
theater American Graffiti, George Lucas's movie about high school graduates
tooling around in their cars on the last night of
summer vacation in Modesto, California, was a sleeper hit. The
movie represented a more innocent time in America's history, before
(24:01):
President Kennedy was assassinated, before Vietnam, before whatever it was
that was happening in the Watergate Hotel. Audiences left the
movie feeling better than they had felt when they walked in,
and most kept right on walking to their local record store,
where they bought a copy of the movie soundtrack. The
Double LP soundtrack was chock full of forty one hits
(24:23):
from rock and rolls golden era in the late nineteen
fifties and early sixties, from heavy hitters like Buddy Holly,
Dell Shannon, and the Platters. Even though the songs represented
an era that was little over a decade in the
rear view, the wistfulness to be transported back in time
was palpable. The soundtrack peaked at number ten on the
Billboard chart. It went on to sell three million copies.
(24:47):
Less than two years later, in January of nine, Audiences
continued to crave nostalgia for sock Hops and Wolfman Jack
in Happy Days served it up every Tuesday night on ABC.
It was perhaps during an original episode of Happy Days
on a Tuesday night that viewers would have seen an
ad for John Lennon's new album. It was news to
(25:08):
everyone who saw the ad for the first time. A
new album by an ex Beatle was an event, after all,
but it was also news to the man on the
album cover, John Lennon, knew nothing about it. John's jaw
hit the floor when he saw the ad for the
first time. True, he was planning to release a new
album called rock and Roll, the longest dating collection of
classic covers that he had begun and aborted with Phil Spector.
(25:32):
It was finally due to be released in April, but
it was January and this album he was seeing on
the TV screen wasn't his album at all, But what
the hell is this? The album's cover was nauseating bright
yellow and featured a photo of John's face that was
at least six years old. The album was titled Roots.
John Lennon Sings the Great rock and Roll Hits, and
to add insult to injury, the voiceover pitch was cheesy schlock,
(25:55):
promising listeners that nauseating, bright yellow cover, cheesy schlock voiceover
pitch fifteen great hits on one record album for only
four dollars and cents. It was obvious to John that
this was the work of Maurice Levy. John remembered that
(26:18):
he had sent rough mixes of the songs he had
been working on for the rock and Roll album to
Levy to prove that he was actually making progress and
wasn't continuing to jerk Levy around. What had become increasingly
obvious to John was that Maurice Levy had taken those
rough mixes and decided to go ahead and release them
as his own album on his budget label, Adam eight.
(26:41):
John got pissed at Levy. Levy was still pissed at John.
Levy sued John for defaulting on the original judgment to
deliver him the rock and Roll record on time. John
Connor sued for releasing unfinished mixes under his name without
his approval. John was ordered to pay Levy almost seven
thousand dollars in damages, but Levy suffered more. He was
ordered to pay on close to a hundred and fifty
(27:01):
thousand dollars, and, more importantly to John, the budget compilation
album rushed out on Levy's Adam eight label was yanked
from stores. John Lennon was concerned about more than lawsuits. However,
He was worried that both the Rock and Roll and
Roots records were merely riding the coattails of the ongoing
nostalgia wave. That he was no longer a trailblazer, he
(27:23):
was merely a trend follower. He worried his relevance would
fade away, just like the relevance of Phil Specter, the
man who had attempted to make the rock and roll
record with him. His relevance was fading and was replaced
by rumors in crazy stories full of drugs, firearms, and
routine insanity. John Lennon had his own rumors that were
(27:43):
following him around, and they all came from the same place,
Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, in self imposed exile away
from his wife Yoko Ono, John was assisted by other
musicians and so called friends who aided in the obliteration
of whatever made of his beetle image. In Los Angeles,
he was no longer John Lennon. He was Dr Winston
(28:06):
Oh Boogie who loved rock and roll, but who loved
chaos and debauchery even more. He hung out with other
co conspirators who were working on setting their own images ablaze,
guys with names like Baron von Moon in a hard
drinking celebrity bar crawl collective called the Hollywood Vampires. He
had since returned to New York City and reconciled with Yoko,
(28:27):
but the truth about what had happened in l A
wasn't going away anytime soon. John wanted to get back,
not exactly to where he once belonged, but to a place,
maybe a state of mind, when things weren't so complicated,
back to a time before it was so much Blood
on the Tracks. All right, everybody, thanks for listening to
(29:04):
Blood on the Tracks. If you like what you hear,
be sure to find and follow Blood on the Tracks
on Apple podcast, I Heart Radio, app, Amazon Music, or
wherever you get your podcasts. On this season two of
Blood on the Tracks, we'll be releasing ten episodes on
the incredible life of John Lennon, with a new episode
every Thursday. You can also binge all ten episodes of
season one on the insane story of the notorious record
(29:27):
producer Phil Spect right now. It's available wherever you get
your podcasts. This episode of Blood on the Tracks was
written by Zeth Lundie and hosted an executive produced by
me Jake Brennan, also executive produced by Brady sab Story
and copy editing by Pat Healy. This episode was mixed
by Colin Fleming. Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spreaker.
