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Today John and Yoko appeared live on David Frost’s aptly named TV show, Frost on Saturday. This episode is not, it appears, available for viewing; it was on YouTube at one point, but has now been blocked on copyright grounds. How the copyright owner intends to benefit from making this fairly obscure piece of Beatleania no longer accessible is not clear; maybe it’s just the principle of the thing.
The Beatles Bible gives a detailed blow-by-blow and complete transcript here. I’ll be honest, I’ve only skimmed it. John and Yoko spend a lot of time talking about their recent art show, “You Are Here,” and then have audience members hammer nails into a piece of wood. Frost seems surprised at how much they enjoy it.
Frost: Now what feeling did you get out of that?
Man: It was unbelievable. It really was.
Frost: I think this audience has been loaded tonight. Was it?
Man: Absolutely, I can’t explain it really.
Frost: But you just hammered in a nail! That’s all you did.
Man: Well that was it. It’s just hammering a nail.
Lennon hammers a nail and then convinces Frost to try it.
Lennon: He’s hammering it in now, third stroke, beautiful stroke, beautiful. How did you feel?
Frost: I know this is a terrible condemnation of you, but I just felt like a man hammering in a nail.
Lennon: Winner! I felt like one hammering it in on TV.
Frost: That’s more accurate, yes. Well caught.
As the show winds down, John tells the story of how he met Yoko, then there’s a longish discussion of art and philosophy that concludes with John saying:
You’re only awake when you realise you’re awake and when you’re dreaming, it is just as real, whatever happens is just as real, you know – whether you actually do die in a dream or fulfill whatever you’re doing in a dream, it’s, there’s nobody to tell me it isn’t as real as this now, because how do you know?
This ought to have been a cue for Frost to drive a nail into John’s hand — after which he could have cried, quite justifiably, “They’re trying to crucify me!”
But that did not happen. The show ends thusly:
Frost: If you had to summarise, we’ve alas got a minute to go, how could you summarise what you want to get across to our people. Have the vibrations changed?
Lennon: Er, a little, yes. I think maybe it’s got confusing with this because we’re not all that good, we’re not all that articulate and it’s nerve wracking being on TV and trying to explain yourself. We try and explain ourselves in what we do, like I do it mainly through music and she does it through her art, like that, and it’s hard to put words to it.
Ono: Well we’re not trying to explain, John. We’re just trying to communicate. And communication itself is art and art is communication. And so that, erm, people are getting so intelligent that you don’t have to explain too much, all you have to do is just touch each other, just shake hands, and so this is a way of touching each other.
And you have to hand it to Yoko, she can sling it with the best of ’em — which is very helpful in both the art and communication businesses.
Speaking of business, the Beatles camp had arranged for the upcoming single, “Hey Jude,” to play over the end credits. I bet this hacked off John, who would preferred the B side (“Revolution”) instead. And it would have made a lot more sense. Another victory of marketing over truth.
Was this the inspiration for Maxwell’s Silver Hammer?