(29:48):
This episode featured Chris Anzelonia as Phil Specter. Blood on
the Tracks is produced by Double Elvis and partnership with
I Heart Radio. Sources for this episode are available at
Double Elvis dot com on the Blood on the Track
series page. If you want to chat about this show
or hear more about the other shows, we're making a
Double Elvis tap in on Instagram at double Elvis, on
(30:09):
Twitter at Double Elvis FM, and now on Twitch, where
we're streaming three days a week at Twitch dot tv
slash Double Elvis Podcasts. And finally, be sure to check
out disgrace Land, the award winning music and true crime
podcast that I also host. Disgrace Land is available only
on the free Amazon Music app. To hear tons of
insane stories about your favorite musicians getting away with murder
(30:32):
and behaving very badly, go to Amazon dot com slash
disgrace Land, or if you have an Echo device, just
say Alexa play the disgrace Land podcast. Rock Alone, Dad,
Blood on the Tracks is a production of I Heart
Radio and Double Elvis. John Lennon was a musical genius
and one of the most beloved cultural figures of the
twentieth century. His songs inspired dreamers to imagine, his search
for the truth gave power to the people. But some
thought he dreamed too much. Others thought he was too powerful.
(00:23):
So he was followed, he was threatened, he was declared
a danger to the United States, and in night he
was assassinated. This is his story told by his so
called friends. This is special Agent Jim Steele with the
(00:46):
Federal Bureau of Investigation work in case number double oh
nine dash zero eight dash zero four nine one case
subject of Glennon, John Winston oh No. This information pertains
to a period and in December seven interview subject as
Yuko own Oh Lennon interview number zero dash zero two
DATS zero six one dash nine one. Recall number one December.
(01:19):
If John Lenning was assassinated, they did a hell of
a job, just like the job they did on John F. Kennedy.
That was a hell of a job. They've gotten rid
of so many of the great ones over the years.
You know, if Mark David Jackman was a dupe, like
the Harvey Oswald was that he was the perfect people.
(01:40):
They couldn't have picked the crazier guy. John was about
to start the talking. He was about to become active again,
not just with music but publicly. It's the perfect time
to get rid of him. It's certainly a possibility. And
if it wasn't the government, there were others that could
have worried about the picture. People felt threatened, who felt betrayed,
(02:06):
people who let a grudge, maybe a spiritual bludge or
political blutch. Well, no, bros, don't we I know I've
got a few, God knows, I know a thing or
two about threats and grudges and all that messing stuff,
the stuff that leaves so much the tracks. Chapter three,
(02:49):
John Lennon and Phil Specter. H fuck John Lennon. There
I said it. It had to be said. Who else
(03:11):
is gonna say it? You've thought it, you just wouldn't
dare say it out loud. But I'll dare. Why Because
I gave John opportunity after opportunity, each one better than
the last, And the more I tried to help him,
the more ungrateful he became. Look, I know he was
(03:33):
a Beatle, but I'm Phil Specter. Okay, the playing field
is at least even. Look, it's the nineteen seventies. John
didn't want to be a Beatle. Fine, it's a free country.
I'm assuming it's a free country over in England, too
free enough to not be a Beatle if you don't
(03:55):
want to be, So what are you gonna do when
you decide to throw in the towel on the biggest
band and on the planet. You've got to reinvent yourself, right, Okay?
Also fine, John spent the nineteen seventies distancing himself from
the Beatles, but he didn't know who the hell he
wanted to be. Next working class hero. Please. If he
was working class, then I made bare bones Folk Records
(04:17):
with a nylon string guitar. This is the guy who
just had to call his record company to get ten
thousand dollars and walking around money bam, just like that
when he came out to l a look takes one
to know one, Okay. The point is John Lennon didn't
know what he wanted one and doubt fuck it. And
(04:40):
then I walked in and I showed him what he
could be. I flew out to England and we made
Plastic Ono Band and imagine they're great fucking records. They
didn't just give John a glimpse of who he could be.
They also proved that I could play against Type two
and make a lean, emotional statement that didn't have giant
band behind it. He liked what we did on those
(05:03):
records so much that once he was living in the
United States, he flew out to l A to make
another record with me. Don't let Yoko tell you different.
That's why he came out there. It's true that he
and Yoko were going through a tough time, but the
time he spent in l A was because he was
there to make a record with me, not because Yoko
ordered him to go to the other side of the
(05:24):
country just to blow the cobwebs out of his brain.
Ask May Pang, she'll back me up. May was John's
assistant and also his travel companion, and also the woman
he carried on an affair with while he and Yoko
were on the rocks. This is the start of the
period that everyone calls the Lost Weekend, even though it
wasn't a weekend. It was eighteen long months of estrangement
(05:46):
between those two and there was nothing lost about it, honestly.
I mean yeah, John spent most of it high as ship,
but we were all high as ship. Excuse me, are you?
Mr Phil Specter? Look, it's been a real bad day.
Could you come back in April. That's why the l
A sessions were a bit of a disaster. Everyone was stoned.
(06:07):
We drank directly out of vodka bottles. And it was
a record that John was essentially forced to make by
Maurice Levy. Of all people, you didn't funk around with
Maurice Levy. He knew guys. He was tied to the mob.
He owned Birdland in New York City and also Roulette Records.
He owned some record store chain to Strawberries, but some
(06:29):
of his most prized possessions were the publishing rights to
songs like Chuck Berry's you Can't Catch Me. He sued
John for repurposing one of the lines from that song
and come Together. Okay, you know this whole story, it's boring,
bing bang boom. We're making a record entirely of songs
that Maurice Levy owns the publishing rights too, so that
Marice Levy can make a lot of money off it.
(06:50):
When it's released. That's the agreement that he and John
came to. I didn't care what we were recording. It
was John Lennon, okay, So I knew it was gonna
make money no matter what. And also we were recording
an album of rock and roll standards. We were going
to call it oldies, but Moldi's stuff from the fifties.
That's my bag. Man. People said I lived in the past,
(07:12):
that I wouldn't let the past go, and then John
Lennon comes along and validates my living in the past.
It was too good. Plus I had what I wanted,
control of those sessions me. John had put me in control.
He didn't want control. He trusted me to steer the
ship to take his career to the next place. He
(07:33):
just wanted to be the singer in a band. He
wanted to be told what to do. Phil so a
big chance today and m now, let's not fuck it.
He told me, Phil, I just want to be Ronnie.
You do everything else. He was referring, of course, to
my wife at the time, Ronnie Specter, who sang lead
in the Ronets back in the sixties. If only he
(07:55):
had just stuck with the plan, If only he had
just trusted me. See, the sessions in Los Angeles were
my sessions. Okay, it was my money and my time,
and so as far as I was concerned, I owned
those master tapes. He says. I held the tapes hostage.
I was just protecting what was rightfully mine. When I
(08:16):
realized the whole thing was going to ship because the
sessions were fucked up, there was this damn bird at
the window, and then there were more noises coming from outside,
always just bleeding into the studio. And then the bass
player got into a car wreck, and then I got
into a car wreck. And the whole time, John still
doesn't know what he wants to be doing with his life.
(08:38):
I'm gonna be a nine year old. There were some
good times, the kind of times I can barely remember.
You know they were good when you can't remember. The
sessions would spill out into the l a nightlife. We
hit the restaurants, drunk and stoned and make a scene.
Jesse Ed came with us. That's Jesse d a us
(09:00):
fucking great guitar player. This one night we were at
the Brasserie and Sunset Plaza. I remember being under the
dining table with John giggling like a couple of teenagers
with their first whiffs of reefer. I'd shake up a
champagne bottle and tell John to open wide. He would,
and I'd popped the cork out of the bottle and
shoot champagne right in his face. Meanwhile, Jesse Ed is
(09:26):
drunkenly trying to reassure the restaurants staff and the other
customers that everything is all right. Don't worry. It's just
a beatle and the world's most famous record producer rolling
around on the floor covered in champagne. Right. John and
I eventually emerged from under the table and got on
top of the table. I think I had put some
carrot sticks in my ears. John was laughing so hard
(09:47):
I thought he'd puke. I yelled, hey, John, watch this,
and I did this backflip off the table. I mean,
I thought I did a graceful backflip. I don't think
I'd ever attempted a backflip before that moment. All I
did was bend the funk out of my back midair,
and before my body could rotate the full sixty degrees,
(10:08):
I hit my head off the goddamn floor and I
bit down on my tongue. That was where the fun ended.
That night. My head hurt, my tongue was swollen. It's like,
what do you call it? A metaphor. It's like a
metaphor for me and John. It was all fun and
games until somebody got hurt and I got hurt. I
(10:57):
don't know what Yoko told you, but I'm guessing she
didn't tell you a real reason why she and John
were in the United States in the first place. I
know the real reason. It was Yoko's daughter, ki Yoko.
Yoko's ex husband, Tony Cox. He was hiding out here, there,
and everywhere with Kiyoko and wasn't allowing Yoko to see
her or talk to her. He eventually made his way
(11:18):
to Houston, of all places, with Kyoko and his new wife.
So Yoko wanted to be in the US to hunt
down her ex husband in order to see your daughter. Now.
Shortly before Tony went to Houston, Kei and Yoko had
a shared custody arrangement when it came to Kiyoko, but
Tony was more than a little wary of John and
Yoko's lifestyle. He was concerned that the way they lived
(11:40):
was an appropriate environment for a child. He even started
to worry that Yoko would keep Kiyoko from him. And
there was a car wrex somewhere in the Scottish Highlands,
I believe, when Kiyoko and John's son Julian were in
the car. Anyway, Tony got squirrely. First he decided that
he had to be present when Kyoko was with John
(12:01):
and Yoko. And then one day Tony disappeared and he
took Kiyoko with him. Kyoko was seven at the time.
Someone close to both parties told John and Yoko that
Tony had decamped to Malorca, Majorca whatever, that that Spanish island.
(12:22):
He was there for some spiritual guidance courtesy of some
yogi or shaman or whatever the fuck. And so you
know what John and Yoko did. They went after them.
They went to get Kiyoko. It was March or April.
John and Yoko flew out to the island. They had
to charter their own flight. They got there in Yoko
(12:43):
called Tony. Tony agreed to meet with her, but only
if she came alone. This is around the time that
John learns that Tony is shacking up with this Maharishi
guy and ship. Well, you know about John and Maharishi's.
There are a bunch of phonies in John's eyes, so
no doubt John c's read when he hears this, not
(13:05):
really for any other reason than he really doesn't like Maharishi's.
Yoko does some recon and finds Kiyoko is at a
school nearby, like a place for the kiddies to be
while the adults all achieve higher consciousness or whatever. So
she gets John and another friend of theirs, Dan Richter,
and the three of them sneak into the place in
broad daylight. It's like the fucking Great Escape. They were
(13:27):
literally crouching, sneaking through doors and across halways, being extra
careful that they're not found out by any adults working there.
Or maybe worse, some kids screams out that there's these
two strangers skulking around a fucking kindergarten. Now, according to
who you believe, one of two things happened. Either Yoko
spots Kiyoko playing in a group of kids, and when
(13:49):
their eyes locked, Kiyoko runs into her mother's outstretched arms
like any seven year old who has been taken away
from their mother would, Or it was Dan Richter, John
and Yoko's aiding and a betting friend who made the
daring kidnap of Kyoko. Because look, that's what it was.
They kidnapped Kyoko. One of the teachers screams out loud. John, Yoko,
(14:12):
and Dan high tailed it out of the school with
Kyoko in their arms. They got to their car, which
was parked right outside. John and Yoko jump in the
back seat with Kiyoko, and Dan drove. You've got to
think that reality was setting in hard for all of
them at this point. John and Yoko are literally on
the floor of the back seat, Kiyoko in their arms,
freaking out, and Kiyoko was realizing that she's been taken
(14:34):
from her father, and you've got Dan driving this hot
mess around. Cops found them at John and Yoko's hotel suite.
Later that night, John and Yoko were arrested, Dan Richter disappeared,
Kyoko went back to Tony Cox, and then Alan Klein
flew in, you know, the Beatles business manager who was
(14:56):
busy screwing them all over. So Alan came in and
took over, and thanks to him, John and Yoko didn't
do time in a Spanish prison or anything. A few
years later, when John was in l A and we
were attempting to make that rock and roll record. His
first son, Julian, came out to visit. Julian lived with
(15:18):
his mother back in England. John didn't see him all
that much. I know it was hard for John, and
I know all the drama surrounding Kiyoko only added to
the conflict of feelings he had as a parent who
wasn't a regular part of his kid's life. Relationships with
John could be strange. They'd start fine and then they'd sour,
or like in Julian's case, they started off rocky and
(15:41):
got better as the years went on. I mean ship
John threatened to have his own father shot, his body
dumped out at sea. I ain't kidding, man. John got
cozy with the Maharishi and then things went south. He
bought into the primal scream guy jam and off when
we were doing that Plastic Go No Band album, and
(16:03):
then turned his back on it. He was all buddy
buddy with John Sinclair and Bobby Seal and all those radicals,
and then thought better about it and shut his yap
when it came to politics. So when he accused me
of stealing the tapes, of the oldies. But Moldy sessions
my tapes. Remember I knew where the relationship was going.
(16:23):
John no longer wanted me around, I guess, so we
made a deal and both got what we wanted. I
got ninety grand from a Capitol Records exact and exchange
for handing the tapes over, and John got to move
on without me. But what really pisces me off is
that John Lennon would then go on to use me
use my name as an excuse for why his record
(16:45):
wasn't done. When Mars Levy and his tough guys came calling,
we'll be right back after this world, World, World, Maurice
Levy told John they had to meet in the fall
of nine. Maurice Levy wanted to know where the funk
(17:07):
his record was. He was waiting to reap the royalties
from all those rock and roll tunes. He owned the
publishing rights too. Remember, he had given John a break
and decided not to sue his ask for millions of dollars.
But this was the compromise. John had to make the record,
but the record was late. John was late. Now John
had just gotten the tapes back from me, and the
(17:30):
sessions had been such a drunken mess that only a
handful of songs could be salvaged for release. Is that
my problem? I did what I was told, I took
control and told everyone what to do. But you know,
people don't listen, and then when they do listen, there's
a goddamn bird outside the window, or someone rams into
your car, and that lays you up in bed for weeks.
(17:52):
So Maurice Levy tells John to meet him at Club Cavallero,
fifty eighth Street, New York City, right between Fifth and Madison. God,
let me tell you, I don't miss New York City.
But John was back in New York, still on his
so called lost weekend trip, shacking up with May Pang
in an apartment while Yoko skulked in their place at
(18:13):
the Dakota, was probably trying to figure out if she
would ever take him back. His affair with May was
full blown, and as usual, I don't think he knew
what the funk he wanted. So John went to Club
Cavallero and brought May with him along with his lawyer,
this guy Harold Sada Maurice Levy on the Cavallero. Now,
(18:35):
I told you before that Mars knows guys he had
ties to organized crime for years, though no one would
be able to prove it until much later. At least
five federal grand juries are investigating allegations of mafia involvement
in the music business, and Tuesday, a grand jury in Newark,
New Jersey, returned to one seventeen count indictment against people,
(18:55):
including Marius Levy, a powerful figure in the music business
who owns record companies and record stores. He was a
shady guy. He would find ways to give himself writing
credit on a song, even though he'd never written a
bar of music in his goddamn life, so that he
could get richer and richer off the artists who worked
(19:15):
for him. When it came to running his label, Roulette Records,
he ran it like a mob boss. You've heard of Payola, right, Well,
this ship was like Paola or Elsa. He'd grabbed the
latest Roulette forty five, pick up a couple of fancy
(19:38):
prostitutes in his nice car, and then drive to meet
with disc jockeys. Morris would give them the new Roulette
singles along with an envelope of cash, let the DJ's
party with the prostitutes, and in return Roulette singles would
get significant airplay. If you were a DJ and Mars
Levy worked you over like that with some dough and
a plain white envelope and some ready willing hookers. Holy shit, man,
(20:02):
you'd better play those fucking records, because if you didn't,
Morris would come back, and this time he'd bring some
guys on the payroll who enjoyed breaking kneecaps with baseball bats.
There is no connection between the mob and the music business.
John knew this. He knew who he was dealing with
when he walked into Club Cavallero. He was walking into
(20:23):
a meeting with a disappointed Maurice Levy. John had to
deal with this guy to release a record, and John
delayed the release, and then he wound up releasing an
entirely different album while the tapes for this project sat
on a shelf and gathered dust. John was in breach
of his contract with Maurice Levy. No bueno. He was
(20:44):
greeted inside the Cavallero by some of Marris's guys, big
guys who barely fit into their polo shirts, and they
all sat on either side of him at this horse
shaped table inside. There was no way out for John,
they could do whatever the hell they wanted to him.
What's he gonna do to Morris's place? Morris's guys, Morris's
(21:04):
rules only in America? Am I right? You think? At
some point along the way, John thought, why don't I
just go back to England, you know, because America's nuts man.
So after a few minutes of awkward conversation with these cronies,
mars Levy finally walks in the room, sits down at
(21:25):
the table, and asks John point blank, what's the fucking problem?
And guess what? He throws me under the bus, says,
it's all my fault. I'm the problem. Phil Specter, he
called me a loon, said I was out of my
mind that I came and went, that I couldn't control
(21:46):
the players, that I shot a gun off in the studio, which, okay,
I'll admit that did happen, But listen, shit happens. John
tried to buy off Morris Levy, or rather his lawyer,
Harold Sayer did. Harold asked Morris if a cool two
grand would smooth things over? Can you believe that John
(22:10):
tried to Maurice Levy? Maurice Levy, I'm sure Mars just
laughed at that offer. John Lennon was on the hook brother,
whether he liked it or not. And you know, unlike me,
John couldn't just sever that relationship. But look, here's my
point in all this rambling. Okay, John made and unmade
these relationships with people, and I'm not entirely convinced that
(22:33):
they didn't get him killed. You dig, you piss off
a guy like Maurice Levy, who knows what he'll do
to you tomorrow, the next day, the next year. You
piss off the United States government. You piss off a
protective father like Tony Cox. I for one, never saw
(22:56):
John in person again after that whole Oldies, But Moldi's mess.
Who knows what would have happened had our paths crossed?
What do you think I would have said? What do
you think I would have done? In the summer of
(23:41):
ninety three, Americans binged on nostalgia at their local movie
theater American Graffiti, George Lucas's movie about high school graduates
tooling around in their cars on the last night of
summer vacation in Modesto, California, was a sleeper hit. The
movie represented a more innocent time in America's history, before
(24:01):
President Kennedy was assassinated, before Vietnam, before whatever it was
that was happening in the Watergate Hotel. Audiences left the
movie feeling better than they had felt when they walked in,
and most kept right on walking to their local record store,
where they bought a copy of the movie soundtrack. The
Double LP soundtrack was chock full of forty one hits
(24:23):
from rock and rolls golden era in the late nineteen
fifties and early sixties, from heavy hitters like Buddy Holly,
Dell Shannon, and the Platters. Even though the songs represented
an era that was little over a decade in the
rear view, the wistfulness to be transported back in time
was palpable. The soundtrack peaked at number ten on the
Billboard chart. It went on to sell three million copies.
(24:47):
Less than two years later, in January of nine, Audiences
continued to crave nostalgia for sock Hops and Wolfman Jack
in Happy Days served it up every Tuesday night on ABC.
It was perhaps during an original episode of Happy Days
on a Tuesday night that viewers would have seen an
ad for John Lennon's new album. It was news to
(25:08):
everyone who saw the ad for the first time. A
new album by an ex Beatle was an event, after all,
but it was also news to the man on the
album cover, John Lennon, knew nothing about it. John's jaw
hit the floor when he saw the ad for the
first time. True, he was planning to release a new
album called rock and Roll, the longest dating collection of
classic covers that he had begun and aborted with Phil Spector.
(25:32):
It was finally due to be released in April, but
it was January and this album he was seeing on
the TV screen wasn't his album at all, But what
the hell is this? The album's cover was nauseating bright
yellow and featured a photo of John's face that was
at least six years old. The album was titled Roots.
John Lennon Sings the Great rock and Roll Hits, and
to add insult to injury, the voiceover pitch was cheesy schlock,
(25:55):
promising listeners that nauseating, bright yellow cover, cheesy schlock voiceover
pitch fifteen great hits on one record album for only
four dollars and cents. It was obvious to John that
this was the work of Maurice Levy. John remembered that
(26:18):
he had sent rough mixes of the songs he had
been working on for the rock and Roll album to
Levy to prove that he was actually making progress and
wasn't continuing to jerk Levy around. What had become increasingly
obvious to John was that Maurice Levy had taken those
rough mixes and decided to go ahead and release them
as his own album on his budget label, Adam eight.
(26:41):
John got pissed at Levy. Levy was still pissed at John.
Levy sued John for defaulting on the original judgment to
deliver him the rock and Roll record on time. John
Connor sued for releasing unfinished mixes under his name without
his approval. John was ordered to pay Levy almost seven
thousand dollars in damages, but Levy suffered more. He was
ordered to pay on close to a hundred and fifty
(27:01):
thousand dollars, and, more importantly to John, the budget compilation
album rushed out on Levy's Adam eight label was yanked
from stores. John Lennon was concerned about more than lawsuits. However,
He was worried that both the Rock and Roll and
Roots records were merely riding the coattails of the ongoing
nostalgia wave. That he was no longer a trailblazer, he
(27:23):
was merely a trend follower. He worried his relevance would
fade away, just like the relevance of Phil Specter, the
man who had attempted to make the rock and roll
record with him. His relevance was fading and was replaced
by rumors in crazy stories full of drugs, firearms, and
routine insanity. John Lennon had his own rumors that were
(27:43):
following him around, and they all came from the same place,
Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, in self imposed exile away
from his wife Yoko Ono, John was assisted by other
musicians and so called friends who aided in the obliteration
of whatever made of his beetle image. In Los Angeles,
he was no longer John Lennon. He was Dr Winston
(28:06):
Oh Boogie who loved rock and roll, but who loved
chaos and debauchery even more. He hung out with other
co conspirators who were working on setting their own images ablaze,
guys with names like Baron von Moon in a hard
drinking celebrity bar crawl collective called the Hollywood Vampires. He
had since returned to New York City and reconciled with Yoko,
(28:27):
but the truth about what had happened in l A
wasn't going away anytime soon. John wanted to get back,
not exactly to where he once belonged, but to a place,
maybe a state of mind, when things weren't so complicated,
back to a time before it was so much Blood
on the Tracks. All right, everybody, thanks for listening to
(29:04):
Blood on the Tracks. If you like what you hear,
be sure to find and follow Blood on the Tracks
on Apple podcast, I Heart Radio, app, Amazon Music, or
wherever you get your podcasts. On this season two of
Blood on the Tracks, we'll be releasing ten episodes on
the incredible life of John Lennon, with a new episode
every Thursday. You can also binge all ten episodes of
season one on the insane story of the notorious record
(29:27):
producer Phil Spect right now. It's available wherever you get
your podcasts. This episode of Blood on the Tracks was
written by Zeth Lundie and hosted an executive produced by
me Jake Brennan, also executive produced by Brady sab Story
and copy editing by Pat Healy. This episode was mixed
by Colin Fleming. Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spreaker.
(29:48):
This episode featured Chris Anzelonia as Phil Specter. Blood on
the Tracks is produced by Double Elvis and partnership with
I Heart Radio. Sources for this episode are available at
Double Elvis dot com on the Blood on the Track
series page. If you want to chat about this show
or hear more about the other shows, we're making a
Double Elvis tap in on Instagram at double Elvis, on
(30:09):
Twitter at Double Elvis FM, and now on Twitch, where
we're streaming three days a week at Twitch dot tv
slash Double Elvis Podcasts. And finally, be sure to check
out disgrace Land, the award winning music and true crime
podcast that I also host. Disgrace Land is available only
on the free Amazon Music app. To hear tons of
insane stories about your favorite musicians getting away with murder
(30:32):
and behaving very badly, go to Amazon dot com slash
disgrace Land, or if you have an Echo device, just
say Alexa play the disgrace Land podcast. Rock Alone, Dad,
Popular Podcasts
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Decisions, Decisions
Welcome to "Decisions, Decisions," the podcast where boundaries are pushed, and conversations get candid! Join your favorite hosts, Mandii B and WeezyWTF, as they dive deep into the world of non-traditional relationships and explore the often-taboo topics surrounding dating, sex, and love. Every Monday, Mandii and Weezy invite you to unlearn the outdated narratives dictated by traditional patriarchal norms. With a blend of humor, vulnerability, and authenticity, they share their personal journeys navigating their 30s, tackling the complexities of modern relationships, and engaging in thought-provoking discussions that challenge societal expectations. From groundbreaking interviews with diverse guests to relatable stories that resonate with your experiences, "Decisions, Decisions" is your go-to source for open dialogue about what it truly means to love and connect in today's world. Get ready to reshape your understanding of relationships and embrace the freedom of authentic connections—tune in and join the conversation!